Article
· Dec 23, 2015 1m read
Caché ObjectScript Quick Reference

In the Caché Foundations course, students are learning about Caché Development and ObjectScript syntax at the same time. To help students complete the exercises, we provide an ObjectScript Quick Reference (aka "the Cheat Sheet").

It is not a reference for all of ObjectScript! It is a list of the ObjectScript commands and functions that students use during the course, along with common syntax for objects, collections, etc. It also contains some useful macros.

7 6
0 1.3K
Article
· Feb 19, 2016 2m read
Simple $system.Event examples

The attached file contains two $system.Event examples that processes work asynchronously using persistent queues:

Events_Simple

This is a very basic example that creates some worker processes and then enqueue messages to them using $system.Event.

5 6
1 1.1K

In my previous article, we reviewed possible use-cases for macros, so let’s now proceed to a more comprehensive example of macros usability. In this article we will design and build a logging system.

Logging system

Logging system is a useful tool for monitoring the work of an application that saves a lot of time during debugging and monitoring. Our system would consist of two parts:

  • Storage class (for log records)
  • Set of macros that automatically add a new record to the log

15 6
9 2.9K
Article
· Aug 2, 2022 8m read
Data models in InterSystems IRIS

Before we start talking about databases and different data models that exist, first we'd better talk about what a database is and how to use it.

A database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. It is used to store and retrieve structured, semi-structured, or raw data which is often related to a theme or activity.

At the heart of every database lies at least one model used to describe its data. And depending on the model it is based on, a database may have slightly different characteristics and store different types of data.

To write, retrieve, modify, sort, transform or print the information from the database, a software called Database Management System (DBMS) is used.

The size, capacity, and performance of databases and their respective DBMS have increased by several orders of magnitude. It has been made possible by technological advances in various areas, such as processors, computer memory, computer storage, and computer networks. In general, the development of database technology can be divided into four generations based on the data models or structure: navigational, relational, object and post-relational.

16 5
4 1.5K

In the previous article, I have demonstrated a simple way to record data changes. At this time I have changed the "Audit Abstract Class" which is responsible for recording audit data and the data structure where the audit log will be recorded.

I have changed the data structure to a parent and child structure where there will be two tables to record the "transaction" and the "fields its values" changed on that transaction.

Take a look at the new data model:

6 4
1 948
Article
· Apr 27, 2017 7m read
Level up your XDATA

XDATA is used for a whole host of ISC libraries to store things like Zen pages, BPL logic and DTL transformations.

XDATA is the equivalent of XML config files of the JAVA world and JSON config files of the JavaScript / NPM world.

Whilst Atelier looks to shift source code to the disk, XDATA will remain a key component to source control our projects config / meta data.

3 4
0 1.2K

What if you could serialize/deserialize objects in whatever format: JSON, XML, CSV,...; attending different criteria: export/import some properties and not others, transform values in this or that way before exporting/importing,...; and all of this without having to change the class definition? Wouldn't that be great??

Well, perhaps it's a goal too ambitious to reach 100% but, exploring this idea, I've developed a bunch of classes that I thought it was good to share. If you want to test, change, modify or improve the code, or just take a look at it, you can do it here. There you'll find a more detailed explanation (see Readme.md)

Be aware, this is a proof of concept for myself done in spare times, sure it's not robust enough or it can be done much better... but, I was just playing...ok, I could just wait to the new JSON Adaptor (coming soon!) that sure is going to resolve much more scenarios in a cleaner way, but... meanwhile... :-) ...

9 4
4 2.3K

This is the first article of a series diving into visualization tools and analysis of time series data. Obviously we are most interested in looking at performance related data we can gather from the Caché family of products. However, as we'll see down the road, we are absolutely not limited to that. For now we are exploring python and the libraries/tools available within that ecosystem.

9 4
1 1.6K

If you want to dynamically serve images as a property of JSON then there is no perfect encoding solution. One method used frequently is to Base64 encode the image. Whilst there are some negatives to doing this, such as data inflation, there are some positives to working with Base64 images inside the browser.

