Borland Database Engine (BDE) is the Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

-based core database engine

Database engine

A database engine is the underlying software component that a database management system uses to create, read, update and delete data from a database....

 and connectivity software behind Borland

Borland

Borland Software Corporation is a software company first headquartered in Scotts Valley, California, Cupertino, California and finally Austin, Texas. It is now a Micro Focus subsidiary. It was founded in 1983 by Niels Jensen, Ole Henriksen, Mogens Glad and Philippe Kahn.-The 1980s:...

 Delphi

Borland Delphi

Embarcadero Delphi is an integrated development environment for console, desktop graphical, web, and mobile applications.Delphi's compilers use its own Object Pascal dialect of Pascal and generate native code for 32- and 64-bit Windows operating systems, as well as 32-bit Mac OS X and iOS...

, C++Builder, IntraBuilder, Paradox for Windows, and Visual dBASE for Windows.

History

Borland’s Turbo Pascal

Turbo Pascal

Turbo Pascal is a software development system that includes a compiler and an integrated development environment for the Pascal programming language running on CP/M, CP/M-86, and DOS, developed by Borland under Philippe Kahn's leadership...

 included a "database" Toolbox, it was the beginning of the Borland compiler add-ons that facilitated database connectivity. Then came the Paradox Engine for Windows – PXENGWIN – which could be compiled into a program to facilitate connectivity to Paradox tables.

The first DLL-based connectivity engine was ODAPI (Open Database API). It represented Borland’s attempt to centralise connectivity in its suite of applications which included the brand-new Paradox for Windows 4 and Quattro. With version 4.5 / 5.0 of Paradox for Windows, this database engine was crystallised as IDAPI

IDAPI

IDAPI stands for Integrated Database Application Program Interface or Independent Database Application Program Interface. It was originally a component of the Paradox relational database management system. It is now the application program interface of the BDE or Borland Database Engine....

.

In 2000, Borland introduced a new SQL driver architecture called dbExpress

DbExpress

dbExpress is Embarcadero's data driver architecture that replaced the older Borland Database Engine. First released with Borland Delphi 6 and C++Builder 6, it has gone through several iterations itself, the latest being shipped with Embarcadero Delphi XE2...

, which deprecated BDE SQL links technology.

Design

The included set of database drivers enables consistent access to standard data sources: Paradox, dBASE

DBASE

dBase II was the first widely used database management system for microcomputers. It was originally published by Ashton-Tate for CP/M, and later on ported to the Apple II and IBM PC under DOS...

, FoxPro

FoxPro

' has two meanings:*Visual FoxPro, an object-oriented programming language and RDBMS, published by Microsoft, for Microsoft Windows*FoxPro 2, a text-based procedural programming language and DBMS, originally published by Fox Software and later by Microsoft, for MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh,...

, Access

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Office Access, previously known as Microsoft Access, is a relational database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. It is a member of the Microsoft Office suite of...

, and text databases. You can add Microsoft ODBC drivers as needed to the built-in ODBC socket. Optionally, Borland's SQL Links product provides access to a range of database management system

Database management system

A database management system is a software package with computer programs that control the creation, maintenance, and use of a database. It allows organizations to conveniently develop databases for various applications by database administrators and other specialists. A database is an integrated...

s (DBMS), including Informix

Informix

IBM Informix is a family of relational database management system developed by IBM. It is positioned as IBM's flagship data server for online transaction processing as well as integrated solutions...

, DB2

IBM DB2

The IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition is a relational model database server developed by IBM. It primarily runs on Unix , Linux, IBM i , z/OS and Windows servers. DB2 also powers the different IBM InfoSphere Warehouse editions...

, InterBase

InterBase

InterBase is a relational database management system currently developed and marketed by Embarcadero Technologies. InterBase is distinguished from other DBMSs by its small footprint, close to zero administration requirements, and multi-generational architecture...

, Oracle

Oracle database

The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....

, and Sybase

Sybase

Sybase, an SAP company, is an enterprise software and services company offering software to manage, analyze, and mobilize information, using relational databases, analytics and data warehousing solutions and mobile applications development platforms....

.

BDE is object-oriented in design. At runtime, application developers interact with BDE by creating various BDE objects. These runtime objects are then used to manipulate database entities, such as tables and queries. BDE's application program interface (API) provides direct C

C (programming language)

C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....

 and C++ optimized access to the database engine, as well as BDE's built-in drivers for dBASE, Paradox, FoxPro, Access, and text databases.

The core database engine files consist of a set of DLLs

Dynamic-link library

Dynamic-link library , or DLL, is Microsoft's implementation of the shared library concept in the Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating systems...

 that are fully re-entrant and thread-safe

Thread-safe

Thread safety is a computer programming concept applicable in the context of multi-threaded programs. A piece of code is thread-safe if it only manipulates shared data structures in a thread-safe manner, which enables safe execution by multiple threads at the same time...

. Included with BDE are a set of supplemental tools and examples with sample code.

BDE system is configured using the BDE Administrator (BDEADMIN.EXE).

Included with BDE is Borland's Local SQL, a subset of ANSI-92 SQL

SQL

SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....

enhanced to support Paradox and dBASE (standard) naming conventions for tables and fields (called "columns" in SQL). Local SQL lets you use SQL to query "local" standard database tables that do not reside on a database server as well as "remote" DBMS servers. Local SQL is also essential to make multi-table queries across both local standard tables and those on remote SQL servers.

The older name for the BDE API is the "Integrated Database Application Program Interface" or "IDAPI".