Home
Extending Informix®
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.
Creating extensions
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.
J/Foundation Developer's Guide
The J/Foundation Developer's Guide describes how to write user-defined routines (UDRs) in the Java™ programming language for Informix®.
Create Java™ user-defined routines
A user-defined routine (UDR) is a routine that an SQL statement or another UDR can invoke. UDRs written in Java™ code use the server-side implementation of the Informix® JDBC Driver to communicate with the database server.
Packages for Java™ user-defined routines
Various packages can be used to create Java™ user-defined routines (UDRs).

Extending Informix®
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.
- Informix® extensions and DataBlade® modules
  These topics describe how to use built-in database extensions and separately installed DataBlade® modules.
- Creating extensions
  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.
  - DataBlade® API Programmer's Guide
    The Informix® DataBlade® API Programmer's Guide describes information about the DataBlade API, the C-language application programming interface (API) provided with HCL Informix.
  - DataBlade® API Function Reference
    The Informix® DataBlade® API Function Reference describes the DataBlade API functions and the subset of Informix ESQL/C functions that the DataBlade API supports.
  - DataBlade® Developers Kit
    The DataBlade® Developers Kit (DBDK) guides contain information about the tools you can use to develop and package DataBlade modules, which extend the functionality of HCL Informix® databases.
  - J/Foundation Developer's Guide
    The J/Foundation Developer's Guide describes how to write user-defined routines (UDRs) in the Java™ programming language for Informix®.
    - Concepts
      This section introduces the infrastructure for creating and executing user-defined routines (UDRs) and applications that you write in Java™ to run in the HCL Informix® database server.
    - Prepare for Java™ support
      You must install and configure software before you can write user-defined routines (UDRs) in Java™ code.
    - Configuration parameters
      This section documents the configuration parameters that you need to set to use UDRs written in Java™ code. Set these parameters in the database server configuration file (the onconfig file).
    - Create Java™ user-defined routines
      A user-defined routine (UDR) is a routine that an SQL statement or another UDR can invoke. UDRs written in Java™ code use the server-side implementation of the Informix® JDBC Driver to communicate with the database server.
      - Java™ user-defined routines
      - Limitations for Java™ UDRs
      - Creating a Java™ user-defined routine in the server
        When you create Java™ user-defined routines (UDRs) in the server, you need to write and compile the source code and then install the finished code in the database server.
      - Packages for Java™ user-defined routines
        Various packages can be used to create Java™ user-defined routines (UDRs).
        The com.informix.udr package
        The com.informix.udr.UDRManager
        The com.informix.udr.UDREnv
        The com.informix.udr.UDRLog
        The com.informix.udr.UDRTraceable
      - Creating UDT-to-Java mappings
        The routine manager needs a mapping between SQL data values and Java™ objects to be able to pass parameters to and retrieve return results from a UDR. The SQL-to-Java data type mapping is performed according to the Informix® JDBC Driver specification.
      - Registering Java™ user-defined routines
        For a UDR to be invoked in an SQL statement, it must be registered in the current database. Use the CREATE FUNCTION and CREATE PROCEDURE statements to register UDRs.
      - A deployment descriptor
        A deployment descriptor allows you to include in a JAR file the SQL statements for creating and dropping the UDRs. Both sqlj.install_jar() and sqlj.remove_jar() take parameters that, when set appropriately, cause the procedure to search for deployment descriptor files in the JAR file.
      - A manifest file
        The manifest file specifies the names of the deployment descriptor files that a JAR file contains. The m option of the jar command incorporates the manifest file into the default manifest of the JAR. Starting with Informix 14.10, the manifest file can also specify a properties file used to describe automated registration. See Automatic Deployment (Enhanced Class Deployment )
      - Enhanced Class Deployment
        J/Foundation now supports an easier mechanism for deploying JUDR classes. While you can continue to use the deployment descriptor to define the SQL statements to register each method in a JUDR class, you can use the Enhanced Class Deployment feature to simplify the registration of each method.
      - Compiling the Java™ code
        A UDR written in Java™ code is implemented by a static method in a Java class.
      - Install a JAR file
        JAR files contain the code for the UDRs. For an SQL statement to be able to include a UDR written in Java™ code, you must install the JAR file in the current database. When a JAR file is installed, the routine manager of the database server can load the appropriate Java class when the UDR is invoked.
      - Update JAR file names
      - Execute the user-defined routine
      - Debugging and tracing
        As with a UDR written in C, a UDR written in Java™ code might generate the SQL messages for UDR and DataBlade® API errors when it executes. UDRs written in Java code adopt the Informix® JDBC Driver error-reporting mechanism as well.
      - Find information about user-defined routines
      - Comply with SQLJ
    - The Informix® JDBC Driver
      All UDRs written in Java™ code can access the database server data through the Informix® JDBC Driver application programming interface (API). This section briefly describes the Informix implementation of the Informix JDBC Driver API and the server-side Informix JDBC Driver.
    - Opaque user-defined data types
      This section describes how to use opaque user-defined data types (UDTs). This section describes the default SQLData interface and how to override the default.
  - R-Tree Index User's Guide
    The Informix® R-Tree Index User's Guide describes the HCL Informix R-tree secondary access method and how to access and use its components.
  - User-Defined Routines and Data Types Developer's Guide
    The Informix® User-Defined Routines and Data Types Developer's Guide describes how to define new data types and enable user-defined routines (UDRs) to extend HCL Informix.
  - Virtual-Table Interface Guide
    The Informix® Virtual-Table Interface Programmer's Guide explains how to create a primary access method with the Virtual-Table Interface (VTI) so that users have a single SQL interface to HCL Informix tables and to data that does not conform to the storage scheme of HCL Informix.
  - Virtual-Index Interface Guide
    The Informix® Virtual-Index Interface Programmer's Guide explains how to create a secondary access method with the Virtual-Index Interface (VII) to extend the built-in indexing schemes of HCL Informix typically with a DataBlade® module.

Packages for Java™ user-defined routines

Various packages can be used to create Java™ user-defined routines (UDRs).

UDRs can use all the basic nongraphic Java™ packages that are in the software development kit for Java™.

UDRs must use the server-side Informix® JDBC Driver to access the database. The server-side driver is shipped in a JAR file that is in $INFORMIXDIR/extend/krakatoa/jdbc.jar. UDRs can use most Informix® extensions to the JDBC specification.

The Informix® extensions are in the com.informix.udr package. Such extensions include logging, tracing, iterator support, and invocation-state management.

See Java™ software development kit