#Tips & Tricks

12 Followers · 327 Posts

Pieces of experience in InterSystems Technology which solve some particular problem in elegant or unusual way.

Article Megumi Kakechi · Dec 7, 2023 2m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

To resolve the error <PROTECT>, remove the read-only attribute of the system-wide library database (IRISLIB for InterSystems IRIS, CACHELIB for Caché/Ensemble/HealthShare (Caché-based))

Once you have finished importing the routine, remember to change it back to read-only.
 

[Version 2013.1 and above]
[Management Portal] > [System Administration] > [Configuration] > [System Configuration] > [Local Database] Uncheck "Mount read-only" from the database name link.

[Version 2011.1 - Version 2012.

3
0 605
Article Mihoko Iijima · Nov 30, 2023 3m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

Class definitions created by users are stored in class definition classes. They can be used to obtain a list of class definitions from a program.

Note: Class definition classes refer to all classes contained in the %Dictionary package.

In the sample code below, a list of class definitions is obtained using the query Summary of the class %Dictionary.ClassDefinitionQuery.

Class ISJ.Utils
{
ClassMethod ClassInfo()
{
    #dim ex As %Exception.
2
0 635
Article Megumi Kakechi · Nov 23, 2023 1m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

When executing OS commands, use $ZF(-100).

do $ZF(-100,"",program,args) // Execute the Windows command [synchronously].
do $ZF(-100,"/ASYNC",program,args) // Executes a Windows command [asynchronously].

When executing OS shell commands such as mkdir and copy, also specify /SHELL.

do $zf(-100,"/shell /async","mkdir","c:\temp\x")

Please refer to the following documents for details:

About $ZF(-100) [IRIS]
About $ZF(-100)

2
1 565
Article Robert Cemper · Nov 19, 2023 2m read

There are situations when your only access to a server is using a web browser,
and there is just no chance of a Terminal or Console access.
The Online Demo Server is such a case.

So you have WebTerminal. That's fine for ObjectScript and Embedded Python.

But my demo is straight Java. And is interactive.
$ZF(-100...) is some aproach. But it's rater batch-oriented and not interactive.
@Enrico Parisi  presented a nice extension to WebTerminal recently.
It's close to my own packageWebCommand that I presented a year ago.

0
0 241
Article Megumi Kakechi · Oct 19, 2023 2m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

A tool (^GLOBUFF utility) is available to check the database cache usage for each global variable.

You can run the utility directly or programmatically in the %SYS namespace.

Here's how to run the utility directly:

USER>zn "%SYS"
 
%SYS>do ^GLOBUFF
 
Find which globals are using the most buffers.
 
Display the top <25>:     → Press Enter  // Default is to display top 25 globals
 
Total buffers: 102400     Buffers in use: 6926     PPG buffers: 77 (1.
5
1 949
Article Tomoko Furuzono · Jun 1, 2023 1m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

You can set the maximum size of the IRISTemp database at IRIS startup by setting a configuration parameter called MaxIRISTempSizeAtStart.

After setting, the system will truncate IRISTemp to the set value (MB) at the next IRIS startup. If the current size is less than the specified MaxIRISTempSizeAtStart, no truncation will occur. Also, if 0 is specified, truncation will not be performed, so the size will start without changing. (Default) Settings are made from the menu below.

1
0 771
Article Tomoko Furuzono · Nov 16, 2023 2m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

To run an online backup from a command you can use the API BACKUP^DBACK routine.
An example of performing a full backup is as follows.

set  status = $$ BACKUP ^DBACK( "" , "F" , "full backup" , "c:\backup\full.cbk" , "Y" , "c:\backup\full-log.log" , " NOINPUT" , "Y" , "Y" , "" , "" )

The return value is 1 if the backup is successful, and 0 if the backup is unsuccessful. Please refer to the log file for details on failure.

Additionally, you can specify C for the second argument TYPE to specify a cumulative backup, and specify I to specify a differential backup.

0
0 360
Article Mihoko Iijima · Nov 9, 2023 1m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

To create a user-defined error you need to prepare the XML that describes the error code and corresponding message that you want to use as a user-defined error.

Please set the error code as a negative integer.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> 
<MsgFile Language="en">
  <MsgDomain Domain="UserErrors">
    <Message Id="-111" Name="MyError">An error has occured</Message> 
    <Message Id="-222" Name="MyError2">An error has occured 2</Message> 
  </MsgDomain>
</MsgFile>

Once the XML file is created, load it into the namespace you want to use.

2
2 733
Question Colin Brough · Nov 13, 2023

We are successfully using System Default Settings to manage differences in settings across environments where the production and underlying code are otherwise identical. However, the TestingEnabled and LogGeneralTraceEvents settings don't appear to be settable via this mechanism. While we appear to be able to set them on the SDS page, they do not show up as selectable when resetting the settings on the Production Settings tab in the management portal - see screenshots below.

3
0 357
Article Mihoko Iijima · Nov 2, 2023 3m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

For routines (*.mac)

You can hide the source by exporting/importing only the *.obj that is generated after compiling the source program.

