More flexibility when writing data via ODBC

[jthodge]

When writing to an existing Oracle table via an ODBC DSN, it appears that Eviews 6 drops the table and then recreates it. Unfortunately, this resets any structure characteristics of the existing Oracle table (such as constraints, field characteristics, grants, etc.). It would be nice if the Eviews ODBC pagesave command had more options for writing/updating data on an existing Oracle table. For example, instead of totally dropping/creating the table when overwriting data, it would be nice if Eviews allowed the option to delete (or truncate) all rows and insert the new data (so the table structure would remain intact). Or it would be nice to have the ability to insert additional rows/data (i.e. append new data), without having to recreate the entire table (this would also be a nice feature for regular Eviews databases). Ideally, it would be great if Eviews somehow allowed SQL commands for querying and/or editing outside databases.

[EViews Chris]

Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

I agree that adding a few extra modes on save (truncate existing data, leave existing data) in addition to the current 'drop table' mode could be useful. We would have to error if the existing table doesn't have the right columns / structure but it's clearly better than not letting you try. I can't promise anything but we'll certainly look into it.

We have already given quite a lot of thought to allowing more general interaction with ODBC databases (in particularly, executing arbitrary SQL commands). It's definitely on our list. It's a more complicated issue, so I'm not sure whether you'll be seeing anything in the near future.