Substitution variables
Screamer asked whether Informix SQL has substitution variables like Oracle's ampersand. Art Kagel answered no. Jonathan Leffler agreed in general: SPL can use variables and parameters in a WHERE clause, but ESQL/C, I4GL and D4GL allow much more. Avi Abrami argued Informix should add such Oracle features, including on-the-fly procedural code. No solution beyond that.
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Is there a way to use substitution variables in informix's SQL, like th "&" in oracle ?
Screamer wrote in message <7rno8f$khp$1@duke.telepac.pt>... >Is there a way to use substitution variables in informix's SQL, like th "&" >in oracle ? No. Art S. Kagel
Screamer wrote: > Is there a way to use substitution variables in informix's SQL, > like th "&" in oracle ? It depends a bit on the context, but in general, no. In SPL (stored procedure language), you can use variables (including parameters to the SP) in the WHERE clause of a SELECT statement, for example, but that is pretty much the limit of what you can do. Of course, in application languages like ESQL/C and I4GL or D4GL, you can do a whole lot more... And you can do more stuff still with Foundation.2000, including using Java inside the serer. -- Jonathan Leffler (jleffler@informix.com, jleffler@earthlink.net) Guardian of DBD::Informix v0.60 -- see http://www.perl.com/CPAN #include <disclaimer.h>
Jonathan Leffler wrote: > Screamer wrote: > > Is there a way to use substitution variables in informix's SQL, > > like th "&" in oracle ? > > It depends a bit on the context, but in general, no. > > In SPL (stored procedure language), you can use variables (including > parameters to the SP) in the WHERE clause of a SELECT statement, for > example, but that is pretty much the limit of what you can do. Of > course, in application languages like ESQL/C and I4GL or D4GL, you > can do a whole lot more... > > And you can do more stuff still with Foundation.2000, including using > Java inside the serer. > > -- > Jonathan Leffler (jleffler@informix.com, jleffler@earthlink.net) > Guardian of DBD::Informix v0.60 -- see http://www.perl.com/CPAN > #include <disclaimer.h> Let's face facts, people. The above mentioned feature of ORACLE's SQL*Plus is _extremely_ useful, as is the ability to write PL/SQL on the fly - without having to CREATE a PROCEDURE or FUNCTION. Since INFORMIX has yielded and included their version of the ORACLE goodies like DECODE, TO_CHAR, etc, how about trying to implement some other nice features of the competition? -- /\\ \\ /| Avi Abrami, Analyst/Programmer, Telegate Ltd. /__\\ \\ / | 7 Haplada Street, Or-Yehuda, ISRAEL / \\ \\/ | Phone:+972-3-5388717 Fax:+972-3-5335877 eMail:avia@telegate.co.il