#SQL

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?
2. I’ve read that when an index is defined in an SQL class, it will not be automatically updated if data is modified directly in the global (outside of

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.Ref_SecurityGroup WHERE PDMExtDisplay = 1AND SecurityGroup_k = :pInput)
    if ExtDisplay = "" {
     

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. First, using the SQL Storage map wizard, I cannot figure out how to convey data in $zel format in the "Delimiter" field. 

Second, since I couldn't figure that out,  I tried to use the "Use Retrieval Code" option and entered the following line for the P1 property:

but get an error when compiling saying I cannot reference another field:

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.
You will need: VS Code installed on your system and access to a

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",

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? During the execution I see no active hardware resources consumption - CPU load is 12-25%, RAM is almost free, swap file is not

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. For exa

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.ApplicationError_ErrorList('CCR','12/16/2024')
groupby"Error message"orderby2desc

Unfortunately, the struct

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. 😊

Hello to all the Cache Experts out there and Happy Friday!

The company I work for uses Cache 2017.1.3 and we have been seeing intermittent errors in the Cache Error Trap when an SQL query runs.   The error message looks like the error is occurring within the cached query routine that Cache auto-generates.  Unfortunately, when I pulled up the routine in the SMP System Explorer, I only found an obj version, so was unable to look at any code.

Here is the error:    Note:  the .cls375 part will be different based on the different SQL queries that run, since that part of the cached query routine n

Are you familiar with SQL databases, but not familiar with IRIS?  Then read on...

About a year ago I joined InterSystems, and that is how IRIS got on my radar.  I've been using databases for over 40 years—much of that time for database vendors—and assumed IRIS would be largely the same as the other databases I knew.  However I was surprised to find that IRIS is in several ways quite unlike other databases, often much better.  With this, my first article in the Dev Community, I'll give a high-level overview of IRIS for people that are already familiar with the other databases such as Oracle, SQL Server, Snowflake, PostgeSQL, etc.   I hope I can make things clearer and simpler for you and save you some time getting started.

Hello Again,

InterSystems Certification is still looking for people to beta test the InterSystems IRIS SQL Professional Certification exam. This is a great way to earn the certification for free! We have extended the deadline of the beta test to October 30, 2025.

Please note, only candidates with the pre-existing InterSystems IRIS SQL Specialist certification are eligible to take the beta.  For details, see the original announcement.

Thank you!

As foreign tables are behind a paywall (booo); we have a external cache system using the intersystems ODBC driver or usually a .jar CacheDB.jar. 

The requirement is :

"Create a copy of the external table once a day to perform comparisons to detect changes"

We could go full code and this is what we will do but trying the following should ideally work 

CREATETABLE Sample.YoungPeopletwo ASSELECT *
FROM Pennine_TIE_Clinicom_Link.PMISPECIALREGNCA
WITH STORAGETYPE = COLUMNAR

This resulted in 

[SQLCODE: <-400>:<Fatal error occurred>]
[%msg: <Exception caught during dSQL statement %Execute

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.

At its essence, a vector type is a structured collection of numerical values arranged in a predefined order. These values serve to represent different attributes, features, or characteristics of an object.

SQL-Embedding: A Versatil

Hello my friends,

I have a problem with logi report, 

in my store procedure,  I create code like this?

$ListToString(%DLIST(DISTINCT (ARCIM_Desc)),'<br/>') as "ARCIM_Desc", -> this is the problem

$ListToString(%DLIST(DISTINCT (MRDIA_ICDCode_DR)),'<br/>') as "MRDIA_ICDCode_DR", -> it's works fine

as you see there's a <br/> in the display of the report

I have no idea about this, maybe someone can help me fix this problem ?

Thank You

Best Regards,

Steven Henry

Hello my friends,

I have a problem with Objectscript, why the value of address become like this ?

everything works fine except the Address,

this is my code, do I need something to make this into real address ? should I put something in my code ? 

 set paper=obj.PAADMPAPMIDR.PAPMIPAPERDR

            if '$isobject(paper) continue

            set Address=paper.PAPERStName

thank you for your help

Best Regards,

Steven Henry

Hello my friends,

I have a bit problem with date format, I need to display like this DD-MM-YYYY

I've put the objectscript like this : set DOB=$zd(paper.PAPERDob,15)  

and the result is 

Why It cannot show the full year, I mean why 99 or 95 why not 1999 or 1995 ? 

Thank You

Best Regards,

Steven Henry

Do not let the title of this article confuse you; we are not planning to take the InterSystems staff out to a fine Italian restaurant. Instead, this article will cover the principles of working with date and time data types in IRIS. When we use these data types, we should be aware of three different conversion issues:

1. Converting between internal and ODBC formats.
2. Converting between local time, UTC, and Posix time.
3. Converting to and from various date display formats.

Maybe this is well known but wanted to help share.

Consider that you have the following persistent class defintions

An Invoice Class with a property reference to Provider

Class Sample.Invoice Extends (%Persistent, %Populate)
{
Parameter DSTIME = "AUTO";Property InvoiceNumber As%Integer(MINVAL = 100000) [ Required ];Property ServiceDate As%Date(MINVAL = "+$h-730") [ Required ];
Index InvoiceNumber On InvoiceNumber;Property Provider As Sample.Provider [ Required ];
Index Provider On Provider [ Type = bitmap ];/// Build some invoices, this will firstly create 100 Providers//

Hi Community,

Enjoy the new video on InterSystems Developers YouTube from our Tech Video Challenge:

⏯ Using Character Slice Index in InterSystems IRIS

InterSystems FAQ rubric

This can be achieved by using the CSV() procedure of the %SQL.Util.Procedures class.
Below is an example of usage code. (Assuming that the file test.csv is in c:\temp.)

Hello IRIS community,

InterSystems Certification is currently developing a certification exam for InterSystems IRIS SQL professionals, and if you match the exam candidate description given below, we would like you to beta test the exam! The exam will be available for beta testing starting May 19, 2025.