Informix Guide to SQL: Tutorial
Chapter 14: Creating and Using SPL Routines
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An SPL routine is a user-defined routine written in Informix Stored Procedure Language (SPL). Informix
SPL is an extension to
SQL
that provides flow control, such as looping and branching. Anyone who has the Resource privilege on a database can create an SPL routine.
Routines written in
SQL
are parsed, optimized as far as possible, and then stored in the system catalog tables in executable format. An SPL routine might be a good choice for
SQL
-intensive tasks. SPL routines can execute routines written in
C
or other external languages, and external routines can execute SPL routines.
You can use SPL routines to perform any task that you can perform in SQL and to expand what you can accomplish with SQL alone. Because SPL is a language native to the database, and because SPL routines are parsed and optimized when they are created rather than at runtime, SPL routines can improve performance for some tasks. SPL routines can also reduce traffic between a client application and the database server and reduce program complexity.
Informix Guide to SQL: Tutorial
, version 9.1
Copyright © 1998, Informix Software, Inc. All rights reserved.
