#SQL

When working with InterSystems IRIS, database developers and architects often face a critical decision: whether to use Dynamic SQL or Embedded SQL for querying and updating data. Both methods have their unique strengths and use cases, but understanding their performance implications is essential to making the right choice. Response time, a key metric in evaluating application performance, can vary significantly depending on the SQL approach used. Dynamic SQL offers flexibility, as queries can be constructed and executed at runtime, making it ideal for scenarios with unpredictable or highly variable query needs. Conversely, Embedded SQL emphasizes stability and efficiency by integrating SQL code directly into application logic, offering optimized response times for predefined query patterns.

In this article, I will explore the response times when using these two types of SQL and how they depend on different class structures and usage of parameters. So to do this, I'm going to use the following classes from the diagram:

In this article, exceptions are covered.

Working with Exceptions

Instead of returning a %Status response, you can raise and throw an Exception. You are then responsible for catching the exception and validating it. IRIS provides five main classes to handle exceptions effectively. Additionally, you can create custom exception class definition based on your needs.

Here at InterSystems, we often deal with massive datasets of structured data. It’s not uncommon to see customers with tables spanning >100 fields and >1 billion rows, each table totaling hundred of GB of data. Now imagine joining two or three of these tables together, with a schema that wasn’t optimized for this specific use case. Just for fun, let’s say you have 10 years worth of EMR data from 20 different hospitals across your state, and you’ve been tasked with finding….

User-defined aggregate functions have been supported in IRIS since 2021.1.0. I'd wished upon a star for these years ago before finding a secret hacky way to override MAX and MIN in a custom datatype, but didn't get a chance to actually try one out until today.

I implemented a Python Flask application for the 2024 Python Contest with a page that provides common form fields for an outgoing email such as the To and CC fields. And it lets you input a message as well as uploading text based attachments.

Then using LlamaIndex in Python, the app analyzes the content you put in and returns to you in a result box if there is anything that should stop you from sending that email.

Take a look at the Github repo here.

In this article, we’ll dive into the inner workings of the database management tool, exploring the architecture and technologies that power it. Understanding how the application functions behind the scenes will give you insight into its design, how it manages databases, tables, and how the API interacts with data.

Hello!
So my question is quite simple, Do the different data models of Intersystems all support the ACID properties?
I assume that for the SQL data model implementation it does, But does it also work for global (i.e the hierarchical data model)?

Migrating from Oracle, MSSQL, or other purely relational database systems to a multimodel InterSystems IRIS is a strategic decision that requires careful planning and execution. While this transition offers significant benefits, including enhanced performance, scalability, and support for modern architectures, it also comes with challenges. In this article I will highlight some of the considerations connected to coding to ensure a successful migration. I will leave everything connected to an actual migration of structures and data outside the scope of this article.

First, when you're considering migrating to a different database system, you need to understand your business logic, whether it's on the side of the application (application server) or the database server. Basically, where do you have your SQL statements that you will need to potentially rewrite?

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.

Hello all,

I need help with coming up with a SQL query that pulls only one value. I have a case where two providers share the exact same name. Each has a different NPI number and IdentityTypeId. I tried the below query - output is also below.

In the past, I've created custom SQL operations, but now I had something trivial to do, so I decided to take EnsLib.SQL.Operation.GenericOperation out for a spin. There's no example in the docs, so it was a little tricky. Here's what I ended up doing:

In my external database, I have 'mytable' with two fields 'id1' and 'id2'. Here are the pertinent Business Operation settings:

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.

Hello Community,

The Certification Team of InterSystems Learning Services is excited to announce the release of our new InterSystems IRIS SQL Specialist exam. It is now available for purchase and scheduling in InterSystems exam catalog. Potential candidates can review the exam topics and the practice questions to help orient them to exam question approaches and content. Candidates who successfully pass the exam will receive a digital certification badge that can be shared on social media accounts like LinkedIn.

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: