#InterSystems IRIS

The article was motivated by the 2025 September Article Bounty
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The principle of Docker is just convincing to me.

• Get a sandbox where you play and try whatever you want/need to do
• Once done. You drop it without leaving traces in your working environment

This was the technical base for me to run about 700 reviews in OEX 
with almost no side effects  (except those caused by myself).

For beginners, I'll start with straight pure IRIS, no *health, *ML, *whatever

First, you need a Docker installation. It's available on almost any platform.

InterSystems FAQ rubric

In InterSystems IRIS, you can create linked tables using commands, instead of using System Explorer > SQL > Wizard > Linked Tables in the Management Portal:

To create a linked table, use the CreateLinkedTable method of the %SYSTEM.SQL.Schema class. See the class reference for details.

To execute it, follow these steps:

set sc = $SYSTEMSQL.Schema.

Hi folks!

Sometimes, when designing a class method and feeding it with more and more useful features, very soon the number of parameters can reach 10 and even more.

It becomes pretty difficult for users of useful methods to remember the position of the important parameter, and it is very easy to misuse the position and transfer the wrong value to the wrong parameter.

Here is an example of such a method (I asked GPT to create a method with 20 params):

ClassMethod GenerateReportWith20Params(
    pTitle As %String = "",
    pAuthor As %String = "",
    pDate As %String = "",            // e.g. 2025-09-03
    pCompany As %String = "",
    pDepartment As %String = "",
    pVersion As %String = "1.0",
    pFormat As %String = "pdf",       // pdf|html|docx
    pIncludeCharts As %Boolean = 1,
    pIncludeSummary As %Boolean = 1,
    pIncludeAppendix As %Boolean = 0,
    pConfidentiality As %String = "Public",
    pLanguage As %String = "en",
    pReviewers As %String = "",       // CSV, e.g. "Alice,Bob"
    pApprover As %String = "",
    pLogoPath As %String = "",
    pWatermarkText As %String = "",
    pColorScheme As %String = "default",
    pPageSize As %String = "A4",
    pOrientation As %String = "Portrait",
    pOutputPath As %String = "report.pdf"
) As %Status
{

// implementation
}

InterSystems IRIS interoperability production development involves using or writing various types of components. They include services (which handle incoming data), processes (which deal with the data flow and logic), and operations (which manage outgoing data or requests). Messages flowing through those components constantly require being adapted to consuming applications. Therefore,Data transformations are by far the most common component in interoperability productions.

In the early stages of data transformation development, the test tool from the Management Portal becomes quite handy.

Customer support questions span structured data (orders, products 🗃️), unstructured knowledge (docs/FAQs 📚), and live systems (shipping updates 🚚). In this post we’ll ship a compact AI agent that handles all three—using:

• 🧠 Python + smolagents to orchestrate the agent’s “brain”
• 🧰 InterSystems IRIS for SQL, Vector Search (RAG), and Interoperability (a mock shipping status API)

As part of a recent documentation technical project to optimize the search, I needed to use Embedded Python in my ObjectScript code. The main blocker was passing a Python list from a Python class method to a ObjectScript method. Sending the list by reference to the python method, populating it with the Insert() method, and returning the reference to the ObjectScript method resulted in an list with type %SYS.Python, a process that was straightforward but not efficient.
I explored an alternative method: converting a Python list to an ObjectScript list using JSON as the intermediary format.

InterSystems FAQ rubric

There is data, such as execution log data, that you do not want to return to its previous state even if a rollback occurs during a transaction. The above requirement can be met by placing that data in the IRISTEMP database, which will not be rolled back.

Temporary Globals and the IRISTEMP Database

By mapping the table entities you do not want to roll back to this database, you can retain the information after the rollback.

Hi folks!

It is very easy to import CSV data into IRIS. But what if we want to preserve the original IDs in CSV?

