SQL and XQuery editor

You can develop queries for both relational and XML data by creating SQL and XQuery statements in the SQL and XQuery editor.

The tool supports the creation of one or more statements of either type, as well as the nesting of either type of statement. Statements that you create and save are stored in a file with the extension .sql.

The SQL and XQuery editor provides the following features:
Connection and commands pane
The top pane of the editor contains connection information and command buttons. If no connection is specified for the script, the No Connection link appears. Click the link to create or specify a database connection.
The right side of the top border provides the following command buttons for easy access:
  • Debug selected SQL statement
  • Run SQL
  • Open Visual Explain
  • Start Tuning... (shown only in products that include query-tuning functionality)
  • Import
  • Export
  • Run and collect performance metrics (shown only in products or features that support performance metrics functionality)
  • Job Manager
Note: Debugging SQL statements is supported for DB2® for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Version 10.1 Fix Pack 2 and later databases.
Command pane
The command pane, which is located at the top of the editor, contains tabs that contain commands that are also available on the pop-up menu in the editor. You can use either the command pane or the pop-up menu to perform the actions that are associated with the commands. You can hide the command pane while you are not using it.

The command pane contains the Configuration, Validation, Special Registers, and Performance metrics tabs.

Note: Some product no longer use the command pane and now display tabs at the bottom of the editor.
Multiple statement support
You can type multiple statements in an .sql file and then run them.
Variable statement terminator
By default, the SQL and XQuery editor uses a semicolon (;) as the default statement terminator. You can specify a different statement terminator for the statements that you create in the SQL and XQuery editor. To set the statement terminator, open a script or use the Validation tab of the SQL and XQuery editor.
Syntax highlighting
To aid you in differentiating the elements in an SQL statement or an XQuery statement, syntax highlighting renders different kinds of elements in the text in unique colors.
Content assist
Content assist is an editing tool that provides you with helpful information as you type an SQL or XQuery statement. For example, after you type the dot that follows a schema qualifier in an SQL statement, content assist supplies a list of the tables in the schema.

As you develop your statement, you can press Ctrl + Space at any time to see context-sensitive coding help in the content assist window.

Query parsing and validation
As you type, the parser checks the syntax of both SQL and XQuery expressions, and provides a visual indication of any errors that it detects in the query.

Query parsing is optional. If you do not want to use query parsing, open the Validation tab, select the Validate statement syntax option, then select No validation from the list of validation options.


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