This book discusses how to design and code application programs that access DB2 databases. It presents detailed information on the use of Structured Query Language (SQL) in supported host language programs. For information on language support for your specific operating system, see the Application Building Guide. This book also provides an overview of some of the DB2 utilities that you can use to help create DB2 applications. These utilities include The IBM DB2 Universal Database Project Add-In for Microsoft Visual C++ and IBM DB2 Stored Procedure Builder.
You can access data with:
This book discusses all these ways to access data except DB2 CLI, which is discussed in the CLI Guide and Reference. JDBC, SQLJ, and DB2 CLI provide some data access capabilities that are not available through embedded SQL. These capabilities include scrollable cursors and stored procedures that return multiple result sets. See the discussion in Access to Data to help you decide which data access method to use.
To effectively use the information in this book to design, write, and test your DB2 application programs, you need to refer to the SQL Reference along with this book. If you are using the DB2 Call Level Interface (CLI) or Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) interface in your applications to access DB2 databases, refer to the CLI Guide and Reference. To perform database manager administration functions using the DB2 administration APIs in your application programs, refer to the Administrative API Reference.
You can also develop applications where one part of the application runs on the client and another part runs on the server. Version 7 of DB2 introduces support for stored procedures with enhanced portability and scalability across platforms. Stored procedures are discussed in Stored Procedures.
You can use object-based extensions to DB2 to make your DB2 application programs more powerful, flexible, and active than traditional DB2 applications. The extensions include large objects (LOBs), distinct types, structured types, user-defined functions (UDFs), and triggers. These features of DB2 are described in:
References to DB2 in this book should be understood to mean the DB2 Universal Database product on UNIX, Linux, OS/2, and Windows 32-bit operating systems. References to DB2 on other platforms use a specific product name and platform, such as DB2 Universal Database for AS/400.