Purpose of ISQL

You use ISQL to enter SQL commands at a terminal. SQL is the language used to define and access an ALLBASE/SQL database. Most SQL statements can be submitted through ISQL, although a few SQL statements specifically support programmatic database access and can only be submitted in application programs. As Figure 1-1 illustrates, ISQL interacts with SQLCore, one of the components of ALLBASE/SQL. SQLCore checks the syntax of statements and prepares them for processing.

Figure 1-1 ISQL and SQLCore Interaction

ISQL also has its own set of commands which facilitate the interactive use of SQL statements. For example, you can use ISQL commands to quickly change and resubmit previously executed SQL statements. You can also group SQL statements together in a file and execute the file through ISQL.

From ISQL, you can use ISQL and SQL commands to do the following:

	NOTE: ALLBASE/SQL users on diskless machines cannot create a DBEnvironment. The DBEnvironment must be created by a user on the DUX cluster server. The DBECreator can then give the diskless user access to the DBEnvironment by setting up ALLBASE/NET and granting the appropriate authorities. See the ALLBASE/NET User's Guide for additional information about DUX cluster operation.

All SQL statement operate on a DBEnvironment; some of the ISQL commands also result in DBEnvironment access. ISQL uses SQLCore to carry out all DBEnvironment access operations.

The ALLBASE/SQL Reference Manual describes the SQL statement. A section entitled "Scope" is included for each statement to indicate whether a statement can be used in ISQL or an application program. For the use of SQL statements in application programs, refer to the ALLBASE/SQL application programming guide for the language of your choice.

SQLUtil and SQLGEN can be invoked either directly or from ISQL. Refer to the ALLBASE/SQL Database Administration Guide for complete information on these utilities.