Informix-ESQL/C Programmer's Manual
Chapter 14: Using Dynamic SQL

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A static SQL statement is one for which all the information is known at compile time. For example, the SELECT statement is a static SQL statement because all information needed for its execution is present at compile time.

EXEC SQL select company into :cmp_name from customer where 
customer_num = 101;

To execute a static statement, you just embed the statement directly in your program. (See "Embedding SQL Statements".)

However, in some applications the programmer does not know the contents, or possibly even the types, of SQL statements that the program needs to execute. Such applications require dynamic SQL. Dynamic SQL allows an INFORMIX-ESQL/C program to build an SQL statement at runtime, so that the contents of the statement can be determined by user input.

This chapter discusses the following dynamic SQL topics:

How to execute a dynamic SQL statement, the SQL statements to use, and the types of statements that you can execute dynamically
How to execute SQL statements when you know most of the information about the statement at compile time

For information on how to execute SQL statements when you do not know all the information at compile time, see Chapter 15, "Determining SQL Statements."

Informix-ESQL/C Programmer's Manual, version 9.1
Copyright © 1998, Informix Software, Inc. All rights reserved.