Beyond standard relational database objects, HCL Informix® can be extended to handle specialized data types, access methods, routines, and other objects. Informix includes many built-in extensions that are fully integrated in the database server. Informix also provides DataBlade® modules, which are packages of extended database objects for a particular purpose and that are installed separately from the database server. Alternatively, you can create your own user-defined objects for Informix.
These topics describe how to use built-in database extensions and separately installed DataBlade® modules.
The Informix® Database Extensions User's Guide explains how to use the database extensions that come with HCL Informix: Large Object Locator, MQ messaging, binary data types, basic text search, node data type, and SQL packages.
The node data type helps to resolve a difficult relational database problem–transitive closure.
Use these functions in queries involving the node data type.
The Large Object Locator extension enables you to create a single consistent interface to large objects. It extends the concept of large objects to include data stored outside the database.
WebSphere® MQ (WMQ) messaging products provide an infrastructure for distributed, asynchronous communication of data in a distributed, heterogeneous environment. The WMQ message queue allows you to easily exchange information across platforms.
The binary18 and binaryvar data types allow you to store binary-encoded strings, which can be indexed for quick retrieval.
You can perform basic text searching for words and phrases in a document repository stored in a column of a table.
The node data type is an opaque type of variable length up to 256 characters.
The SQL packages extension provides SPL routines that you can use in an application that is compatible with database servers other than Informix®.
Regular expressions combine literal characters and metacharaters to define the search and replace criteria. You run the functions from the Informix® Regex extension to find matches to strings, replace strings, and split strings into substrings.
The Informix® XML User's Guide includes information about using built-in functions for XML publishing with Informix.
The describes how to program applications to search data from moving objects in HCL Informix® databases using the spatiotemporal search extension.
The Informix® TimeSeries Data User's Guide contains information to assist you in using the TimeSeries extension with HCL Informix.
Use the Web DataBlade® module to create web applications that incorporate data that is retrieved dynamically from the HCL Informix® database.
You can create user-defined data types, routines, access methods, and other database objects to suit your needs. You can use application programming interfaces to write user-defined routines and applications that access data in Informix® databases.