Independent Database Application Programming Interface also known as the Borland Database Engine (BDE). PTWin32 uses this database engine to access and deliver data. It maintains information about your PC's environment in the IDAPI configuration file (usually called IDAPI.CFG). Use the BDE Configuration Utility to change the settings in this configuration file. Many commercial software programs including PTWin32 use this common layer of software.

stands for Integrated Database API. It unifies ISAM type data access and Query oriented (SQL or QBE) data access into a consistent cursor model. It appeared in mid 1994 and incorporated some of the work done by the IDAPI technical committee (consisting of Borland, IBM, Novell and Wordperfect). It was known as the BDE version 2 (there was not BDE v1 because it was called ODAPI). The term IDAPI is used to not only refer to the API portion but also to refer to the overall technology and it supercedes the ODAPI term that was used with earlier incarnations of this technology.

Borland-supported competition to ODBC.