Recently I came across with the situation when I needed to import two csv's into IRIS which were linked by one column referencing  to another csv's col: a typical Foreign Key and Primary Key situation, where csv1 contains this column as Primary Key, and csv2 as Foreign key with id's related to csv1.

The image is generated by ChatGPT so don't blame it - it tried its best to generate countries as primary keys with countries.csv-cities.csv relationship :)

I am regularly contacted by customers about memory sizing when they get alerts that free memory is below a threshold, or they observe that free memory has dropped suddenly. Is there a problem? Will their application stop working because it has run out of memory for running system and application processes? Nearly always, the answer is no, there is nothing to worry about. But that simple answer is usually not enough. What's going on?

Consider the chart below. It is showing the output of the free metric in vmstat.

In this case, a robot is nothing like Gort from the movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still” or any other humanoid robot from science fiction. Nor is this Robot the one-armed automated welder from a real-world automotive assembly line. This Robot is a program that controls another program. You might want this for automated testing or to capture application logic from an application for which you don’t have the source, and the application’s author lacked the kindness or foresight to provide an API for its capabilities.

Recently, I replaced my old laptop with a new one and had to migrate all my data. I was looking for a guide but couldn’t find anything that explained in detail how to migrate server connections from InterSystems Studio and Visual Studio Code from one PC to another. Simply reinstalling the tools is not enough, and migrating all the connections manually seemed like a waste of time. In the end, I managed to solve the problem, and this article explains how.

InterSystems Studio

Exporting Server Connections

Migrating Studio connections was the most challenging part.

While starting with Intersystems IRIS or Cache, developers often encounter three core concepts: Dynamic Objects, Globals & Relational Table. Each has its role in building scalable and maintainable solutions. In this article, we'll walk through practical code examples, highlight best practices, and show how these concepts tie together. 

1. Working with Dynamic Objects:

Dynamic objects (%DynamicObject and %DynamicArray) allow developers to manipulate JSON-like structures directly in Objectscript. They are especially useful for modern applications that need to parse, transform or generate JSON.

Dynamic Entities (objects and arrays) in IRIS are incredibly useful in situations where you are having to transform JSON data into an Object Model for storage to the database, such as in REST API endpoints hosted within IRIS. This is because these dynamic objects and arrays can easily serve as a point of conversion from one data structure to the other.

The August Article Bounty on the Global Masters article caught my attention, and one of the proposed topics sounded quite interesting in regard to its future use in my teaching. So, here's what I'd like to tell my students about tables in IRIS and how they correlate with the object model. 

First of all, InterSystems IRIS boasts a unified data model. This means that when you work with data, you are not locked into a single paradigm. The same data can be accessed and manipulated as a traditional SQL table, as a native object, or even as a multidimensional array (a global). It means that when you create an SQL table, IRIS automatically creates a corresponding object class. When you define an object class, IRIS automatically makes it available as an SQL table. The data itself is stored only once in IRIS's efficient multidimensional storage engine. The SQL engine and the object engine are simply different "lenses" to view and work with the same data.

First, let's look at the correlation between the relational model and the object model:

It's not always a 1:1 correlation, as you may have several tables represent one class, for example. But it's a general rule of thumb. 

Over the years, I’ve noticed that certain SQL questions come up repeatedly on the InterSystems Developer Community, especially about using the LIKE predicate in different contexts. Common variations include:

• using special characters in queries
• using variables in queries

and many more derivatives. So, I decided to write an article that focuses on how LIKE works in InterSystems IRIS SQL, especially when used with variables in Embedded SQL, Dynamic SQL, and Class Queries, while touching on pattern escaping and special character searches.

First of all, I'd like to mention that InterSystems IRIS SQL offers most of the capabilities available in other relational DBMS that implement a later version of the SQL standard. But at the same time, it's important to mention that apart from relational access, in IRIS you can also use other models to get the same data, for example, object or document models. 

On this note, let's look at the LIKE predicate and how this tool is used in SQL for pattern matching. 

