Welcome
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 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.
Programmer's Guide
The HCL® Informix® DataBlade® API Programmer's Guide describes information about the , the C-language application programming interface (API) provided with HCL Informix.
overview
The
The HCL Informix® is the application programming interface (API) for HCL Informix. You can use functions in modules to access data stored in the Informix database.
components
The contains the header files, public data type structures, and pubic functions for the development of modules.
Regular public functions
The provides support for the functions in a module.
Informix® ESQL/C functions
In a module, you can use some of the functions in the library functions to perform conversions and operations on different data types. The functions do not begin with the mi_ prefix. Various header files declare these functions.

HCL Informix® V15.0.0 documentation
Welcome to the documentation for HCL Informix® 15.0.0 and related client tools and products.
Product overview
HCL Informix® is a fast and scalable database server that manages traditional relational, object-relational, and dimensional databases. Its small footprint and self-managing capabilities are suited to embedded data-management solutions.
Installing
These topics describe how to install HCL Informix® database servers, client products, and modules.
Administering
In addition to administering the database server, you can tune performance, replicate data, and archive data.
Migrating and upgrading
You can upgrade to the 15.0.0 release of HCL Informix® or migrate from other database servers to Informix. Upgrading is an in-place migration method that uses your existing hardware and operating system software. Some changes to the Informix database server can affect upgrading from a previous release.
Client APIs and tools
You can use the HCL Informix® implementation of client APIs to develop applications for Informix database servers.
Embedding Informix®
When you embed HCL Informix®, you can use enterprise-class high-availability and high performance with embeddability features such as easy programmability, a small disk and memory footprint, and silent deployment.
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 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 modules
  These topics describe how to use built-in database extensions and separately installed 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.
  - Programmer's Guide
    The HCL® Informix® DataBlade® API Programmer's Guide describes information about the , the C-language application programming interface (API) provided with HCL Informix.
    - overview
      - The
        The HCL Informix® is the application programming interface (API) for HCL Informix. You can use functions in modules to access data stored in the Informix database.
        The module
        A module is a C-language module that uses the functions of the to communicate with HCL Informix®.
        components
        The contains the header files, public data type structures, and pubic functions for the development of modules.
        Header files
        Public data types
        Regular public functions
        The provides support for the functions in a module.
        functions
        The functions begin with the mi_ prefix. The milib.h header file declares most of these functions.
        Informix® ESQL/C functions
        In a module, you can use some of the functions in the library functions to perform conversions and operations on different data types. The functions do not begin with the mi_ prefix. Various header files declare these functions.
        Informix® GLS functions
        The HCL® Informix® GLS library is an API that lets developers of modules create internationalized applications. This library is a threadsafe library. The macros and functions of HCL Informix GLS provide access to the GLS locales, which contain culture-specific information.
        Advanced features (Server)
        The provides a set of advanced features to handle specialized needs of a UDR or module that the regular public features cannot handle.
        Internationalization of modules (GLS)
        For your module to work in any HCL Informix® locale, you must implement your module so that it is internationalized. That is, the module must not make any assumptions about the locale in which it will execute.
      - Access SQL data types
        This section provides an overview of the data types that the supports.
    - Data manipulation
    - Database access
    - Create user-defined routines
    - Appendix
      This section contains additional reference information.
  - Function Reference
    The IBM® Informix® DataBlade® API Function Reference describes the functions and the subset of functions that the supports.
  - Developers Kit
    The Developers Kit (DBDK) guides contain information about the tools you can use to develop and package modules, which extend the functionality of HCL Informix® databases.
  - J/Foundation Developer's Guide
    The HCL® J/Foundation Developer's Guide describes how to write user-defined routines (UDRs) in the Java™ programming language for Informix®.
  - R-Tree Index User's Guide
    The HCL® 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 HCL® 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 IBM® 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 IBM® 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 module.
Data warehousing
In addition to designing and implementing Informix® dimensional databases, you can use tools to create data warehouse applications and optimize your data warehouse queries.
Designing databases
The first step in creating a relational database is to construct a data model, which is a precise, complete definition of the data you want to store. After you prepare your data model, you must implement it as a database and tables. To implement your data model, you first select a data type for each column and then you create a database and tables and populate the tables with data. You can also implement fragmentation strategies and control access to your data.
JSON compatibility
You can use the popular JSON-oriented query language created by MongoDB to interact with data stored in HCL Informix®.
Security
You can secure your Informix® database server and the data that is stored in your Informix databases. You can encrypt data, secure connections, control user privileges and access, and audit data security.
SQL programming
You can use the HCL Informix® implementation of the SQL language to develop applications for Informix database servers.
Troubleshooting HCL Informix®
Several troubleshooting techniques, tools, and resources are available for resolving problems that you encounter in your HCL Informix® database server environment.

Informix® ESQL/C functions

In a module, you can use some of the functions in the library functions to perform conversions and operations on different data types. The functions do not begin with the mi_ prefix. Various header files declare these functions.

For more information, see ESQL/C header files.

The functions of the function library that are valid in a module can be divided into the following categories.


Category of function	More information
Byte handling	Manipulate byte data
Character processing	ESQL/C functions for string conversion Operations on character values
DECIMAL-type and MONEY-type processing	ESQL/C functions for decimal conversion Perform operations on decimal data
DATE-type processing	ESQL/C functions for date conversion Operations on date data
DATETIME-type processing and INTERVAL-type processing	ESQL/C functions for date, time, and interval conversion Operations on date and time data
INT8-byte processing	Convert INT8 values Perform operations on eight-byte values
Processing for other C-language data types	Format numeric strings

For a complete list of functions in each of these categories, see the IBM® Informix® DataBlade® API Function Reference, which provides descriptions of these public functions, in alphabetical order.