More database techniques

In Adding database support, you learned the basics of creating database queries and displaying their results. In this chapter, you will expand your knowledge of the Multi-row Query part and formatting the results of queries, learn more about using the SQL Editor, and learn about the SQL Statement, Single-Row Query, and Stored Procedure parts.

Before you continue with this chapter, make sure you have read Adding database support, which contains some general information about making a connection to a database from VA Smalltalk.

The examples in this chapter use IBM Database 2 -- CLI and the SAMPLE database that is shipped with DB2. To follow along the construction of the examples, you need to have DB2 installed, or access to a supported host-based database through IBM SAA Distributed Database Connection Services/2. For a list of supported host-based databases, refer to documentation on installation.

You can also use ODBC support to follow along the examples. Installing an ODBC text database contains instructions for defining an ODBC data source and creating the SAMPLE database in text format for access through the ODBC text database driver.

Note:

Stored procedures are supported through ODBC only if the database you are connecting to supports stored procedures. The text database example in this chapter does not support stored procedure functions.