The command execution example specifies EX1Sample.obj and EX2Sample.obj, which are generated by compiling EX1Sample.mac and EX2Sample.mac, as export targets and exports them to the second argument file.

After moving to another namespace, I am using the exported XML file to perform the import.

USER>do $system.OBJ.Export("EX1Sample.obj,EX2Sample.obj","D:\routine.
1
0 672
Article Mihoko Iijima · Oct 26, 2023 2m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

Information on properties defined in a class can be obtained using the following system classes:

%Dictionary.ClassDefinetion

%Dictionary.PropertyDefinition

The code description example is as follows.

Class ISJ.Sample
{
ClassMethod getPropInfo(classname As %String)
{
    set cls=##class(%Dictionary.ClassDefinition).%OpenId(classname,,.status)
    if $$$ISERR(status) {
        write "Specified class does nt exist",!
        quit
    }
    set x=cls.Properties
    for i=1:1:x.Count() {
        // Get property info (%Dictionary.
0
2 647
Article David Hockenbroch · Oct 4, 2023 8m read

We are back to %SYS once again! Since we covered managing users and resources in the last two articles, we can finally move on to roles. As you may have guessed, there are a lot of methods of managing them that you have already seen in our previous writings. However, we can still encounter key differences in this particular class.

Before we begin, bear in mind that this is another class that should not be manipulated through direct SQL access. In newer versions of IRIS, you will find a NoSQL trigger that will prevent you from doing that anyway.

3
5 752
Article Mihoko Iijima · Oct 12, 2023 1m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

ObjectScript allows you to pass any number of arguments using arrays. Do it by adding ... after the argument name.

An example is as follows. In the example statement, the argument information is set in a global variable (a variable stored in the database) so that it can be easily checked after the method is executed.

Class TEST.ARGTEST1 Extends %RegisteredObject
{
ClassMethod NewMethod1(Arg... As %StringAs %Boolean
{
 kill ^a
 merge ^a = Arg
}
}

The result of running it in the terminal is as follows.

USER>DO ##class(TEST.
1
0 536
Article Megumi Kakechi · Sep 28, 2023 2m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

In the sample below, an image file is encoded into a Base64 string in a class property, saved, decoded again with Base64, and restored to another file.

【Usage class】

Class User.test Extends %Persistent
{
Property pics As %GlobalBinaryStream;
}


【When importing】

  set x=##class(User.test).%New() // create a new object

  // prepare an image
  set file=##class(%File).%New("c:\temp\Mii.png")
  do file.Open("RUK\BIN\")
  for {
       if file.AtEnd=1 quit
       // Convert image to Base64 format in chunks of 1024 bytes
       set cnt=file.
2
2 748
Article Mihoko Iijima · Oct 5, 2023 1m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

On Linux, use the iris command to execute a routine or method from a shell and get the return value.

For more information,  please refer to the document "About Instance Connections".

An example of a command is as follows.

iris terminal instname [arguments]

The return value of a shell script can be specified using a special variable using the Terminate() method of the %SYSTEM.Process class when the process ends, rather than by specifying an argument in the QUIT or RETURN command that is specified when a routine or method ends. Use the method of returning a value to $?

2
1 580
Article Mihoko Iijima · Sep 21, 2023 1m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

The meaning of each timeout value is as follows.

1. [Server response timeout]

If IRIS/Caché processing (routine or query execution) does not finish within this set time, the browser will return an error.

For example, if this value is 60 seconds and it takes 90 seconds to execute a routine/method/query, an error will occur.

2. [Queued request timeout]

For each IRIS/Caché server configured in CSP/REST, you can limit the number of processes that can run CSP/REST concurrently.

2
0 651
Article Mihoko Iijima · Sep 14, 2023 1m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

It can be retrieved using the schema INFORMATION_SCHEMA.

INFORMATION_SCHEMA is a system schema and is not displayed by default in the SQL menu of the Management Portal.

The method to display it is as follows.

  1. Open Management Portal → System Explorer → SQL menu.
  2. Check "System" on the left of the schema drop-down.
  3. Select INFORMATION_SCHEMA from the schema dropdown.

The SQL to get the ID, field name (COLUMN_NAME), data type (DATA_TYPE), description (DESCRIPTION) for the specified table (Sample.Human) is as follows.

0
1 704
Article Mihoko Iijima · Sep 7, 2023 1m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

You can avoid the error by specifying a stream object as the argument of %ToJSON() used when generating a JSON string from a dynamic object.

A code example is below.

USER>set temp=##class(%Stream.TmpCharacter).%New()

USER>set jsonobj={}

USER>set jsonobj.pro1=["a","b","c","d"]

USER>set jsonobj.pro2=["あ","い","う","え"]

USER>do jsonobj.%ToJSON(temp)

USER>write temp.Size
51
USER>write temp.Read()
{"pro1":["a","b","c","d"],"pro2":["あ","い","う","え"]}

See also the documentation for details.

