In my previous article, Using LIKE with Variables and Patterns in SQL, we explored how the LIKE predicate behaves in different scenarios, from Embedded SQL to Dynamic SQL, and what happens to performance when wildcards and variables come into play. That piece was about getting comfortable writing a working LIKE query. But writing SQL that works is only the starting point. To build applications that are reliable, scalable, and secure, you need to understand the best practices that underpin all SQL, including queries that use LIKE.

This article takes the next step. We’ll look at a few key points to help strengthen your SQL code, avoid common pitfalls, and make sure your SELECT statements run not just correctly, but also efficiently and safely. I'll use SELECT statements with LIKE predicate as an example along the way, showing how these broader principles directly affect your queries and their results.

*This is what Gemini came up with for this article, kinda cute.

Introduction

In a previous article, I presented the IRIStool module, which seamlessly integrates the pandas Python library with the IRIS database. Now, I'm explaining how we can use IRIStool to leverage InterSystems IRIS as a foundation for intelligent, semantic search over healthcare data in FHIR format.

This article covers what I did to create the database for another of my projects, the FHIR Data Explorer. Both projects are candidates in the current InterSystems contest, so please vote for them if you find them useful.

You can find them at the Open Exchange:

• IRIStool and Data Manager
• FHIR Data Explorer

In this article we'll cover:

• Connecting to InterSystems IRIS database through Python
• Creating a FHIR-ready database schema
• Importing FHIR data with vector embeddings for semantic search

Hi everyone! 👋
I’m excited to share the project I’ve submitted to the current InterSystems .Net, Java, Python, and JavaScript Contest — it’s called IRIStool and Data Manager, and you can find it on the InterSystems Open Exchange and on my GitHub page.

When we need to integrate Caché/IRIS with other relational databases, one common question arises: “How do I set up the JDBC connection?”.
The official documentation doesn’t always provide a straightforward step-by-step guide, which can be frustrating, especially for beginners.

In this article, I’ll walk you through the entire process of configuring a JDBC connection with MySQL, from downloading the connector to linking tables in Caché/IRIS.

Note: JDBC connections in Caché/IRIS have some limitations, especially regarding caching and the use of ResultSet.

Hi Community,
I’m trying to execute a directory query in InterSystems IRIS using %SQL.Statement, but encountering an unexpected error.

Details:
The following command confirms that the directory exists:

Set dirPath="\\MYNETWORK_DRIVE\DFS-Shared_Product\GXM"
Write ##class(%File).DirectoryExists(dirPath)

It returns 1, meaning the path is valid and accessible.

However, when I try to execute this SQL query:

Set File=##Class(%SQL.Statement).%New()
Set Status=File.%PrepareClassQuery("%File","FileSet")
Set Result=File.%Execute(dirPath)
If Result.%SQLCODE {
    Write Result.

I joined InterSystems less than a year ago. Diving into ObjectScript and IRIS was exciting, but also full of small surprises that tripped me up at the beginning. In this article I collect the most common mistakes I, and many new colleagues, make, explain why they happen, and show concrete examples and practical fixes. My goal is to help other new developers save time and avoid the same bumps in the road.

1. Getting lost among system classes and where to start

The issue: ObjectScript/IRIS ships with many system classes and packages (%Library, %SYS, %Persistent, %SQL, etc.).

In this tutorial, I will discuss how can you connect your IRIS data platform to sql server db  .

Prereq: 

• Have ODBC driver installed in your device. You can download it from here: Download ODBC Driver for SQL Server - ODBC Driver for SQL Server | Microsoft Learn. 
• Have SQL Server and IRIS installed in your device
• Have SQL Server connection Authentication enabled in SQL server

InterSystems FAQ rubric

One way to optimize query performance is to use query parallelism on a per-query or system-wide basis (a standard feature).

This is a technique for dividing the execution of a particular query among processors on a multi-processor system. The query optimizer will execute parallel processing only if there is a possibility of benefiting from parallel processing. Parallel processing is only applicable to SELECT statements.

Note that the number of parallel processes cannot be specified, as it is automatically adjusted according to the number of CPUs.

We're excited to announce a new version release of the SQLTools VS Code extension. 

