To be able to access an SQL/DS table with a Natural program
Use the SYSSQL utility to define an
SQL/DS table.
Use Predict or the SQL
Services function of the Natural SYSDDM
utility to create a Natural data definition module (DDM) of the defined SQL/DS
table.
Once you have defined a DDM for an SQL/DS table, you can access the data stored in this table by using a Natural program.
The Natural interface to SQL/DS translates the statements of a Natural program into SQL statements.
Natural automatically provides for the preparation and execution of each statement. In dynamic mode, a statement is only prepared once (if possible) and can then be executed several times. For this purpose, Natural internally maintains a table of all prepared statements.
Almost the full range of possibilities offered by the Natural programming language can be used for the development of Natural applications which access SQL/DS tables. For a number of Natural native DML statements, however, there are certain restrictions and differences as far as their use with SQL/DS is concerned; see Using Natural Native DML Statements. In the Statements documentation, you can find notes on Natural usage with SQL/DS in the descriptions of the statements concerned.
As there is no SQL/DS equivalent to Adabas internal sequence numbers (ISNs), any Natural features which use ISNs are not available when accessing SQL/DS tables with Natural.
For SQL databases, in addition to the Natural native DML statements, Natural provides SQL statements; see Using Natural SQL Statements. They are listed and explained in the Statements documentation