#InterSystems IRIS

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.

Hi,

sometimes we need more then one Iris container at the same time. Since as containers they always have the same instance name shown in the management portal, it is hard to distinguish the management-portals of the instances. Searching for a way to make it easier I thought I could change the instance name shown in the management portal. I tried "iris rename" in different ways but could only change the configuration name which is shown by "iris list", not the name in the management portal.

Hi Everyone,
Please suggest/share best practices and sample questions that would help me to secure InterSystems HL7 specialist Certification.

If you want to find out what exact version your Docker image is (and since the latest image tagging scheme you cannot just rely on the image tag; and assuming you don't want to actually run it just in order to find out) you can run this docker command:

Greetings dear community members!

Many of you will remember the NLP capabilities available in IRIS under the name iKnow, which were deprecated not long ago. But...is everything deprecated? NO! A small village resists deprecation: iFind indexes!

Hi, Community!

Need to connect your .NET application to InterSystems IRIS® data platform? See how Entity Framework Core can help:

Using Entity Framework Core with InterSystems IRIS

I have a custom Buffer class which is designed to capture written/printed statements to the device, to be able to transform the captured text to string or stream type. I have used this in ObjectScript to capture ObjectScript write statements and return a string. I would like to try to use this with a [ Language = python ] method as follows. This class will be called by a scheduled task.

/// ObjectScript code which initializes buffer to capture statements written in nested method call
ClassMethod CollectStringFromBuffer() 
{
    set buffer = ##class(CustomClass.Buffer).%New()
    do buffer.

When I install the numpy package on Python on my PC using:

pip install numpy

I can use it in python on my machine. If I do:

pip install --target C:\InterSystems\IRIS\mgr\python numpy

I get errors any time I try to import it in embedded python.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "c:\intersystems\iris\mgr\python\numpy\_core\__init__.py", line 23, in <module>
    from . import multiarray
  File "c:\intersystems\iris\mgr\python\numpy\_core\multiarray.py", line 10, in <module>
    from . import overrides
  File "c:\intersystems\iris\mgr\python\numpy\_core\overrides.

Hi

I'm getting an error when trying to connect to rabbitmq using the link and source code below.

Is there a solution?

https://community.intersystems.com/post/how-produce-and-consume-rabbitm…

Set setting = ##class(%External.Messaging.RabbitMQSettings).%New()

Set tClient = ##class(%External.Messaging.Client).CreateClient(setting, .tSC)

Error : 5023,"Connection cannot be established"

Thank you

Overview

The typeorm-iris project provides experimental support for integrating TypeORM with InterSystems IRIS, enabling developers to interact with IRIS using TypeORM’s well-known decorators and repository abstractions. This allows a more familiar development experience for JavaScript and TypeScript developers building Node.js applications with IRIS as the backend database.

While the project implements key integration points with TypeORM and supports basic entity operations, it’s not yet battle-tested or suitable for production environments.

It appears as though command history is not available via up/down arrow keyboard keys when using the SQL Shell. Is there anything in the works to change that?

Also, typing the colon character (:) as the first character after the prompt in Terminal Lite does odd things in 2025.1.1 ... every keystroke starting with the colon is echoed back and pressing Enter generates an error:

The red :SQL on the first line was echoed simultaneously as the :SQL in white was typed. Also, it's obvious that aliases don't work in Terminal Lite 😉

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(.

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

Here is what I currently have:

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.

#InterSystems Demo Games entry

⏯️ AI Clinical Trial Platform

The Trial AI platform leverages InterSystems cloud services including the FHIR Transformation Service and IRIS Cloud SQL to assist with clinical trial recruitment, an expensive and prevalent problem. It does this by ingesting structured and unstructured healthcare data, then uses AI to help identify eligible patients.

