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:

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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?

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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.

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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….

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Hi, I am unsure how to remove this restriction; when I am performing dynamic SQL using ##class(%SQL.Statement).%ExecDirectNoPriv(, .query, args...)

It works fine, but the moment I add specific properties from the persistent class I am performing the select on into the WHERE clause, I get: ERROR #5540: SQLCODE: -99 Message: User UnknownUser is not privileged for the operation. Despite using %ExecDirectNoPriv, I've tried with prepared statement as well, exact same situation.

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The 2024.1.4 and 2023.1.6 maintenance releases of InterSystems IRIS® data platform, InterSystems IRIS® for HealthTM, and HealthShare® Health Connect are now Generally Available (GA).

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I was wondering if someone could help me. In the past I have been able to call external Stored Procedures through a SQL Outbound Connection and have them return me the EnsLib.SQL.Snapshot to use within a BPL to extract data.

But this time instead of using a SQL Outbound BO to make the Stored Procedure call, I decided to create a Linked Stored Procedure through the %JDBC_Server to point to the Stored Procedure out on MS SQL.

However, I am struggling to get the code just right to return the Column value from the Linked Stored Procedure.

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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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