IIUG Insider (Issue #201) March 2017

Highlights: We are less than a month away from IIUG2017 in Raleigh, NC!

Welcome to the International Informix Users Group (IIUG) Insider! Designed for IIUG members and Informix user group leaders, this publication contains timely and relevant information for the IBM Informix community.

Contents:

Editorial

We are preparing for the IIUG event in Raleigh. We hope to see many of you there.
For those who are not attending this year. What are your reasons? How can we have you next year?
Even better what can we do to have you this year?
Please let me know.

At work we just completed upgrading to Informix 12.10 FC8. So far so good. Some cool new features and a smooth upgrade.
I guess that’s it for now.

Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
IIUG Board of Directors
gary@iiug.org

Highlights

We are less than a month away from IIUG2017 in Raleigh, NC!

If you have already registered, but have not yet booked your hotel room, you should book soon. Rooms are going fast.
If you have not already registered, there is still time. Go to https://www.iiug2017.org/register.php and don’t forget to use your $150 IIUG Member discount.

The Session Grid is now available on line at http://iiug2017.org/schedule/. PLEASE NOTE: this is subject to change.
Don’t forget paid attendees will have access to the Tutorials on Thursday. For more details about IIUG 2017 go to https://iiug2017.org.

The Client Advisory Council is on Sunday, April 23 from 9 am to 3 pm.
Attendees can be a part of Informix strategy, roadmap and future in blockchain, cognitive computing and IoT. The event is by invite only, to receive an invite and learn more go to:
/en/2017/03/24/informix-client-advisory-council-cac-will-meet-at-the-2017-iiug-informix-event/
Hope to see you there,

IIUG 2017 Planning Committee

RFE corner

Just in case you are not aware, some time ago IBM created a public website to collect the requests for new features directly from users. The RFE (Requests For Enhancements) website is included in developerWorks. You can access it here.
Once you logged in with your usual IBM ID, choose “Information Management” in the Brand dropdown box and “Informix Servers” or “Client Products” in the Products dropdown box.
The interesting thing is that any request, including your request, if you place one, is submitted to be voted on. This means the RFEs that receive more votes have a greater chance to be considered by the architecture and development teams for further consideration. In other words, this IS your opportunity to provide enhancement ideas even if you are not the biggest IBM customer on the planet earth.
Some RFEs will be of great interest, others will not seem useful to you. This is why your opinion is important. Do not hesitate to vote and place comments!
The idea of the RFE corner is to provide a digest on new Informix RFEs and make those RFEs more visible and accessible for the community, so that you can vote for them in a faster and easier way. By participating actively in this website, IBM will have solid and useful elements from the customer base to introduce new functionality to Informix product.
Also in the area of IBM website, a new functionality has been released: MyNotifications. You will want to register this webpage in order to receive the notifications of your choice (new product defects, new patch release, new versions etc…, on the frequency of your choice (daily, weekly). I have registered and will definitely remain registered, due to the value of the information delivered.
Check at this place.

TOP 14 RFE’s

Abstract Status Votes Progr.
In-Place Alter for varchar, lvarchar and boolean Under Consideration 53 0
Backup from RSS or HDR Secondaries using ontape, onunload, onbar, dbexport Under Consideration 50 0
SQL interface to obtain the temporary space usage (tables, hash, sorts…) Submitted 48 0
Obtain the query plan of a running query Under Consideration 42 0
Request to track and save a time stamp for last time an index was used. Nee… Submitted 36 0
Backup Individual database, not entire instance Submitted 29 0
ALTER owner of database objects after creation Submitted 28 +1
New feature to have FORCE_DDL_EXEC functionality for all DDL changes Submitted 24 +1
Implement CREATE OR REPLACE option for stored procedures< Under Consideration 22 0
Implementation of regular expressions (adding to LIKE/MATCHES functions) Under Consideration 22 0
SQL interface to obtain the temporary space usage (tables, hash, sorts…) Declined 19 0
Allow triggers install/updates without taking an outage for the box Under Consideration 18 +1
Allow “group commit” as other RDBMS Under Consideration 17 0
Need an onmode option to terminate orphaned, tightly coupled global transac… Under Consideration 17 0
Ability to re-create views and procedures without dependent objects being dropped (34762 Under consideration 14 0

Do not forget to vote for one or several of those RFE’s if they fit your requirements.
You can access each RFE by clicking on the above links. At the bottom of each RFE page you will find a hyperlink to vote for it. You will see the Request stats, including number of votes for this request, on the right side of the request page. The more votes, the greater the chance an enhancement will be addressed by the Development Team, taking into consideration the general interest.
Take some time to examine the full list and vote for the enhancements you would like to see implemented.

Gary Ben-Israel

Works for me

In this section I will write about things that help me in my day to day work. Most DBAs probably have their own ways to perform these tasks which may be different than the way I do them. So, if you find an error or can think of a better way, please let me know. If not feel, free to use these tips as is or modify them to fit your needs.
This time it is a stored procedure that adds a number of minutes to a datetime column.

drop function if exists inc_by_min(datetime year to second, int);
create function inc_by_min(dt datetime year to second, j int)
   returning datetime year to second
 define dt_ret datetime year to second;
 define sel_str varchar(255);
 let sel_str =
   "select '"||dt||"'::datetime year to second"||
   " + interval("||j||")"||" minute to minute"||
   " from systables where tabid = 1";
 prepare sel_prep from sel_str;
 declare sel_curs cursor for sel_prep;
 open sel_curs;
 fetch sel_curs into dt_ret;
 close sel_curs;
 free sel_curs;
 return dt_ret;
end function;

Gary Ben-Israel

Calendar of events

April – 2017

Date Event Location Contact
23-27 IIUG 2017 Raleigh, NC, USA

Informix resources

IBM Informix home page www.informix.com or directly at: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/informix/

Informix Blogs and Wikis

Blogs and Wikis that have been updated during the last month

  • Informix Experts at: https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/idsteam?lang=en *NEW*

More Blogs and Wikis

Social media

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25049
Twitter : https://twitter.com/IBM_Informix
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/IBM.Informix
YouTube : https://ibm.biz/BdH2nb
Informix IoT Channel : https://ibm.biz/BdH2nm

Forums, Groups, Videos, and Magazines

  • The IIUG forums at /forums/technical.php
  • Informix Marketing channel on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/informixmarketing?feature=results_main
  • IBM DATABASE MAGAZINE at http://www.ibmdatabasemag.com
  • Credentials, the IBM Certification Newsletter at http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/email/201307credentials.shtml
  • The Informix Zone at http://www.informix-zone.com
  • There is now an Informix group on LinkedIn. The group is called “Informix Supporter”, so anyone loving Informix can join, from current IBM employees, former Informix employees, to users. It will also be a good occasion to get in touch with others or long-time-no-seen friends. If you fancy showing the Informix logo on your profile, join. To join, simply go to: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/25049/5E4B2048E558

Closing and Credits
The International Informix Users Group (IIUG) is an organization designed to enhance communications between its worldwide user community and IBM. The IIUG’s membership database now exceeds 25,000 entries and enjoys the support and commitment of IBM’s Information Management division. Key programs include local user groups and special interest groups, which we promote and assist from launch through growth.

Sources: IIUG Board of Directors
IBM Corp.

Editor: Gary Ben-Israel
For comments, please send an email to gary@iiug.org

Published
Categorized as Insider

By Vicente Salvador

Board member since 2014, a user since 1989 and Informix fan. I'am software architect which allow me to combine technical and business skills.