Mark, what I was trying to convey is that stand SQL is what
can be used in SQL-passthrough. I don't think that you can
use the PL (procedure language) portion of Oracle when doing
SQL passthrough with Fox.

As far as SQL compliance, the latest standard is SQL-92. That
is not put out by M$. According to what I recall reading, Oracle
has the minimum certification against the SQL-92 standard. Oracle's
implimentation of outer joins (such as a left join) pre-date the
way VFP does it.


>I see a contradiction here. :-) You have to use standard SQL for SQL pass-thru versus Oracle SQL is not very compliant to the SQL-92
>standard. While I am not sure what the standard is, I always thought the SQL used by Oracle is the actual standard because it has been around years longer than the SQL available in VFP. MS just came up with a standard of their own for VFP. It is the ODBC drivers that actually convert from VFP syntax to Oracle SQL syntax.
>
>Personally, I like the VFP version better because it is easier to understand, IMHO. I always got the plus-signs screwed up in Oracle. You can use VFP syntax in SQL Pass-thru because [as long as] the ODBC drivers are still being used as an intermediate step to Oracle.
>
>>Oracle has its own extension of SQL called SQL/PL (PL = procedure
>>language). As far as I know, you can only use standard SQL when
>>utilizing VFP and Oracle via SQL Passthru.
>>
>>You will find that Oralce SQL is not very compliant to the SQL-92
>>standard. This kind of surprised me. To see what I mean, compare
>>and contrast a LEFT OUTER JOIN between SQL Server and Fox versus
>>Oracle's (+) command.