Editing Tabular Data Stream

{{Infobox networking protocol
| title        = Tabular Data Stream
| logo         = 
| logo alt     = 
| image        = 
| image alt    = 
| caption      = 
| is stack     = no
| abbreviation = TDS
| purpose      = Database
| developer    = [[Sybase]] Inc., [[Microsoft]]
| date         = {{Start date and age|1984}}
| influenced   = 
| osilayer     = [[Application layer]] (7)
| ports        = TCP/1433
| rfcs         = 
}}
'''Tabular Data Stream''' ('''TDS''') is an [[application layer]] [[Protocol (computing)|protocol]] used to transfer data between a [[database server]] and a client. It was initially designed and developed by [[Sybase]] Inc. for their [[Sybase SQL Server]] [[relational database]] engine in 1984, and later by [[Microsoft]] in [[Microsoft SQL Server]].

==History==
During the early development of Sybase SQL Server, the developers at Sybase perceived the lack of a commonly accepted application level protocol to transfer data between a [[database server]] and its [[Client (computing)|client]]. In order to encourage the use of its products, Sybase promoted the use of a flexible pair of [[Library (computer science)|libraries]], called <code>netlib</code> and <code>db-lib</code>, to implement standard [[SQL]]. A further library was included in order to implement "Bulk Copy" called <code>blk</code>. While <code>netlib</code>'s job is to ferry data between the two computers through the underlying [[network protocol]], <code>db-lib</code> provides an API to the client program, and communicates with the server via <code>netlib</code>. <code>db-lib</code> sends to the server a structured stream of bytes meant for tables of data, hence a Tabular Data Stream. <code>blk</code> provides, like <code>db-lib</code>, an API to the client programs and communicates with the server via <code>netlib</code>.

In 1990 Sybase entered into a technology-sharing agreement with [[Microsoft]] which resulted in Microsoft marketing its own SQL Server — [[Microsoft SQL Server]] — based on Sybase's code. Microsoft kept the <code>db-lib</code> API and added [[ODBC]]. (Microsoft has since added additional APIs.) At about the same time, Sybase introduced a more powerful successor to <code>db-lib</code>, called <code>ct-lib</code>, and called the pair [[Open Client]].  <code>db-lib</code>, though officially deprecated, remains in widespread{{quantify|date=July 2017}} use.

The TDS protocol comes in several varieties, most of which had not been openly documented because they were regarded{{by whom|date=July 2017}} as [[proprietary software|proprietary technology]]. The exception was TDS 5.0, used exclusively by Sybase, for which documentation is available from Sybase.<ref name="tdsfunctionalspec">{{cite web | url = http://www.sybase.com/content/1040983/Sybase-tds38-102306.pdf | title = TDS 5.0 Functional Specification, Version 3.8 | accessdate = 2009-07-08}}</ref> This situation changed when Microsoft published the TDS specification in 2008,<ref name="msopenprotocols">{{cite web | url = http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd304523.aspx | title = [MS-TDS]: Tabular Data Stream Protocol | accessdate = 2014-04-29}}</ref> as part of the [[Microsoft Open Specification Promise|Open Specification Promise]].

The [[FreeTDS]] team has developed a free native-library implementation of the TDS protocol,<ref>{{cite book | title = SQL server security |author1= Chip Andrews |author2= David Litchfield |author3= Bill Grindlay | page = 260 | publisher = [[McGraw-Hill Professional]] | year = 2003 | isbn = 0-07-222515-7 }}</ref> licensed under the [[GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL]] license. [[WireShark]] has a protocol decoder for TDS.<ref>[http://wiki.wireshark.org/Protocols/tds protocol/tds], Wireshark.org wiki</ref>

[[Oracle Corporation]] provides [[Oracle Net]] - software analogous to TDS.<ref>
{{cite web
 |url= http://www.microsoft.com/rus/download.aspx?file=/SQL2008/white_papers/OracleSSIS.docx
 |title= SQL Server Integration Services with Oracle Database 10g
 |date= May 2008
 |series= SQL Server Technical Article
 |publisher= Microsoft
 |page= 2
 |access-date= 2017-07-20
 |quote= Oracle Net is analogous to the SQL Server Tabular Data Stream (TDS) transport facility.
}}
</ref>

==See also==
*[[Transact-SQL]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/windows_protocols/ms-tds/b46a581a-39de-4745-b076-ec4dbb7d13ec &lsqb;MS-TDS&rsqb;: Tabular Data Stream Protocol] specification, Microsoft
* [http://infocenter.sybase.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.sybase.infocenter.dc00384.0202/html/amcug/CIHGCIAH.htm What is TDS?], sybase.com
* [http://www.freetds.org/ FreeTDS]
* [https://github.com/rails-sqlserver/tiny_tds TinyTDS], Ruby bindings to FreeTDS.
* [http://jtds.sourceforge.net jTDS], a pure-Java [[JDBC]] driver for TDS databases
* [http://jbcp.sourceforge.net jBCP], an extension of jTDS to include BCP protocols
* [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7318075.html United States Patent 7318075: Enhanced tabular data stream protocol], Microsoft
* [http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?WO=2008151016 Patent: TRANSPORTING TABLE VALUED PARAMETER OVER TABULAR DATA STREAM PROTOCOL], Microsoft
* [http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090112889 Patent application: COMPRESSING NULL COLUMNS IN ROWS OF THE TABULAR DATA STREAM PROTOCOL], Microsoft
* [https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/wikis/Protocols/tds WireShark wiki: Protocol tds]

[[Category:Application layer protocols]]
[[Category:Database access protocols]]