Planned .NET Core support (again)?

[Breck_Carter]

I know, I asked this question a while ago (https://sqlanywhere-forum.sap.com/questions/27902/planned-net-core-support). Perhaps it's the eternal optimist in me, or it could be the Christmas cheer, or the brandy eggnog, but here I go again...

Is there any planned support for .NET Core? Now that Microsoft has made it pretty clear that .NET Core is the future (https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/net-core-is-the-future-of-net/), will SAP come to the party?

Here's hoping.

[Breck_Carter]

The last two paragraphs of that blog post are immensely confusing to me, as far as their applicability to SQL Anywhere is concerned; perhaps you can shed some light (highlighting is mine)...

.NET Framework 4.8 will be the last major version of .NET Framework. If you have existing .NET Framework applications that you are maintaining, there is no need to move these applications to .NET Core. We will continue to both service and support .NET Framework, which includes bug–, reliability– and security fixes. It will continue to ship with Windows (much of Windows depends on .NET Framework) and we will continue to improve the tooling support for .NET in Visual Studio (Visual Studio is written on .NET Framework).

Summary

New applications should be built on .NET Core. .NET Core is where future investments in .NET will happen. Existing applications are safe to remain on .NET Framework which will be supported. Existing applications that want to take advantage of the new features in .NET should consider moving to .NET Core. As we plan into the future, we will be bringing in even more capabilities to the platform. You can read about our plans here.

[former_SQLA_member1694882]

Yeah, a bit confusing. Read ".NET Framework" in those paragraphs as the "Legacy .NET Framework", not ".NET Core".

In other words, Microsoft will continue to provide life-support to the Legacy .NET Framework with v4.8 on Windows. However none of the new features of the .NET ecosystem will be on the Legacy .NET Framework, only on .NET Core (e.g. ASP.NET Core v3 onwards).

[VolkerBarth]

Is .NET Core's cross-platform support a feature you are particularly interested in?

[former_SQLA_member1694882]

That would be great, but not necessary. At a minimum just Windows support on .NET Core would be fabulous.

[ian_mchardy · Accepted solution]

Hi Nick,

We (the SQL Anywhere development team) have considered your request, but there are no plans to add .NET Core support to SQL Anywhere clients at this time.

Kind regards, Ian

[former_SQLA_member1694882 · Accepted solution]

Thanks Ian. Great to finally have an official answer. Obviously disappointed in it however. Some follow up questions:

1. What are the recommended programming platforms to target SQL Anywhere then? I'm taking it from your answer above that .NET is not one of them.

2. Is SQL Anywhere an 'in-maintenance' product now? Or are you (SAP) planning on new releases?

[MCMartin · Accepted solution]

any new considerations on this topic? Is a .net 6 client planned?

[VolkerBarth]

According to the 17.0.1 release, it now does support .NET Core, see here, currently only on the Windows platform.

Note, I have not tried to use that.

[Dan_Cummins]

According to the 17.0.1 release, it now does support .NET Core, see here, currently only on the Windows platform.

That's correct, we've added the .NET Core client for Windows already, Linux will be out shortly and Mac support is planned after that.

Dan

[chris_keating]

If you are upgrading from an earlier version of SQLA 17, the .NET Core is not installed. You can workaround that issue by modifying the install and selecting SQL Anywhere Client and selecting "This Feature, and all subfeatures, will be installed on the local hard drive." from the drop down. Alternatively, install from scratch (removing an existing SQLA installed if exists, and then a new install ). The patch can be a full install or be used to update an existing install.

[MCMartin]

Is it possible to control this with a command line switch? Would be necessary to update an existing customer site automatically 😉

[VolkerBarth]

I (wildly) guess this should be doable with a custom MSI file generated via the Deployment Wizard, you would need to use that client option as Chris has told (or something like "install all client libraries"). The according log file should tell whether the .NET Core driver is contained in the MSI file.

[chris_keating]

I have investigated other options to workaround this issue but have not identified other options using the SQLA Installer. Certainly using the deployment wizard and other install mechanisms may be an option.