User's Guide

Part VI. SQL Anywhere Reference

Chapter 39. SQL Anywhere Components

With the Validation utility you can validate all indexes and keys on some or all of the tables in the database. The Validation utility scans the entire table, and looks up each record in every index and key defined on the table.

This utility can be used in combination with regular backups (see the chapter "Backup and Data Recovery") to give you confidence in the security of the data in your database.

You can access the Validation utility in the following ways:

• From Sybase Central, for interactive use under Windows 95 or NT.
• From the ISQL Database Tools window.
• From the ISQL DBTOOL statement.
• From the system command line, using the DBVALID command-line utility. This is useful for incorporating into batch or command files.

For more information

For more information on validating tables, see "VALIDATE TABLE statement".

Validating a database from Sybase Central

To validate a running database:

1. Connect to the database.
2. Right-click the database and click Validate in the popup menu.

To validate an individual table:

1. Connect to the database.
2. Locate the table you wish to validate.
3. Right-click the table and click Validate in the popup menu.

  For full information on validating a database from Sybase Central, see the Sybase Central online Help.

Validating a database from the ISQL Database Tools window

To use the Validation utility from the ISQL Database Tools window:

1. Select Database Tools from the Window menu.
2. Click Check Database Integrity on the Tools list.
3. Enter a user ID and password to use when connecting to the database.
4. For a running database, enter a database name and server name (if more than one is running). For a database file, enter the filename (with path) and optionally a start line to specify command line switches for the database engine or SQL Anywhere Client.
5. Click Check.
6. Enter a list of tables to validate, if you do not wish to validate the entire database, and click OK.

Using the Validation utility from the DBTOOL statement

The syntax for the Validation utility from the ISQL DBTOOL statement is as follows:

     DBTOOL VALIDATE TABLES [ t1, t2, ..., tn ]

     ...    USING connection-string

Using the DBVALID command line utility

Syntax

     dbvalid[switches] [table-name,...]

Windows 3.x syntax

     dbvalidw [switches] [table-name,...]

Switch	Description
-c"keyword=value; ..."	Supply database connection parameters
-q	Quiet mode---do not print messages

  For more information about the command-line switches, see "Validation utility options".

Validation utility options

Connection parameters (-c ) For a description of the connection parameters, see "Database connection parameters". If the connection parameters are not specified, connection paremeters from the SQLCONNECT environment variable are used, if set. The user ID must have DBA authority.

example, the following validates the sample database, connecting as user dba with password sql:

     dbvalid -c "uid=dba;pwd=sql;dbf=c:\sqlany50\sademo.db"

Operate quietly (-q ) Do not display messages on a window. This option is available only from the command-line utility.