Highlights: Last Chance to Submit Your Informix Session for IBM’s TechXchange Event
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.
Table of Contents
Editorial
The IIUG Board is working with the IBM TechXchange committee to set up our Community Day content for IBM’s TechXchange event September 11-14, 2023 at the MGM Grand Hotel, in Las Vegas, NV. You have until 5:00pm EDT, June 5th to submit your session ideas for the main TechXchange event. The community day submission will be handled by the IIUG. We need your help to let IBM know the Informix Community is alive and well. Stay turned for more details.
The leolo Informix MasterMind Conference 23, begins June 5th at the Interalpen Hotel Tyrol in Austria. I hope you are able to attend this technical event.
Our next TechTalks event is June 22, Lycia Low Code Development Platform with Hubert Hölzl from Querix.
Just a reminder, the IIUG Insider is for the entire Informix Community, if you and content you would like to share with the community or have an Informix event you would like us to promote, please reach out to us.
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Insider Co-Editor
IIUG Board of Directors
rhonda@iiug.org
Highlights
Last Chance to Submit Your Informix Session for IBM’s TechXchange
Don’t miss out on your chance to share your Informix knowledge at IBM’s premier, technical learning event. The event will be held September 11-14, 2023 at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, NV.
The event will have over one thousand breakout events, include hands-on experience with the latest IBM Technologies and product demonstrations.
The deadline to submit your sessions for IBM TechXchange is June 5th 5:00pm EDT.
Also, the event includes a Community Day for IBM User groups. The IIUG will have the opportunity to share in the content for the day. The IIUG will soon be announcing a call for speakers for our portion of the Community Day event.
For additional information and to submit your session please visit IBM TechXchange.
Hope we see you there!
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board of Directors
Informix Corner
Informix Tech Talks on YouTube
Upcoming Informix Tech Talks
Title: Lycia Low Code Development Platform
Speaker: Hubert Hölzl, Querix
Date/Time: Thursday, June 22, 2023, 2:00 PM EDT
Description: As an introduction to the Low Code approach using Lycia, we are going to demonstrate how the 4GL developer can provide to any existing and new programs all common application logics (display, input, insert, update, delete,…) with a form and a single line of code. This behavior can be customized further using a rich set of runtime properties, and we we will also show how the business logic can be added to the program without any training needed, using classic & enhanced 4GL coding techniques.
Bio: Hubert Hubert has been working in IT for over 25 years and started working for Querix in 1999. He graduated from the University of Salford-Manchester UK with a BSc in Software Development and has been working with 4GL tools and services for over 10 years. His main role in Querix is to look after customers, partners and to coordinate the different development projects on an upper management level. Hubert is currently the COO of Querix. Hubert lives near Munich, Bavaria, with his wife and 2 beautiful children.
Register for Lycia Low Code Development Platform
Last Informix Tech Talks Replay
Replay of the Last Informix Tech Talks: June 1, 2023: What’s New with IBM Informix 14.10 – Shripad Sonavnay and Karen Qualley
Informix Tech Talks YouTube Channel
We now have 381 subscribers to our YouTube channel.
We have 98 videos on YouTube on our Channel.
Our Channel has received over 10,500 views so far!
Informix Tech Talks YouTube Channel Videos
Past Informix Tech Talks Replays
Rhonda Hackenburg
In Search of Tech Talks Speakers
We are looking for additional speakers and especially any new speakers to share your Informix knowledge with our user Community via the IIUG Tech Talks. We will assist you in preparing for your Tech Talks presentation by prerecording your session. This will allow you to be available to answer any questions that come up in the chat during you presentation.
If you are interested in producing a 15 – 45-minute presentation, please contact either Bruce Simms or Rhonda Hackenburg for additional information.
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board
leolo Informix MasterMind Conference 23
The conference is set to take place on June 5-6, 2023, at the Interalpen Hotel Tyrol in Austria. The event is expected to feature a range of topics related to the future of data security, AI, and predictive analytics, among others.
