From the previous article, we identified some issues when working with JSON in SQL.

IRIS offers a dedicated feature for handling JSON documents, called DocDB.

InterSystems IRIS® data platform DocDB is a facility for storing and retrieving database data. It is compatible with, but separate from, traditional SQL table and field (class and property) data storage and retrieval. It is based on JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) which provides support for web-based data exchange. InterSystems IRIS provides support for developing DocDB databases and applications in REST and in ObjectScript, as well as providing SQL support for creating or querying DocDB data.

By its nature, InterSystems IRIS Document Database is a schema-less data structure. That means that each document has its own structure, which may differ from other documents in the same database. This has several benefits when compared with SQL, which requires a pre-defined data structure.

The word “document” is used here as a specific industry-wide technical term, as a dynamic data storage structure. “Document”, as used in DocDB, should not be confused with a text document, or with documentation.

Let's explore how DocDB can help store JSON in the database and integrate it into projects that rely solely on xDBC protocols.

We recently changed the 'UserID" property in a "User" class from type of %String to be %Library.Username. This is for better consistency across our codebase regarding MAXLEN limit.

%Library.Username is a system wrapper datatype which extends %String and has a MAXLEN of 160. This change should have minimal/no impact on code behavior. However, we found that some SQL query cannot return expected rows after the change. Query will return empty values even if the entry is in the table.

Parallel query hinting boosts certain query performances on multi-processor systems via parallel processing. The SQL optimizer determines when this is beneficial. On single-processor systems, this hint has no effect.

Parallel processing can be managed by:

1. Setting the auto parallel option system-wide.
2. Using the %PARALLEL keyword in the FROM clause of specific queries.

%PARALLEL is ignored when it applied to:

InterSystems IRIS 2024 recently introduced the vector types.
This addition empowers developers to work with vector search, enabling efficient similarity searches, clustering, and a range of other applications.
In this article, we will delve into the intricacies of vector types, explore their applications, and provide practical examples to guide your implementation.

Using SQL Gateway with Python, Vector Search, and Interoperability in InterSystems Iris

Part 3 – REST and Interoperability

Now that we have finished the configuration of the SQL Gateway and we have been able to access the data from the external database via python, and we have set up our vectorized base, we can perform some queries. For this in this part of the article we will use an application developed with CSP, HTML and Javascript that will access an integration in Iris, which then performs the search for data similarity, sends it to LLM and finally returns the generated SQL. The CSP page calls an API in Iris that receives the data to be used in the query, calling the integration. For more information about REST in the Iris see the documentation available at https://docs.intersystems.com/irislatest/csp/docbook/DocBook.UI.Page.cls...

InterSystems FAQ rubric

By default, the order of columns in a table is determined automatically by the system. To change the order, explicitly set the order for each property using the property keyword SqlColumnNumber when defining the class.

Example:

Property Name As %String [SqlColumnNumber = 2];

Please see the documentation below.

Introduction

InterSystems IRIS allows you to build REST APIs using ObjectScript classes and the %CSP.REST framework. This enables the development of modern services to expose data for web apps, mobile apps, or system integrations.

In this article, you'll learn how to create a basic REST API in InterSystems IRIS, including:

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:

Prompt

Firstly, we need to understand what prompt words are and what their functions are.

Prompt Engineering

Hint word engineering is a method specifically designed for optimizing language models.
Its goal is to guide these models to generate more accurate and targeted output text by designing and adjusting the input prompt words.

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.