This great article sparked some recent private discussion, and I'd like to share some of my own thoughts from it.
The motivating concern boils down to: Why do we need coding rules or conventions at all? What happened to the wonderful era of the Renaissance artist-programmer forging their own path, prior to being supplanted by the craftsman and now (even worse) by AI?
In short, there are a few reasons why coding standards/guidelines are useful, and the Renaissance artist-programmer is not entirely gone.

This article outlines the process of utilizing the renowned Jaeger solution for tracing InterSystems IRIS applications. Jaeger is an open-source product for tracking and identifying issues, especially in distributed and microservices environments. This tracing backend that emerged at Uber in 2015 was inspired by Google's Dapper and Twitter's OpenZipkin. It later joined the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) as an incubating project in 2017, achieving graduated status in 2019. This guide will demonstrate how to operate the containerized Jaeger solution integrated with IRIS.

IrisTest is a light weight, powerful, user-friendly tool designed to simplify unit test report generation. It includes an interactive shell and API to facilitate communication, allowing developers to easily manage and generate reports for their test runs in various formats. Whether you're debugging or creating detailed reports for analysis, IrisTest makes the process smooth and efficient!

Reviewing my published packages, I identified a nasty bug in IRIS Native API

• There is a method in  %Net.DB.Iris named function ()
• It's equivalent to  ObjectScript $$label^routine(param) 
• It used to work fine 2 years ago, when I published my command-line-extension packages
• Now it is broken since at least 1 year and throws <PROTECT>
• I identified it for ObjecScript, Java, Python, Node.js
• It is reported as WRC# 1002589
• For all 4 cases, I also verified a workaround
  • Instead of calling an ObjectScript Function you call a Classmethod
  • It's by %Net.DB.Iris ClassMethodValue(.

Working in healthcare IT as a young developer, especially on InterSystems TrakCare, you quickly realize one thing: it’s not just about HL7 messages or backend integrations. A huge part of making TrakCare work smoothly for hospitals comes down to how it’s configured, customized, and supported on the application side.

That’s where people like me come in—techno-functional developers who understand both the tech and how it impacts actual hospital workflows.

We’re Not Just Techies (or Functional Consultants)

Our role sits right in the middle.

If you like what you see please support this in the Developer Tools 2025 contest. Voting closes at midnight EDT on Sunday 3rd.

If you’ve ever watched a true artisan—whether a potter turning mud into a masterpiece or a luthier bringing raw wood to life as a marvelous guitar—you know that magic isn’t in the materials, but in care, craft, and process. I know this firsthand: my handmade electric guitar is a daily inspiration, but I’ll admit—creating something like that is a talent I don’t have.

Yet, in the digital world, I often see people hoping for “magic” from generative AI by typing vague, context-free prompts like “build an app.” The results are usually frustratingly shallow—no artistry, no finesse.

SQL injection remains one of the most critical vulnerabilities in database-driven applications, allowing attackers to manipulate queries and potentially access or compromise sensitive data. In InterSystems IRIS, developers have access to both Dynamic SQL and Embedded SQL, each with distinct characteristics. Understanding how to use them securely is essential for preventing SQL injection.

The Problem: Dynamic SQL and SQL Injection

Dynamic SQL constructs queries as strings at runtime. While this offers flexibility, it also creates a vulnerability if user input is not handled correctly.

This article will introduce you to the concept of virtual environments in Python, which are essential for managing dependencies and isolating project from the OS.

What is a Virtual Environment?

A virtual environment is a folder that contains :

• A specific version of Python
• At start an empty site-packages directory

Virtual environments will help you to isolate your project from the OS Python installation and from other projects.

How to use it?

Overview I'm excited to announce the release of testcontainers-iris-node, a Node.js library that makes it easy to spin up temporary InterSystems IRIS containers for integration and E2E testing. This project is a natural addition to the existing family of Testcontainers adapters for IRIS, including testcontainers-iris-python and testcontainers-iris-java.