Attendees will have the opportunity to meet and learn from some of the leading international experts and speakers in these fields. The conference is designed to provide valuable insights into the latest trends and developments in data security, AI, and predictive analytics, as well as to showcase innovative solutions and technologies.
Learn more at leolo Informix Mastermind Conference 23.
CTO – Senior Consultant – Data Scientist
leolo IT & Media Consulting GmbH
NEW! IBM TechXchange Conference – September 11-14, 2023
Join IBM for their newest technical event, IBM TechXchange! This is a must for users for IBM products and solutions to learn the latest IBM technologies, including hybrid cloud and AI, including product roadmaps.
The event will be held at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas from September 11-14, 2023.
The call for speakers is open, submit your sessions today. Submissions include a wide variety of topics including AI, Business Analytics, Data Science, Data Security, Hybrid Cloud, Threat Management, Information Management, and many more.
Start your event one day earlier with a pre-conference Community day. Meet with other professionals to share your knowledge and other interests.
Registration opened May 8, 2023.
Click here to register for the event or learn more about IBM’s TechXchange.
Rhonda Hackenburg
Informix Training
Free Informix Tutorials Videos – a step by step approach to using Informix Database Servers are available at https://advancedatatools.com/tech-info/informix-tutorials/
IIUG Board Member Profile
Let’s discover together board member Bruce Simms.
Q: How do you use Informix in your “real” job (DBA, Consultant, Developer, etc.)?
A: I started for a small St. Louis Missouri USA company in the early 80’s who had a home grown Indexed file systems with the purpose of moving them to vendor furnished database solution. The end solution was a RDBMS solution but brought knowledge of the Cincom Total DBS systems and it was chosen as a steppingstone to a final solution of Informix products starting with Turbo and progressing up through V12. With all of this went through a number of buy outs of company and mergers and acquisitions to finally end up retiring from Equifax in 2021 with 32 years as Sr. Informix DBA.
Q: How long have you been using Informix products?
A: Started in Mid-late 80’s.
Q: What is your role on the IIUG Board?
A: I started working in User groups doing Program Planning for the ST. Louis Informix User group, was then asked to join the Conference Planning Committee where I worked on sessions then took over the recruitment of vendors and Audio/Video items which lead me to running for the BOD.
Q: Why did you volunteer to be on the board?
A: I believe I had knowledge to share and spread the words/knowledge of the BEST Database there was.
Q: What do you want to accomplish this year on the Board?
A: I hope to continue Lester’s vision of the Tech-Talks sessions.
Q: Where are you from?
A: St. Louis Missouri USA.
Q: Best Informix story?
A: The fun of being told “We are leaving Informix many times” only to find test proved many times replacements weren’t able to perform up to Informix baselines, due to either costs, required hardware or amount of growth of staff over the small Informix staff. The truth is Informix just flat works and performs!!!!!
Q: Worst Informix nightmare.
A: This was the hardest one and the nightmares were in my fears and not issues if you make sure and test, test make changes and tests. So I imagined issues which didn’t occur, worst issue was I created my own issue by running command on wrong server once, still recoverable from.
Q: Can you tell us about your family and hobbies outside of IIUG?
A: My wife and I have been married 42 years, 2 adopted children (son from Florida and a daughter from Russia). We enjoy traveling as well as fly-fishing and deer hunting, Marjie joins me on the adventures as well as she sews and quilts.
RFE Corner
IBM has an RFE – Request For Enhancements website.
https://ibm-data-and-ai.ideas.aha.io/?project=INFX
Please visit this site to vote for your favorite enhancements and place new requests. It is friendly and has a nice look and feel.
Recent
Create a replicate table between a single instance and the root node of a Sharding
Certify Informix 4GL 7.51.FC2 on RHEL 8
Support DESC keyword for describing schema objects.
Popular (Over 50 votes)
Obtain the query plan of a running query
Many times a DBA is called to check upon a slow process. Most of the times those processes are running a slow query.
