Informix Guide to SQL: Tutorial Introduction

This section describes the conventions that this manual uses. These conventions make it easier to gather information from this and other volumes in the documentation set.

The following conventions are discussed:

• Typographical conventions
• Icon conventions
• Sample-code conventions

This manual uses the following conventions to introduce new terms, illustrate screen displays, describe command syntax, and so forth.

Convention	Meaning
KEYWORD	All primary elements in a programming language statement (keywords) appear in uppercase letters in a serif font.
italics italics italics	Within text, new terms and emphasized words appear in italics. Within syntax and code examples, variable values that you are to specify appear in italics.
boldface boldface	Names of program entities (such as classes, events, and tables), environment variables, file and pathnames, and interface elements (such as icons, menu items, and buttons) appear in boldface.
monospace monospace	Information that the product displays and information that you enter appear in a monospace typeface.
Keystroke	Keys that you are to press appear in uppercase letters in a sans serif font.
	This symbol indicates the end of one or more product- or platform-specific paragraphs.
	This symbol indicates a menu item. For example, "Choose Tools Options" means choose the Options item from the Tools menu.

Tip: When you are instructed to "enter" characters or to "execute" a command, immediately press RETURN after the entry. When you are instructed to "type" the text or to "press" other keys, no RETURN is required.

Icon Conventions

Throughout the documentation, you will find text that is identified by several different types of icons. This section describes these icons.

Comment icons identify three types of information, as the following table describes. This information always appears in italics.

Icon	Label	Description
	Warning:	Identifies paragraphs that contain vital instructions, cautions, or critical information
	Important:	Identifies paragraphs that contain significant information about the feature or operation that is being described
	Tip:	Identifies paragraphs that offer additional details or shortcuts for the functionality that is being described

Feature, product, and platform icons identify paragraphs that contain feature-specific, product-specific, or platform-specific information.

Icon	Description
	Identifies information or syntax that is specific to Informix Enterprise Decision Server
	Identifies information that is specific to the INFORMIX-ESQL/C product
	Identifies information that relates to the Informix Global Language Support (GLS) feature
	Identifies information that is specific to Informix Dynamic Server 2000
	Identifies information that is specific to UNIX
	Identifies information that is specific to Windows NT

These icons can apply to an entire section or to one or more paragraphs within a section. If an icon appears next to a section heading, the information that applies to the indicated feature, product, or platform ends at the next heading at the same or higher level. A symbol indicates the end of feature-, product-, or platform-specific information that appears within one or more paragraphs within a section.

Compliance icons indicate paragraphs that provide guidelines for complying with a standard.

Icon	Description
	Identifies information that is specific to an ANSI-compliant database

These icons can apply to an entire section or to one or more paragraphs within a section. If an icon appears next to a section heading, the information that applies to the indicated feature, product, or platform ends at the next heading at the same or higher level. A symbol indicates the end of feature-, product-, or platform-specific information that appears within one or more paragraphs within a section.

Examples of SQL code occur throughout this manual. Except where noted, the code is not specific to any single Informix application development tool. If only SQL statements are listed in the example, they are not delimited by semicolons. For instance, you might see the code in the following example:

CONNECT TO stores_demo

...



DELETE FROM customer

	WHERE customer_num = 121

...



COMMIT WORK

DISCONNECT CURRENT

To use this SQL code for a specific product, you must apply the syntax rules for that product. For example, if you are using DB-Access, you must delimit multiple statements with semicolons. If you are using an SQL API, you must use EXEC SQL at the start of each statement and a semicolon (or other appropriate delimiter) at the end of the statement.

Tip: Ellipsis points in a code example indicate that more code would be added in a full application, but it is not necessary to show it to describe the concept being discussed.

For detailed directions on using SQL statements for a particular application development tool or SQL API, see the manual for your product.