Let's say you have an image placeholder on a web page...

6 4
1 1.8K

This is a quick note on what happens when, on your CSP page, you call a cache script which returns a %Boolean and store that value in a javascript variable.

When you call a script with language="cache" and returntype="%Boolean" from a javascript script, the return value is interpreted as a string, not as a boolean.

Here's an example:

A cache script that returns (in theory) a "false" value:

0 3
0 519
Article
· Aug 8, 2017 1m read
Outperforming PostgreSQL and MySQL

In a previous exercise, I was able to show the power of Caché.
A medium-designed set of interdependent tables with some GB of data.
URLs cross reference over some million pages resulting in ~3 billion records

Competition was between

  • Caché
  • PostgreSQL
  • MySQL

Criteria were Speed + Storage consumption
I composed a customized loader fed over a "raw" TCP connection
Mapping the "objects" into the final table by directly writing to Global Storage.,

17 3
0 747
Article
· Mar 15, 2016 1m read
Code metrics over time

Among the outputs of our Yuzinji tool are two code metrics that it can be interesting to track over time as a development project proceeds. These are Size and XS. The first is fairly straightforward. As you write more code the size of your codebase increases. The XS metric (pronounced "excess") aims to quantify excessive structural complexity.

1 3
0 332

Here you have an easy way to write and execute COS code from your unix scripts. This way one does not need to write routines or even open Studio or Atelier. It can be an option for simple and small actions for instance things like installation tasks or compiling.

See sample bash script (compile.sh) to compile classes:

6 2
0 872

In this article I'd like to share with you a phenomena that is best you avoid - something you should be aware of when designing your data model (or building your Business Processes) in Caché or in Ensemble (or older HealthShare Health Connect Ensemble-based versions).

3 2
0 356

As a developer, you have probably spent at least some time writing repetetive code. You may have even found yourself wishing you could generate the code programmatically. If this sounds familiar, this article is for you!

We'll start with an example. Note: the following examples use the %DynamicObject interface, which requires Caché 2016.2 or later. If you are unfamiliar with this class, check out the documentation here: Using JSON in Caché. It's really cool!

20 2
3 3K
Article
· Feb 15, 2021 17m read
Four Database APIs

A concurrent session in IRIS:
SQL, Objects, REST, and GraphQL

Kazimir Malevich, "Athletes" (1932)

"But of course you don't understand! How can a person who has always traveled in a horse-drawn carriage understand the feelings and impressions of the express traveler or the pilot in the air?"

Kazimir Malevich (1916)

Introduction

We’ve already addressed the topic of why object/type representation is superior to SQL for implementing subject area models. And those conclusions and facts are as true now as they have ever been. So why should we take a step back and discuss technologies that drag abstractions back to the global level, where they had been in the pre-object and pre-type era? Why should we encourage the use of spaghetti code, which results in bugs that are hard to track down, and which relies only on virtuoso developer skills?

There are several arguments in favor of transmitting data via SQL/REST/GraphQL-based APIs as opposed to representing them as types/objects:

9 2
4 892
Article
· Feb 2, 2016 1m read
Creating an IDKEY with a chosen name

What do you do if you want to have the ID field have a meaningful name for your application?

Sometimes it comes to pass that when you're making a new table that you want to have the unique row identifier (a.k.a. IDKEY) to be a field that has a name that is meaningful for your data. Moreover, sometimes you want to set this value directly. Caché fully supports this functionality and it works Suppose you have a class Test.Kyle. The data will be stored like so:

^Test.Kyle(IDKEY)=$LB("",Field1,Field2,...,Fieldn)

3 2
0 438

This article was written as an attempt to share the experience of installing the InterSystems Caché DBMS for production environment.
We all know that the development configuration of a DBMS is very different from real-life conditions.
As a rule, development is carried out in “hothouse conditions” with a bare minimum of security measures, but when we publish our project online, we must ensure its reliable and uninterrupted operation in a very aggressive environment.

7 2
5 1.7K