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 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.
Spatial Data User's Guide
These topics contain information to assist you in using the HCL® Informix® spatial extension. The HCL Informix spatial extension adds custom data types and supporting routines to the server.
Getting started with spatial data
The HCL® Informix® spatial solution embeds a geographic information system (GIS) within the HCL Informix database server. The HCL Informix spatial data types integrate spatial and non-spatial data, providing a seamless point of access using SQL (Structured Query Language).
Informix® spatial solution architecture
You can create tables that contain Informix® spatial data type columns. You can insert and store geographic features in the spatial columns.
The HCL Informix® Web Feature Service
The HCL Informix® Web Feature Service (WFS) is a transaction service that acts as a presentation layer for spatial data.

HCL Informix® V15.0 documentation
Welcome to the documentation for HCL Informix® 15.0 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 DataBlade® 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 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 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.
  - Database Extensions User's Guide
    This publication 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.
  - Performing XML Publishing
    This publication includes information about using built-in functions for XML publishing with HCL® Informix®.
  - Spatial Data User's Guide
    These topics contain information to assist you in using the HCL® Informix® spatial extension. The HCL Informix spatial extension adds custom data types and supporting routines to the server.
    - Getting started with spatial data
      The HCL® Informix® spatial solution embeds a geographic information system (GIS) within the HCL Informix database server. The HCL Informix spatial data types integrate spatial and non-spatial data, providing a seamless point of access using SQL (Structured Query Language).
      - Overview of spatial data
        The properties of spatial data include the type of spatial object, or geometry, the geographic area where the object is located, and whether the location of the object is measured in angular or linear units.
      - Informix® spatial solution architecture
        You can create tables that contain Informix® spatial data type columns. You can insert and store geographic features in the spatial columns.
        Spatial data replication
        You can use spatial data types with Enterprise Replication and high-availability clusters.
        The HCL Informix® Web Feature Service
        The HCL Informix® Web Feature Service (WFS) is a transaction service that acts as a presentation layer for spatial data.
      - Preparing for spatial data
        Before you load spatial data, you must prepare the database server for spatial data.
      - Loading spatial data
        After you prepare for spatial data, you can load data into the spatial table. The method for loading depends on the type and amount of data. Some loading methods automatically create an association between the spatial table and a spatial reference system in the geometry_columns table and create a spatial index. Otherwise, you must create the association and the index manually.
      - Query spatial data
        A common task in a GIS application is to retrieve the visible subset of spatial data for display in a window.
      - Update values in a spatial column
        You run the SQL UPDATE statement to alter the values in a spatial column in the same way that you update any other type of column. Typically, you must retrieve spatial column data from the table, alter the data in a client application, and then return the data to the database.
    - Spatial data types
      HCL® Informix® spatial data types are divided into two categories: the base geometry subclasses and the homogeneous collection subclasses.
    - Data exchange formats
      You can use several different GIS data exchange formats for spatial data.
    - R-tree indexes
      An index organizes access to data so that entries can be found quickly, without searching every row. The R-tree access method enables you to index multidimensional objects.
    - Run parallel queries
      Running queries in parallel distributes the work for one aspect of a query among several processors and can dramatically improve performance.
    - Estimate your spatial data
      The total amount of space you need for spatial data is equal to the size of spatial tables plus the size of the spatial indexes.
    - Spatial functions
      Use specific spatial data type functions to perform operations on spatial data.
    - Spatial Java™ API
      The spatial Java™ API enables Java applications to access geometry features that are stored in databases that contain spatial data. The spatial Java API provides classes to work with spatial objects from Java client-side programs. The client-side objects are called value objects. Spatial value objects can also be created and examined by Java methods that parallel some of the spatial data functions.
    - Appendixes
  - TimeSeries Data User's Guide
    These topics contain information to assist you in using the TimeSeries extension with HCL Informix®.
  - Spatiotemporal Search for Moving Objects User's Guide
    These topics describe how to program applications to search data from moving objects in HCL Informix® databases using the spatiotemporal search extension.
- 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.
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.

The HCL Informix® Web Feature Service

The HCL Informix® Web Feature Service (WFS) is a transaction service that acts as a presentation layer for spatial data.

WFS supports the following operations:

Creating new feature instances
Deleting feature instances
Updating feature instances
Querying features that are based on spatial and non-spatial constraints

The HCL Informix® WFS includes a CGI client program and the HCL Informix® server-side function for web programs to send requests to HCL Informix® for geographical features. These geographical features are encoded in the platform-independent, XML-based geography markup language (GML). You can use WFS with the HCL Informix® spatial data types to enable HCL Informix® database servers to manage geographical features. WFS is written to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard in document 04-094, Web Feature Service Implementation Specification Version 1.1.0. For more information, see the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org.