Chapter 1, "Informix Databases," covers the fundamental concepts of databases and defines some terms that are used throughout the book. This chapter discusses how a database is different from a collection of files; what terms are used to describe the main components of a database; and what language is used to create, query, and modify a database.
Chapter 2, "Composing Simple SELECT Statements," shows how you can use the SELECT statement to query and retrieve data. This chapter discusses how to tailor your statements to select columns or rows of data from one or more tables, how to include expressions and functions in SELECT statements, and how to create various join conditions between relational database tables.
Chapter 4, "Modifying Data," discusses solutions to problems such as the security of user access to the database and its tables. It also explains how to minimize the risk of system failure caused by external events.
Chapter 8, "Building Your Data Model," contains a cursory overview the first step towards constructing a data model-a precise, complete definition of the data to be stored.
Chapter 10, "Understanding Complex Data Types," describes row types and collection types and shows the different ways you can use these types. The chapter also explains inheritance and shows how to create an inheritance hierarchy for row types and tables.
Chapter 11, "Granting and Limiting Access to Your Database," discusses how you can restrict access to your database. By using statements such as GRANT, REVOKE, and CREATE VIEW, you can deny access to some or all of the data to specified users.
Chapter 12, "Accessing Complex Data Types," shows how to query and modify complex data types. The chapter provides examples of SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, and DELETE operations on row types and collection types.
Chapter 13, "Casting Data Types," introduces user-defined routines. This chapter explains the concepts of routine overloading and routine resolution and includes two examples that show how to create and register casts to convert between data types. The chapter also describes how to use SQL to register and use external routines.
Chapter 14, "Creating and Using SPL Routines," discusses how you can write procedures using SQL and additional statements belonging to the Stored Procedure Language (SPL), and store the procedures in the database. These stored procedures are effective tools for controlling SQL activity.
Chapter 15, "Creating and Using Triggers," describes the purpose of each component of the CREATE TRIGGER statement, illustrates some uses for triggers, and describes the advantages of using a stored procedure as a triggered action.
