Chapter 5
Supported standards
This chapter describes the SQL statements and constructs supported by the FileMaker ODBC and JDBC
client drivers. Use the client drivers to access a FileMaker database solution from an ODBC- or JDBC-
compliant application. The FileMaker database solution can be hosted by either FileMaker
Pro or
FileMaker
Server Advanced.
The ODBC client driver supports ODBC 3.5 Level 1 with some features of Level 2. The JDBC client driver
provides partial support for the JDBC 3.0 specification. See www.filemaker.com/support/technologies and
the SequeLink Developer’s Reference available at www.datadirect.com for more information. The ODBC and
JDBC client drivers support SQL-92 entry-level conformance, with some SQL-92 intermediate features.
Support for Unicode characters
The ODBC and JDBC client drivers support the Unicode API. However, if you’re creating a custom
application that uses the client drivers, use ASCII for field names, table names, and filenames (in case a non-
Unicode query tool or application is used).
Note To insert and retrieve Unicode data, use SQL_C_WCHAR (the SQL_C_BINARY data type is not
supported).
SQL statements
The ODBC and JDBC client drivers provide support for the following SQL statements:
The client drivers also support FileMaker data type mapping to ODBC SQL and JDBC SQL data types. See
appendix A, “Mapping FileMaker fields to ODBC data types” and appendix B, “Mapping FileMaker fields
to JDBC data types” for data type conversions. For more information on constructing SQL queries, refer to
a third-party book.
Note The ODBC and JDBC client drivers recognize only the first repetition in a repeating field. Also, the
drivers do not support portals in FileMaker
Pro.
SELECT statement
Use the SELECT statement to specify which columns you're requesting. Follow the SELECT statement with
the column expressions (similar to field names) you want to retrieve (for example,
last_name).
Expressions can include mathematical operations or string manipulation (for example,
SALARY * 1.05).
SELECT (see below) DELETE (page 33) INSERT (page 33) UPDATE (page 34)
CREATE TABLE (page 35) ALTER TABLE (page 35) CREATE INDEX (page 36) DROP INDEX (page 36)
