Tips & Tricks

This time I want to talk about something not specific to InterSystems IRIS, but that I think is important if you want to work with Docker and your server at work is a PC or laptop with Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise.

As you likely know, containers technology comes basically from Linux world and, nowadays, is on Linux hosts were it shows maximum potential. Those who use Windows on a normal basis see that both, Microsoft and Docker, have done important efforts during these last years that allow us to run containers based on Linux images on our Windows system in a really easy way... but it's something not supported for production systems and, this is the big problem, is not reliable if we want to keep persistent data outside of containers, in the host system,... mostly due to the big differences between Windows and Linux file systems. In the end, Docker for Windows itself uses a small linux virtual machine (MobiLinux) to run the containers... it does it transparently for the windows user... and it works perfectly well if, as I said, you don't require that your databases survive longer than the container...

Well,...let's get to the point,... the point is that many times, to avoid issues and simplify, we need a full Linux system and, if our server is based on Windows, the only way of having it is through a virtual machine. At least till WSL2 in Windows is released, but that will be another story and sure it'll take a bit of time to become robust enough.

In this article, I'll tell you, step by step, how to install an environment where you'll be able to work, if you need it, with Docker containers on an Ubuntu system in your Windows server. Let's go...

In Cache for Windows (x86-64) 2018.1.3 (Build 414U) I found something very useful

Hi Community, 

I shared my experience working with FHIR for the first time in this article.

In that article, I wrote how I explored the FHIR Resources and talked about the information that I found useful in FHIR documentation.

The first version of my app only shows the information that FHIR Resource provides. 

I wanted to make the user able to update the patient details, so I to search for an example of how to do it. 

This is a coding example working on IRIS 2020.1 and on Caché 2018.1.3 
It will not be kept in sync with new versions      
It is also NOT serviced by InterSystems Support !   

Globals in Caché / Ensemble / IRIS are normally invisible over SQL access
This example shows how to overcome this limit.

This is a coding example working on Caché 2018.1.3 and IRIS 2020.2 
It will not be kept in sync with new versions 
It is also NOT serviced by InterSystems Support !

Standard error logs in IRIS / Caché / Ensemble are written global ^ERRORS.
As this piece dates back some decades back to previous millennium its structure
is far from the typical SQL storage structures.

This is a coding example working on Caché 2018.1.3 and IRIS 2020.2 
It will not be kept in sync with new versions 
It is also NOT serviced by InterSystems Support !

This  an example of a customized SystemFunction extension (ZZISJSON) in Caché & IRIS
This time it is  to be included in %ZLANGF00.mac

A JSON string is mostly imported from a file or over REST.
You rely on a clean and compatible structure. This is the check.

It's also an example for a customized command extension (ZZJSON) in IRIS

IRIS has a nice %JSON.Formatter class. But for debugging it is not really handy.

The guide “Extending Languages with %ZLANG Routines” tells you all details you need to know
to extend your actual programming language.

IRIS and Caché / Ensemble offer the possibility to add Languages Extension as SystemFunctions,  SystemVariables,  SystemCommands

The related documentation tells you where to add the system-wide extension. Parameter passing is not covered explicitly.

This is a coding example working on Caché 2018.1.3 and IRIS 2020.2 
It will not be kept in synch with new versions 
It is also NOT serviced by InterSystems Support !

The Command extension enables the execution of Multi-Line Commands from Terminal prompt.

In this article I'd like to share with you a phenomena that is best you avoid - something you should be aware of when designing your data model (or building your Business Processes) in Caché or in Ensemble (or older HealthShare Health Connect Ensemble-based versions).

Running WebTerminal from OpenExchange over HTTPS could be a very secure access method for remote developers.
So I was asked to compare it to other access tools.

Hello,

I work as a contractor for the Department of Veterans Affairs. I want to read data from an Excel workbook. I searched posts here and saw Apache POI suggested. I believe Apache POI is not approved for use within VA. I also believe we should be able to run SQL query against Excel. Has anybody done such a thing or are there other ways to read data from Excel workbooks?

Thanks