USER MANUALS

Syntax of Functions and Condition Values

As mentioned throughout this manual, there are different types of functions in Virtual DataPort: aggregation functions and functions used in conditions and to create derived attributes.

The listing below shows the syntax of these functions.

Rules for forming functions
<field name> ::=
    <identifier>[.<identifier>]
  | <identifier>[.<identifier>]'['<integer>']' [ <compound field name> ]*
  | (<identifier>[.<identifier>])[<compound field name>]*


<compound field name> ::=
  .<identifier> | '['<integer>']'

<funcsymbol> ::= [\+\-\*\/\%]+

<value> ::=
    NULL
  | <field name>
  | <number>
  | <boolean>
  | <literal>
  | <function>
  | <value> <funcsymbol> <value>
  | ( <value> )
  | <rowvalue>
  | { <rowvalue> [, <rowvalue>]* }
  | CASE <value> WHEN <compare_value:value> THEN <result:value>
    [ WHEN <compare_value:value> THEN <result:value> ]*
    [ ELSE <result:value>] END
  | CASE WHEN <condition> THEN <result:value>
    [ WHEN <condition> THEN <result:value>]*
    [ ELSE <result:value> ] END

<condition> ::=
    <condition> AND <condition>
  | <condition> OR <condition>
  | NOT <condition>
  | ( <condition> )
  | <boolean>
  | <value> <unary operator>
  | <value> <binary operator> <value> [ , <value> ]*
  | <value> <binary operator> ( <value> [ , <value> ]* )
  | <value> BETWEEN <value> AND <value>
  | <value> IN ( <value> [ , <value> ]* )
  | <value> LIKE <value> [ ESCAPE <escape character:literal> ]
  | <value> NOT BETWEEN <value> AND <value>
  | <value> NOT IN ( <value> [ , <value> ]* )
  | <value> NOT LIKE <value> [ ESCAPE <escape character:literal> ]
  | <value> REGEXP_LIKE <value>
  | <value> REGEXP_ILIKE <value>
  | <value> XMLEXISTS ( <XQuery expression:text>, <value:xml> )
  | XMLExists ( <XQuery expression:text>,
    <ReadXQueryExpressionFromFile:boolean>, <value:xml>)
  | <value>

<rowvalue> ::=
  ROW( <value> [, <value>]* )

<function> ::=
  <identifier> ( [ [ <function modifier>] <function parameter>
  [, <function parameter>]* ] )

<function parameter> ::=
    *
  | <value>
  | '[' [ <value>, [ <value> ]* ] ']'

<function modifier> ::=
    ALL
  | DISTINCT

<unary operator> ::= (see Basic elements of VQL statements)

<binary operator> ::= (see Basic elements of VQL statements)

To define the syntax of a function we use the following elements:

  • The element <field name> defines the syntax for specifying an attribute of a view or base view. Note that attributes can be of compound types (see section Management of Compound Values for a detailed description of compound types).

  • The <value> element defines the syntax for any parameter of a function. They can be the name of an attribute, a number, a boolean or a literal constant. It is also possible to create a compound value using the ROW constructor (see section Conditions with Compound Values). As you can see, the parameter of a function can also be a new function. In addition, a <value> allows infix notations to be specified for a function (see the <value> <funcsymbol> <value> rule).

A function element is defined as an identifier followed by a list of parameters in brackets and separated by commas. The parameters of a function can be *, single valued (<value> elements) or multivalued (<value> elements in square brackets and separated by commas).

The syntax explained earlier is common for all types of functions existing in Virtual DataPort. However, some peculiarities may exist for a particular function type. These peculiarities, when they exist, are mentioned in the section of the manual corresponding to each function type.

Finally, it is important to remember that the format to be used to represent date-type constants and other fields whose data type shows internationalization characteristics when querying a view or base relation is set by the internationalization configuration being used for same. See section Managing Internationalization Configurations for more information on the different internationalization configuration parameters and section Describing Catalog Elements to find out how to consult the parameters assigned to a specific internationalization configuration.

Add feedback