1
0 662
Article Ariel Glikman · Aug 28, 2023 3m read

With the world (as well as our own technology) moving to the cloud at such a fast pace it is easy (at least for myself) to get caught up in the little details. One thing I, and some clients of ours, had run into a couple of times was the necessity to specify the version of the images one plans to use with the IKO.

For example, one issue that often gets overlooked is the compatibilityVersion field for the IKO. Depending on which IKO you are using there is a default value (for IKO 3.6 this happens to be 2023.2.0, and for IKO 3.5 this is 2022.3.0).

4
1 546
Article Mihoko Iijima · Aug 31, 2023 1m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

By specifying the start and end values ​​of the IDs for which you want to rebuild indexes in the arguments of the %BuildIndices() method provided in the persistent class (=table) definition, you can rebuild only the indexes within that range.

For example, to rebuild the NameIDX index and ZipCode index in the Sample.Person class only for ID=10 to 20, execute the following code (the ID range is specified in the 5th and 6th arguments). 

 set status = ##class(Sample.Person).%BuildIndices($LB("NameIDX","ZipCode"),1,,1,10,20

$LB() is the $ListBuild() function

0
0 658
Article Sylvain Guilbaud · Aug 24, 2023 1m read

It sometimes happens that due to an adverse event the AUDIT database (IRISAUDIT) has grown to such proportions that the disk it resides on is full and the daily purge cannot be expected to reclaim disk space.

As IRISAUDIT is a system database required at startup, there is no question of attempting to restart IRIS after simply deleting IRIS.DAT from the <IRIS ROOT>/mgr/irisaudit/ database, nor of hot swapping, by system manipulations trying to dismount, replace, remount, since it is simply not possible to dismount it.

4
0 354
Article Mihoko Iijima · Aug 17, 2023 1m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

It can be obtained using AllFields query of %SYS.ProcessQuery class.

For the details, please refer to the document Process (Job)【IRIS】Process (Job).

An example of execution in the terminal is as follows.

USER>set stmt=##class(%SQL.Statement).%New()
USER>set st=stmt.%PrepareClassQuery("%SYS.ProcessQuery","AllFields")
USER>write st   // you can call %Execute() when st = 1
1
USER>set rset=stmt.%Execute()
USER>while rset.%Next() { write rset.%Get("JobNumber"),"-",rset.%Get("Pid"),"-",rset.%Get("OSUserName"),"-",rset.%Get("CurrentDevice"),"-",rset.%Get("Routine"),"-",rset.
2
1 527
Article Megumi Kakechi · Aug 10, 2023 2m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

※Use this method if you want to compare databases that have been replicated using mirroring, shadowing, or some other mechanism.

You can use the DATACHECK utility to compare global variables. Please refer to the document below.
Overview of DataCheck [IRIS]

***

Routine comparisons use the system routine %RCMP or the Management Portal.

Below is how to use it in the Management Portal.

0
2 473
Article Hao Ma · Mar 5, 2023 2m read

I asked the question in email and get answers from those colleagus.

Question:

I failed to change time zone on latest iris container(Ubuntu), because:

  • I am irisowner, no root password

  • There is no sudo command

I used to use below Dockfile setting to change time zone while creating a new docker image. However, those commands doesn’t work from non-root user.

1
0 434
Article Megumi Kakechi · Aug 3, 2023 1m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

You can set individual error pages for the following Web Gateway error messages/system responses:

  • server error
  • server busy
  • server unavailable
  • server timeout
  • connection closed

Settings are made on the Web Gateway Management screen ([Management Portal] > [System Administration] > [Configuration] > [Web Gateway Management] > [Configuration] > [Default Parameters]).

In the Error Page section of the Default Parameters menu, set the filename of the html page to display or the URL to redirect to when an error occurs.

 

0
1 378
Article Mihoko Iijima · Jul 20, 2023 4m read

InterSystems FAQ rubric

You can search for a specific global variable in the journal file using the ByTimeReverseOrder query of the %SYS.Journal.File class and the List query of the %SYS.Journal.Record class.

The role of each query is as follows.

A) %SYS.Journal.File query of the ByTimeReverseOrder class

You can get the journal file name. Results are returned in descending order of journal file name. 

USER>set stmt=##class(%SQL.Statement).%New()

USER>set status=stmt.%PrepareClassQuery("%SYS.Journal.File","ByTimeReverseOrder")

USER>set rs=stmt.%Execute()

USER>while rs.%Next() { write rs.
1
1 539
Article Eduard Lebedyuk · Aug 3, 2020 3m read

InterSystems IRIS currently limits classes to 999 properties.

But what to do if you need to store more data per object?

This article would answer this question (with the additional cameo of Community Python Gateway and how you can transfer wide datasets into Python).

The answer is very simple actually - InterSystems IRIS currently limits classes to 999 properties, but not to 999 primitives. The property in InterSystems IRIS can be an object with 999 properties and so on - the limit can be easily disregarded.

13
1 910