Presenters:
🗣 @Vic Sun, Sales Engineer, InterSystems
🗣 @Mohamed Oukani, Senior Sales Engineer, InterSystems
🗣 @Bhavya Kandimalla, Sales Engineer, InterSystems

I am brand new to using AI. I downloaded some medical visit progress notes from my Patient Portal. I extracted text from PDF files. I found a YouTube video that showed how to extract metadata using an OpenAI query / prompt such as this one:

ollama-ai-iris/data/prompts/medical_progress_notes_prompt.txt at main · oliverwilms/ollama-ai-iris
 

I combined @Rodolfo Pscheidt Jr https://github.com/RodolfoPscheidtJr/ollama-ai-iris with some files from @Guillaume Rongier https://openexchange.intersystems.com/package/iris-rag-demo.

I attempted to run

python3 query_data.

Thirteen years ago, I attained dual undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering and math, then promptly started full-time at InterSystems using neither. One of my most memorable and stomach-churning academic experiences was in Stats II. On an exam, I was solving a moderately difficult confidence interval problem. I was running out of time, so (being an engineer) I wrote out the definite integral on the exam paper, punched it into my graphing calculator, wrote an arrow with “calculator” over it, then wrote the result.

Overview

The extension and source code are now available
After having some discussions at Global Summit and using a lot of package managers in my day to day development (npm,nuget,Chocolatey, etc) in addition to recently using the InterSystems Package Manager for some CICD process I'm building using Intersystems IRIS and IRIS 4 Health, I wanted an easy and integrated way to search/view/install packages related to the Intersystems tech stack.

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

Why Randomization is Key When Splitting Data for Machine Learning

Post:
Essentially, Machine Learning is about learning from data. Having "good" data leads to better models, and more importantly, the quality of the information being used plays a crucial role in improving prediction accuracy.

One critical step in the process is how we separate our data into training and validation sets. If this isn’t done properly, we risk introducing bias, overfitting, or unrealistic performance expectations for the model.

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.

Hi everybody,

A customer would like to connect an IRIS database to Metabase BI.  But Metabase does not have a connector that supports the IRIS database.

Metabase only supports these databases:

- Amazon Athena
- BigQuery (Google Cloud Platform)
- Druid
- MongoDB (recommend version 4.2 or higher)
- MySQL (recommend version 8.0.33 or higher, as well as MariaDB version 10.4 or higher)
- Oracle
- PostgreSQL
- Presto
- Redshift (Amazon Web Services)
- Snowflake
- SparkSQL
- SQL Server
- SQLite
- Vertica

And a few others. 

However, it is possible to create a driver for Metabase that connect to IRIS.

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).

Hello everyone,

I would like to ask whether it is possible to run InterSystems API manager (IAM) on OpenShift. Is there some documentation describing how to do it? I was searching the forum as well as the internet and I have not found much unfortunately.

Any hints would be highly appreciated.

Best regards

Martin Zukal

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

Word documents are widely used in the market. Users frequently create contracts, memos, resumes, reports, analyses, and other documents that may require data from or captured by InterSystems IRIS. However, IRIS does not have an API, SDK, library, or adapter for this. This limitation no longer exists. 

The new Open Exchange library iris4word (https://openexchange.intersystems.com/package/iris4word) delivers an ObjectScript SDK where the developer passes any %DynamicObject as a parameter, a Word file template and then receives a ready document, with the structure and formatting defined in its template.

Let's start with a simple motivating question: over the past 14 days, what are my most common errors in the Application Error Log?

Answering this through the management portal or terminal is an annoying manual process - we should just be able to use SQL. Fortunately, there are a few class queries to help with this in the SYS.ApplicationError class in the %SYS namespace. You can answer the question for a single date with something like:

select "Error message",count(*)
from SYS.

If you are investigating complex structured Globals this can become
a rather boring typing exercise. Different from Global Explorer in
System Management Portal Global-Inspector allows a kind of drill-down
to dig deeper and deeper by subscript levels.
You also have the option to see the stored content or to show only
the subscript structures.
Globals storing SQL Tables are probably not so thrilling, but in SYSTEM
space you find real trees with completely different branches and twigs.

Global-Inspector can run in browser or from terminal command line.

The new version of InterSystems Testing Manager which I released last week brings @Timothy Leavitt's cool 
Test Coverage Tool to VS Code, and is my entry for the 2025 Developer Tools contest.

Here's a teaser screenshot showing how the unit tests of the IPM project don't yet cover a feature that apparently allows an IPM repository to override its sort order.