Fetching more than one row at a time

The FETCH statement can be modified to fetch more than one row at a time, which may improve performance. This is called a wide fetch or an array fetch.

SQL Anywhere also supports wide puts and inserts.

To use wide fetches in embedded SQL, include the FETCH statement in your code as follows:

EXEC SQL FETCH ... ARRAY nnn

where ARRAY nnn is the last item of the FETCH statement. The fetch count nnn can be a host variable. The number of variables in the SQLDA must be the product of nnn and the number of columns per row. The first row is placed in SQLDA variables 0 to (columns per row) - 1, and so on.

Each column must be of the same type in each row of the SQLDA, or a SQLDA_INCONSISTENT error is returned.

The server returns in SQLCOUNT the number of records that were fetched, which is always greater than zero unless there is an error or warning. On a wide fetch, a SQLCOUNT of 1 with no error condition indicates that one valid row has been fetched.

Example

The following example code illustrates the use of wide fetches. You can also find this code in %SQLANYSAMP12%\SQLAnywhere\esqlwidefetch\widefetch.sqc.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include "sqldef.h"
EXEC SQL INCLUDE SQLCA;

EXEC SQL WHENEVER SQLERROR { PrintSQLError();
        goto err; };

static void PrintSQLError()
{
  char buffer[200];

  printf( "SQL error %d -- %s\n",
     SQLCODE,
     sqlerror_message( &sqlca,
              buffer,
              sizeof( buffer ) ) );
} 
static SQLDA * PrepareSQLDA(
  a_sql_statement_number stat0,
  unsigned  width,
  unsigned  *cols_per_row )

/* Allocate a SQLDA to be used for fetching from
   the statement identified by "stat0". "width"
   rows are retrieved on each FETCH request.
   The number of columns per row is assigned to
   "cols_per_row". */
{
  int           num_cols;
  unsigned      row, col, offset;
  SQLDA *       sqlda;
  EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
  a_sql_statement_number  stat;
  EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
  stat = stat0;
  sqlda = alloc_sqlda( 100 );
  if( sqlda == NULL ) return( NULL );
  EXEC SQL DESCRIBE :stat INTO sqlda;
  *cols_per_row = num_cols = sqlda->sqld;
  if( num_cols * width > sqlda->sqln ) 
  {
    free_sqlda( sqlda );
    sqlda = alloc_sqlda( num_cols * width );
    if( sqlda == NULL ) return( NULL );
    EXEC SQL DESCRIBE :stat INTO sqlda;
  }
  // copy first row in SQLDA setup by describe
  // to following (wide) rows
  sqlda->sqld = num_cols * width;
  offset = num_cols;
  for( row = 1; row < width; row++ ) 
  {
    for( col = 0;
      col < num_cols;
      col++, offset++ ) 
    {
      sqlda->sqlvar[offset].sqltype =
          sqlda->sqlvar[col].sqltype;
      sqlda->sqlvar[offset].sqllen =
          sqlda->sqlvar[col].sqllen;
      // optional: copy described column name
      memcpy( &sqlda->sqlvar[offset].sqlname,
              &sqlda->sqlvar[col].sqlname,
              sizeof( sqlda->sqlvar[0].sqlname ) );
    }
  }
  fill_s_sqlda( sqlda, 40 );
  return( sqlda ); 
err:
  return( NULL );
} 
static void PrintFetchedRows( 
  SQLDA * sqlda,
  unsigned cols_per_row )
{
  /* Print rows already wide fetched in the SQLDA */
  long      rows_fetched;
  int       row, col, offset;

  if( SQLCOUNT == 0 ) 
  {
    rows_fetched = 1;
  } 
  else 
  {
    rows_fetched = SQLCOUNT;
  }
  printf( "Fetched %d Rows:\n", rows_fetched );
  for( row = 0; row < rows_fetched; row++ ) 
  {
    for( col = 0; col < cols_per_row; col++ ) 
    {
      offset = row * cols_per_row + col;
      printf( " \"%s\"",
        (char *)sqlda->sqlvar[offset].sqldata );
     }
     printf( "\n" );
  }
} 
static int DoQuery( 
  char * query_str0,
  unsigned fetch_width0 )
{
  /* Wide Fetch "query_str0" select statement
   * using a width of "fetch_width0" rows" */
  SQLDA *                 sqlda;
  unsigned                cols_per_row;
  EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
  a_sql_statement_number  stat;
  char *                  query_str;
  unsigned                fetch_width;
  EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;

  query_str = query_str0;
  fetch_width = fetch_width0;

  EXEC SQL PREPARE :stat FROM :query_str;
  EXEC SQL DECLARE QCURSOR CURSOR FOR :stat
       FOR READ ONLY;
  EXEC SQL OPEN QCURSOR;
  sqlda = PrepareSQLDA( stat,
    fetch_width,
    &cols_per_row );
  if( sqlda == NULL ) 
  {
    printf( "Error allocating SQLDA\n" );
    return( SQLE_NO_MEMORY );
  }
  for( ;; ) 
  {
    EXEC SQL FETCH QCURSOR INTO DESCRIPTOR sqlda
      ARRAY :fetch_width;
    if( SQLCODE != SQLE_NOERROR ) break;
    PrintFetchedRows( sqlda, cols_per_row );
  }
  EXEC SQL CLOSE QCURSOR;
  EXEC SQL DROP STATEMENT :stat;
  free_filled_sqlda( sqlda );
err:
  return( SQLCODE );
} 
void main( int argc, char *argv[] )
{
  /* Optional first argument is a select statement,
   * optional second argument is the fetch width */
  char *query_str =
    "SELECT GivenName, Surname FROM Employees";
  unsigned fetch_width = 10;

  if( argc > 1 ) 
  {
    query_str = argv[1];
    if( argc > 2 ) 
    {
      fetch_width = atoi( argv[2] );
      if( fetch_width < 2 ) 
      {
        fetch_width = 2;
      }
    }
  }
  db_init( &sqlca );
  EXEC SQL CONNECT "DBA" IDENTIFIED BY "sql";

  DoQuery( query_str, fetch_width );

  EXEC SQL DISCONNECT;
err:
  db_fini( &sqlca );
}

Notes on using wide fetches

In the function PrepareSQLDA, the SQLDA memory is allocated using the alloc_sqlda function. This allows space for indicator variables, rather than using the alloc_sqlda_noind function.
If the number of rows fetched is fewer than the number requested, but is not zero (at the end of the cursor for example), the SQLDA items corresponding to the rows that were not fetched are returned as NULL by setting the indicator value. If no indicator variables are present, an error is generated (SQLE_NO_INDICATOR: no indicator variable for NULL result).
If a row being fetched has been updated, generating a SQLE_ROW_UPDATED_WARNING warning, the fetch stops on the row that caused the warning. The values for all rows processed to that point (including the row that caused the warning) are returned. SQLCOUNT contains the number of rows that were fetched, including the row that caused the warning. All remaining SQLDA items are marked as NULL.
If a row being fetched has been deleted or is locked, generating a SQLE_NO_CURRENT_ROW or SQLE_LOCKED error, SQLCOUNT contains the number of rows that were read before the error. This does not include the row that caused the error. The SQLDA does not contain values for any of the rows since SQLDA values are not returned on errors. The SQLCOUNT value can be used to reposition the cursor, if necessary, to read the rows.