SQLTools connects VS Code users to the most commonly used databases using drivers, including InterSystems IRIS. With over 3.5 million downloads, it is helping users work with their data much more easily.

Version 0.28.2 is now available and includes:
- New CSV export format options.
- Improved connection quickpick and status bar item.
- Query error strings now wrap.
- Document settings that require a restart after changing.
- Resolve contradictory SSL settings in MySQL driver.

In the previous article, we saw how to build a customer service AI agent with smolagents and InterSystems IRIS, combining SQL, RAG with vector search, and interoperability.

In that case, we used cloud models (OpenAI) for the LLM and embeddings.

This time, we’ll take it one step further: running the same agent, but with local models thanks to Ollama.

I have been walking through this with a few team members and as such I thought there might be others out there who could use it, especially if you work with HL7 & Ensemble/HealthConnect/HealthShare and never venture out past the Interoperability section. 

First, I would like to establish that this is an extension of the already established documentation on importing and exporting SQL data found here: https://docs.intersystems.com/iris20241/csp/docbook/DocBook.UI.Page.cls?

We currently have Business Operation that we built to use the EnsLib.SQL.OutboundAdapter so we can make Microsoft SQL Server Stored Procedure calls. The BO is attached to a Java Gateway Service.

Some of our MS SQL Databases have moved from being OnPrem to Azure Cloud. We have started seeing where we are receiving errors on the BO saying that we cannot connect to the Azure Database, but we never receive a Disconnect from the Azure Database.

I am trying to help another group within our organization access a SQL Table that I have created to populate Epic Department Data within our environment and came across the ability to use SQL Seach REST Interface using iKnow.

However, I am having issues trying to get it to work via POSTMAN before I hand off the solution...

the POST URL... https://<servername>/api/iKnow/latest/TESTCLIN/table/osuwmc_Epic_Clarity.DepartmentMaster/search

where osuwmc_Epic_Clarity.DepartmentMaster is the table

In the

Hello,

I am currently maintaining a legacy application that was developed in ObjectScript and accesses data by working directly with globals.
For a new program, however, I plan to access the same global data through SQL-mapped classes.

I have two questions regarding this approach:

1. If I define indexes in the SQL-mapped class, what potential impact (if any) could this have on the existing legacy application that directly accesses the globals?

Customer support questions span structured data (orders, products 🗃️), unstructured knowledge (docs/FAQs 📚), and live systems (shipping updates 🚚). In this post we’ll ship a compact AI agent that handles all three—using:

• 🧠 Python + smolagents to orchestrate the agent’s “brain”
• 🧰 InterSystems IRIS for SQL, Vector Search (RAG), and Interoperability (a mock shipping status API)

I had a need for a Filter, but did not want to recreate the wheel by creating another Data Lookup Table, so instead I created a Linked Table that points to a MS SQL Table outside of IRIS.

Once I had the Linked Table, I created a Class Method Function that would query the Linked Table and return a 1 if a result came back.

ClassMethod CheckPDMProviderType(pInput As %String) As %Boolean
{
    set ExtDisplay = ""
 		&sql(SELECT SecurityGroup_k INTO :ExtDisplay
        FROM osuwmc_CPD_SQL.

Hi folks!

It is very easy to import CSV data into IRIS. But what if we want to preserve the original IDs in CSV?

Recently I came across with the situation when I needed to import two csv's into IRIS which were linked by one column referencing  to another csv's col: a typical Foreign Key and Primary Key situation, where csv1 contains this column as Primary Key, and csv2 as Foreign key with id's related to csv1.

The image is generated by ChatGPT so don't blame it - it tried its best to generate countries as primary keys with countries.csv-cities.csv relationship :)

While starting with Intersystems IRIS or Cache, developers often encounter three core concepts: Dynamic Objects, Globals & Relational Table. Each has its role in building scalable and maintainable solutions. In this article, we'll walk through practical code examples, highlight best practices, and show how these concepts tie together. 

1. Working with Dynamic Objects:

Dynamic objects (%DynamicObject and %DynamicArray) allow developers to manipulate JSON-like structures directly in Objectscript. They are especially useful for modern applications that need to parse, transform or generate JSON.

