SQL Built-In Functions and Stored Procedures: The i5/iSeries Programmer's Guide (Paperback)

~ Mike Faust (Author) "Structured Query Language (SQL) is the industry standard language for database access..." (more)
Key Phrases: Query Manager, Visual Basic, Data Objects (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Stored procedures and built-in functions can greatly expand the power and usefulness of SQL, but surprisingly these highly useful tools remain untapped by many programmers. For programmers who are new to the subject or those who want to expand on what they already know, this book provides a terrific introduction to the creation and use of built-in functions and stored procedures under OS/400 and i5/OS. But what are they?

Built-in functions are a part of practically every programming language and can be a big boost to productivity by identifying and isolating functions that need to be executed repeatedly. SQL makes particularly good use of its built-in functions. Stored procedures are programs that can be called from within SQL—and other programming languages, such as RPG—to process entire datasets. This book will put you on the fast track to using and writing both effectively.

After you learn the basics of these powerful tools, you?ll go on to explore some of the stored procedures and functions included with SQL on the iSeries as part of OS/400 and i5/OS. Author Mike Faust even explains the process of developing custom built-in functions for your own use and has included a stored procedure that can be used to create a crosstab or pivot table representation of supplied data.

This book is the tool you need to boost the power of your i5/OS SQL programming skills.

With SQL Built-In Functions and Stored Procedures, you will:

– Discover how to perform routine maintenance functions, such as copying a file or rebuilding an existing table without losing the data in the existing table.

– Learn how to build data files, modify a library list, and compile programs.

– Practice using example programs that not only teach, but also make excellent additions to any programmer's library.

– Learn how to use 11 different functions, including functions to edit numeric values for print with commas, decimal points, and currency symbols; a function that returns the distance in miles between two ZIP codes; functions to convert date and currency to a text string and more.

– Gain access to complete code on the Web for each function, which you can use directly in your own programs.

About the Author

Mike Faust is a former network administrator, software developer, and MIS Manager. He lives in Sanford, Florida.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Mc Press (June 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583470549
• ISBN-13: 978-1583470541
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #661,463 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stored Procedures the IBM DB2 Way, May 17, 2005

By	John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book concentrates on using the IBM mid-range computer systems with DB2 as the database.

SQL, is usually thought of as simply a bunch of commands used to manipulate data in a database. Most books talk about the big three SQL commands of SELECT, INSERT, and UPDATE as being just about all that SQL can do.

In reality, the "L" stands for "Language" and the full fledged SQL's in the big databases are full fledged languages. Like other languages, they have logic, loops, functions, and internal variables just like other languages.

While SQL is a standard, each implementation does things just a bit differently. This small book gives a very quick overview of the standard commands like SELECT, but spends most of its pages on doing stored procedures the IBM way.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Highly dissappointed in MC Press., March 23, 2007

By	AS/400 Software Developer (WV USA) - See all my reviews

I am a computer programmer/analyst for a major manufacturing company and a need has recently come for us to write some stored procedures for interfacing our machine software on PC workstations with our AS/400. I've written many RPG IV programs with embedded SQL and even wrapped them in stored procedures, but I wanted to learn SPL to try to avoid the middle man. This book was NOT easy-to-understand as advertised. Rather than explain, line by line, what each command does/means so that you can use it for your own purposes, he just gives you an example procedure and tells you what it does. These procedures are supposed to be useful, but we can't use many of them and I think some would be much better served in other languages. I found this book very poorly written and difficult to follow. It started out just fine, but about 50+ pages into it he abandons his clear explanations and goes far beyond a beginner's means--like flooring the pedal in a Firebird. It was almost as if he had a deadline to meet and wrote the second half of the book in a fraction of the time he spent on the first half. If I wanted something so technical and confusing I would have read the free IBM manual rather than buy this book. MC PRESS needs to change this book's rating from 'Novice' to 'Advanced' and a second edition needs to be released correcting all the errors. Mr. Faust you dropped the ball on this one.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars General overview, March 7, 2009

By	T. Clark (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book starts out with good details on some of the keywords, but seems to give big examples, with brief explanations toward the end of the book. I was hoping for a bigger book, with better examples.