Why testcontainers-iris-node? As a Node.js developer working with InterSystems IRIS, I often faced challenges when setting up test environments that mimic production. testcontainers-iris-node solves this by leveraging the testcontainers-node framework to create isolated IRIS environments on-demand.

This is particularly valuable for:

• Integration testing with IRIS databases
• Testing data pipelines or microservices
• Automating test environments in CI pipelines

Features

• Launches IRIS in Docker containers using Testcontainers
• Supports custom Docker images and configuration
• Wait strategies to ensure IRIS is ready before tests begin
• Clean teardown between test runs

Well... It's time for testing. We know that often, it's already over. So, what now? Can I improve the quality of my development?

The answer is: YES. Yes, you can. The Toolqa tool aims to do just that. It's a facilitator. What's its goal?

To ensure that APIs meet pre-established business requirements, while also protecting against <sarcasm>  future failed attempts </sarcasm>  to destroy your application, website, app, or anything else that uses your API.

Now you might be wondering, how does this happen? Where's the magic?

The ToolQA.tool.

Sometimes your client may request documentation of your BI or interoperability project in a formal document. In this case, MS Word is a good alternative, as it has an advanced editor that allows you to generate professional documentation. Now it's possible!
The iris4word app has this functionality!

Final MS Word Document	Word Template

iris4word business logic

the iris4word get BI asset list and metadata using the InterSystems IRIS BI REST API documented on (https://docs.intersystems.com/healthconnectlatest/csp/docbook/DocBook.UI.Page.cls?KEY=D2CLIENT_rest_api).

In this section, we will explore how to use Python as the primary language in IRIS, allowing you to write your application logic in Python while still leveraging the power of IRIS.

• Introduction Python First Approach in IRIS
  • How to use it (irispython)
    • What is irispython?
    • Example of using irispython
    • Pros
    • Cons
    • Conclusion
  • Using WSGI
    • How to use it
    • Example of using WSGI
    • Pros
    • Cons
    • Conclusion
  • DB-API
    • How to use it
    • Example of using DB-API
    • Pros
    • Cons
    • Alternatives
    • Conclusion
  • Notebook
    • How to use it
    • Example of using Notebook
    • Pros
    • Cons
    • Conclusion
• Bonus Section
  • Using a native interpreter (no irispython)
    • How to use it
    • Pros
    • Cons
  • DB-API Community Edition
    • How to use it
    • Example of using DB-API
    • Pros
    • Cons
  • Debugging Python Code in IRIS
    • How to use it
    • Pros
    • Cons
    • Conclusion
  • IoP (Interoperability on Python)
• Conclusion

Imagine you’re walking down the street on a nice summer’s day, and someone walks up to you and says “Hey, you work at InterSystems, right? I’ve been hearing more and more about InterSystems IRIS lately. I know IRIS has its own programing language called ObjectBook? or InstaScript? OK, I admit it, I know it’s called ObjectScript! I know IRIS also supports Python. I’m a Python developer, so that sounds great to me. But I’m also interested in ObjectScript. For example, Python and other languages support collections. Does ObjectScript support collections?”

You’d answer “Of course!”

And then your new friend might get excited and start firing off more questions:

• How many kinds of collections does ObjectScript support?
• Can ObjectScript use Python collections?
• Can Python use ObjectScript collections?
• Which collection is best?

How would you answer? Well, you don’t have to worry about answering. All you’d have to do is send your new friend the URL of this long page.

Sending emails is a common requirement in integration scenarios — whether for client reminders, automatic reports, or transaction confirmations. Static messages quickly become hard to maintain and personalize. This is where the templated_email module comes in, combining InterSystems IRIS Interoperability with the power of Jinja2 templates.

Why Jinja2 for Emails

Jinja2 is a popular templating engine from the Python ecosystem that enables fully dynamic content generation.