Trying to create a new SQL Storage map on existing cache Global in the following format - ^MYGLO("R",rec)=data where the 'data' is built using $zel. e.g. $zel(data,1)="p1", $zel(data,2)="p2" etc... and the ^MYGLO("R",123)=data.

I'm having 2 issues.

Hi folks!

Consider I have a class "X.Y.Z"

What is the SQL table name for it? How can I obtain it via ObjectScript? 

A quick search doesn't show any methods and properties. Documentation is a bit "wrong" here saying that the SQL table name is the same. It will be at least 'x_y.z'.

Any help is very appreciated!)

SQLTools is a Visual Studio Code (VS Code) Extension with over 3.5 million downloads that provides connections to many of the most used databases, including InterSystems IRIS, using drivers.
For developers new to VS Code, or those already familiar with it but are looking to streamline their connections to InterSystems IRIS, this tutorial will take you through installing the SQLTools extensions and the InterSystems IRIS drive. It then guides you on how to establish a connection to your instance of InterSystems IRIS and run a query.

Or can I change namespaces within one connection object?

This article describes a significant enhancement of how InterSystems IRIS deals with table statistics, a crucial element for IRIS SQL processing, in the 2025.2 release. We'll start with a brief refresher on what table statistics are, how they are used, and why we needed this enhancement. Then, we'll dive into the details of the new infrastructure for collecting and saving table statistics, after which we'll zoom in onto what the change means in practice for your applications. We'll end with a few additional notes on patterns enabled by the new model, and look forward to the follow-on phases of this initial delivery.

The August Article Bounty on the Global Masters article caught my attention, and one of the proposed topics sounded quite interesting in regard to its future use in my teaching. So, here's what I'd like to tell my students about tables in IRIS and how they correlate with the object model. 

First of all, InterSystems IRIS boasts a unified data model. This means that when you work with data, you are not locked into a single paradigm. The same data can be accessed and manipulated as a traditional SQL table, as a native object, or even as a multidimensional array (a global). It means that when you create an SQL table, IRIS automatically creates a corresponding object class. When you define an object class, IRIS automatically makes it available as an SQL table. The data itself is stored only once in IRIS's efficient multidimensional storage engine. The SQL engine and the object engine are simply different "lenses" to view and work with the same data.

First, let's look at the correlation between the relational model and the object model:

It's not always a 1:1 correlation, as you may have several tables represent one class, for example. But it's a general rule of thumb. 

Over the years, I’ve noticed that certain SQL questions come up repeatedly on the InterSystems Developer Community, especially about using the LIKE predicate in different contexts. Common variations include:

• using special characters in queries
• using variables in queries

and many more derivatives. So, I decided to write an article that focuses on how LIKE works in InterSystems IRIS SQL, especially when used with variables in Embedded SQL, Dynamic SQL, and Class Queries, while touching on pattern escaping and special character searches.

First of all, I'd like to mention that InterSystems IRIS SQL offers most of the capabilities available in other relational DBMS that implement a later version of the SQL standard. But at the same time, it's important to mention that apart from relational access, in IRIS you can also use other models to get the same data, for example, object or document models. 

On this note, let's look at the LIKE predicate and how this tool is used in SQL for pattern matching. 

This article is a continuation of the IRIS JSON project and features additional methods and insights.

Let's continue with the instance methods

%GetTypeOf(Key)

This instance method is used to determine the JSON data type of the %DynamicObject or %DynamicArray.

It returns one of the following strings:

USER>Set array = [1,"test",true,12.

I have a table with 5M rows, the table contains lab observation codes and display names, both columns have type varchar(2000) and both are indexed.

The query looks like:

select code_1_text, count(code_1_text)
  from demo.observation_lab
  group by code_1_text
  order by 2 desc

The table contains ~1000 distinct display names.

It takes 4 minutes for the query to complete on a VM with some pretty old Xeon, 4 cores, 32G RAM, NVME SSD and Linux on board.

Isn't it too slow?

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.

The Problem: Dynamic SQL and SQL Injection

Dynamic SQL constructs queries as strings at runtime. While this offers flexibility, it also creates a vulnerability if user input is not handled correctly.

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.

Hi, I'm wondering what are the diferences between a method or classmethod with the language set at tsql and a querry writen in sql.
If anyone know if there is some difference and what they are, I would be glad to learn. 😊