Enabling external directives

After you create and save external directives, you must set the configuration parameter and environmental variable that enable the directives. The database server searches for a directive for a query only if the external directives are set on both the database server and the client.

Enable the directive by using a combination of the EXT_DIRECTIVES configuration parameter, which is in the ONCONFIG file, and the IFX_EXTDIRECTIVES client-side environment variable.

The EXT_DIRECTIVE values that you can use are:


Value	Explanation
`0` (default)	Off. The directive cannot be enabled, even if IFX_EXTDIRECTIVES is enabled.
`1`	On. The directive can be enabled for a session if IFX_EXTDIRECTIVES is enabled.
`2`	On. The directive can be used even if IFX_EXTDIRECTIVES is not enabled.

You can also use the EXTDIRECTIVES option of the SET ENVIRONMENT statement to enable or disable external directives during a session. What you specify with the EXTDIRECTIVES option overwrites the external directive setting that is specified in the EXT_DIRECTIVES configuration parameter in the ONCONFIG file.

To overwrite the value for enabling or disabling the external directive in the ONCONFIG file:

To enable the external directives during a session, specify 1, on, or ON as the value for SET ENVIRONMENT EXTDIRECTIVES.
To disable the external directives during a session, specify 0, off, or OFF as the value for SET ENVIRONMENT EXTDIRECTIVES.

To enable the default values specified in the EXT_DIRECTIVES configuration parameter and in the client-side IFX_EXTDIRECTIVES environment variable during a session, specify DEFAULT as the value for the EXTDIRECTIVES option of the SET ENVIRONMENT statement.

The explain output file specifies whether external directives are in effect.