Allow Postgres to Host MS Project 2000

Overview
========

FYI. I dont know where this should go probably somewhere under contrib,
but also somewhere in the FAQ or docs.

For those of you that are not familiar with MS Project. It basically
has a capability that allows you to use a backend database (via ODBC)
for the storage.

This allows for really really large projects to be decomposed into
smaller ones and then linked together. (Dont even think about doing this
with *.mpp files, Project crashes all the time... Dont you just love MS
products...)

On the cd for MS Project 2000 they include SQL files to initialize a
database (create the schema, and populate with some necessary data) for
3 vendors (MS SQL Server, MS Access 2000, Oracle.

Personally I found this a bit distasteful. If Im forced to use MS
Project then I may as well not give MS the money for the DB too... So I
finally got around to this last night and managed to get it working.

Ive only tested this with Postgres 7 and the latest postgres odbc
driver.

After you create a db you need to see the database with tables and
functions in the attached sql file.

Details
=======

Im no database expert. This was the result of hacking on it until it
worked at about 3am. Im sure those of you with more experience could
have ported the sql from Oracle to Postgres with better usage of data
types. (ie. It works, Im not saying its optimal...)

The lo function I copied off the web somewhere because Project 2000
required it for storing RTF junk.

The "CASE INSENSITIVE LIKE" stuff I cloned as well because Project 2000
has a built in dependence on this. Yeah I know its not according to
spec, but hey its MS, embrace and extend. ;-(

Suggestions
===========

The function for case insensitive like is written in plpgsql, which
doesnt exactly mean its tuned for performance.

I know you guys probably wont like this suggestion but I really think
someone with more knowledge than me should put together some core
routines that allow Postgres to function equivalently to MS SQL Server
in a high performance way.

Something that included a special sql file to load that turned on
"maximum" compatibility would be great.

- Hopefully a C optimized version of ictextlike would be included
in the Postgres core that could be enabled
- All of the data types understood by MS SQL Server would have
aliases in Postgres etc.

The fight to wrestle the desktop away from MS will be long, in the mean
time, lets make sure we take as much of the server arena as possible....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
John Cavanaugh Agilent Technologies
R&D Program Manager 1400 Fountaingrove Pkwy
CAD Data Store Santa Rosa, CA 95403-1799

Email: cavanaug(at)soco(dot)agilent(dot)com Phone: 707-577-4780
707-577-3948 (Fax)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I
just watch what they do.
-- Andrew Carnegie
-----------------------------------------------------------------------