Article
· Jun 18, 2025 2m read
Options for Python Devs + Poll!

I am writing this post primarily to gather an informal consensus on how developers are using Python in conjunction with IRIS, so please respond to the poll at the end of this article! In the body of the article, I'll give some background on each choice provided, as well as the advantages for each, but feel free to skim over it and just respond to the poll.

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When using standard SQL or the object layer in InterSystems IRIS, metadata consistency is usually maintained through built-in validation and type enforcement. However, legacy systems that bypass these layers—directly accessing globals—can introduce subtle and serious inconsistencies.

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If you're migrating from Oracle to InterSystems IRIS—like many of my customers—you may run into Oracle-specific SQL patterns that need translation.

Take this example:

SELECT (TO_DATE('2023-05-12','YYYY-MM-DD') - LEVEL + 1) AS gap_date
FROM dual
CONNECT BY LEVEL <= (TO_DATE('2023-05-12','YYYY-MM-DD') - TO_DATE('2023-05-02','YYYY-MM-DD') + 1);

In Oracle:

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Question
· Dec 21, 2025
XDBC memory leaks

I have a business service that actively reads data from a remote Postgres database. OnProcessInput opens a XDBC (actually JDBC) connection, executes an SQL query, fetches several thousand rows, iterates the resultset, and closes the connection. On each iteration I also need to update each source row in the remote database using PreparedStatement.

In other words, in every OnProcessInput call I have a long running SELECT statement and several thousands small UPDATE statements.

The problems I'm facing are:

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For developers building external applications, especially those using familiar technologies like C#, ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) is a crucial, standardized bridge to any relational database, including InterSystems IRIS. While InterSystems offers its own native ADO.NET provider, the ODBC driver is often the most straightforward path for integration with generic database tools and frameworks.

Here is a step-by-step guide to getting your C# application connected to an IRIS instance using the ODBC driver, focusing on DSN-less connection string.

Step 1: Install the InterSystems IRIS ODBC Driver

The InterSystems ODBC driver is installed by default when you install InterSystems IRIS on a Windows machine.

  • If IRIS is on the same machine: The driver is already present.
  • If IRIS is on a remote server: You must download and install the standalone ODBC client driver package for your client operating system (Windows, Linux, or macOS) and bitness (32-bit or 64-bit) from WRC website if you're a client or by installing Client components and copying ODBC driver.

Once installed, you can verify its presence in the ODBC Data Source Administrator tool on Windows (look for the InterSystems IRIS ODBC35 driver).

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Hello Developers! 👋
I’m excited to introduce IRIS IO Utility, my submission for the InterSystems "Bringing Ideas to Reality" Contest 2025. This VS Code extension provides you an intuitive and powerful interface for importing and exporting data without leaving your IDE.

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I have set up an ODBC driver for InterSystems and would like to set up a linked server. This all works except I cannot see the columns details. If I access the database from excel I can get the columns and types of the various tables

Any help or instructions would be appreciated

Terry

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