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SQL programming
You can use the HCL Informix® implementation of the SQL language to develop applications for Informix database servers.
Guide to SQL: Tutorial
The Informix® Guide to SQL: Tutorial shows how to use basic and advanced structured query language (SQL) to access and manipulate the data in your databases. It discusses the data manipulation language (DML) statements as well as triggers and stored procedure language (SPL) routines, which DML statements often use.
SQL programming
Retrieve multiple rows
Open a cursor

SQL programming
You can use the HCL Informix® implementation of the SQL language to develop applications for Informix database servers.
- Guide to SQL: Syntax
- Guide to SQL: Reference
  The Informix® Guide to SQL: Reference contains the reference information for the system catalog tables, data types, and environment variables of the HCL Informix dialect of the SQL language, as implemented in HCL Informix. These topics also include information about the stores_demo, sales_demo, and superstore_demo databases that are included with HCL Informix.
- Guide to SQL: Tutorial
  The Informix® Guide to SQL: Tutorial shows how to use basic and advanced structured query language (SQL) to access and manipulate the data in your databases. It discusses the data manipulation language (DML) statements as well as triggers and stored procedure language (SPL) routines, which DML statements often use.

Open a cursor

The program opens the cursor when it is ready to use it. The OPEN statement activates the cursor. It passes the associated SELECT statement to the database server, which begins the search for matching rows. The database server processes the query to the point of locating or constructing the first row of output. It does not actually return that row of data, but it does set a return code in SQLSTATE and in SQLCODE for SQL APIs. The following example shows the OPEN statement in Informix® ESQL/C:

EXEC SQL OPEN the_item;

Because the database server is seeing the query for the first time, it might detect a number of errors. After the program opens the cursor, it should test SQLSTATE or SQLCODE. If the SQLSTATE value is greater than 02000 or the SQLCODE contains a negative number, the cursor is not usable. An error might be present in the SELECT statement, or some other problem might prevent the database server from executing the statement.

If SQLSTATE is equal to 00000, or SQLCODE contains a zero, the SELECT statement is syntactically valid, and the cursor is ready to use. At this point, however, the program does not know if the cursor can produce any rows.