Sometimes it’s hard to know if the query is using the best query plan or not. A DBA can reproduce the query, but it it was prepared without values or if the statistics were changed after it started there is no guarantee that the query plan seen by the DBA is the same as the running query.
We have “onstat -g pqs” which sometimes can give us a clue, but it’s mostly cryptic and undocumented. If a user has X-Windows he can try xtree, but it’s a bit strange for todays standards.
We also have SQLTRACE, but if it was not set when the query was launched it will not capture the info (and besides, due to the circular nature of the buffer it may not be there at the time we need it).
A simple pseudo-table in sysmaster could probably implement this with ease.
It could also be extended to support the “last” query plan making it easy to get the query plan in any tool
Votes: 105 (+1)
Created: December 24, 2018
Status: Future consideration
Informix should be able to change owner on tables and any other objects
If user=informix creates all database and all tables, then programmer creates table but user=informix cannot change it. Only drop it.
Votes: 100 (+1)
Created: December 24, 2018
Status: Future consideration
Backup Individual database, not entire instance
Need a mechanism, similar to ontape, to backup a live database (as opposed to entire instance), without locking it.
Votes: 91 (+1)
Created: December 24, 2018
Status: Future consideration
Gary Ben-Israel
IBM Informix Forum Corner
Join and visit the IBM Informix community forum at http://www.iiug.org/community
Recent Posts
RFE – Implement nested loop join of external and indexed tables
Having trouble getting this accepted as a defect, would help to have more votes on the RFE:
https://ibm-data-and-ai.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-505
The contents follow.
Try this in the “stores_demo” database:
SET EXPLAIN ON;
SELECT {+USE_NL(customer)} *
FROM ext_customer AS e
JOIN customer AS c ON c.zipcode = e.zipcode;
That does return 3 rows, but the query plan details are:
DIRECTIVES FOLLOWED:
DIRECTIVES NOT FOLLOWED:
USE_NL ( customer ) Join Method and Ordered directives conflict or hash join cannot be enforced.
Estimated Cost: 11
Estimated # of Rows Returned: 3
1) informix.c: SEQUENTIAL SCAN
2) informix.e: SEQUENTIAL SCAN
DYNAMIC HASH JOIN
Dynamic Hash Filters: informix.c.zipcode = informix.e.zipcode
Whatever optimizer directives are applied (or none), it always uses the above plan.
This defect meant a customer had to load a 34 million row file into a raw table rather than using directly as an external table, which is a major functional failure.
Avoid to see the Last 20 Sessions Terminated in onstat
Gary Ben-Israel
Informix Resources
Not a member, become an IIUG member and keep updated on all things Informix. It’s free.
Not a member, join The IBM Informix community and connect with other Informix data experts.
Informix Requests for Enhancements.
Informix Blogs ans Wikis
Andrés Repossi https://andreserepossi.wixsite.com/hablemosinformix (In Spanish)
Technical Articles
https://www.oninitgroup.com/technical-articles/
https://www.oninitgroup.com/faq-items/cloud-backups-with-informix-14-10/
Over 10 Years of Informix Webcast Replays
Over 30 Years of Informix Blog Posts
Social Media
| YouTube |
Forums, Groups, Videos, and Magazines
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- The IIUG old forums at http://www.iiug.org/forums/technical.php *** NO LONGER ACTIVE ***
- Informix Marketing channel on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/informixmarketing?feature=results_main
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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 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.
Editors: Gary Ben-Israel, Rhonda Hackenburg
For comments, please send an email to gary@iiug.org or rhonda@iiug.org
Highlights: IBM Community Update – Changes to the Data & AI Communities
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.
Editorial
2023 has begun. So far, I have heard very little from IBM or HCL.
Maybe they are extending the holiday season. You guys are not sending me content either.
So, most of my work is searching. This month Art came to my rescue.
I’m doing the best I can to providing you content. If you have anything you think is of value to other users, please send it to me.
Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
IIUG Board of Directors
gary@iiug.org