SQL Building Blocks

SQL includes commands for querying (retrieving data from) a database, and for creating new databases and database objects, adding new data, modifying existing data, and other functions.

Originally developed by the IBM San Jose Research Laboratory in the late 1970s, SQL (Structured Query Language) has been adopted by, and adapted for, many relational database management systems. It has been approved as the official relational query language by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Transact-SQL^®, the SAP^® extension of SQL, is compatible with IBM SQL and most other commercial implementations of SQL. It provides important extra capabilities and functions, such as summary calculations, stored procedures (predefined SQL statements), and error handling.

• Tables, Columns, and Rows
  In relational database management systems, users access and modify data that is stored in tables. SQL is specifically designed for the relational model of database management.
• Queries, Data Modification, and Commands
  In SQL, a query requests data using the select command.
• Relational Operations
  The basic query operations in a relational system include selection (also called restriction), projection, and join. These can all be combined in the SQL select command.
• Compiled Objects
  SAP® Adaptive Server® Enterprise (ASE) uses compiled objects to hold vital information about each database and to help you access and manipulate data.
• Compliance to ANSI Standards
  Certain behaviors defined by the SQL standards are incompatible with SAP ASE applications. Transact-SQL provides set options that allow you to toggle these behaviors.
• Data and Language Characters
  The characters recognized by SAP ASE are limited in part by the language of the installation and the default character set.
• Expressions in SAP ASE
  An expression is a combination of one or more constants, literals, functions, column identifiers, and variables, separated by operators, that returns a single value.
• Transact-SQL Extensions
  Transact-SQL enhances the power of SQL, and minimizes the occasions on which users must resort to a programming language to accomplish a desired task. Transact-SQL capabilities go beyond the ISO standards and the many commercial versions of SQL.
• SAP ASE Login Accounts
  Each SAP ASE user must have a login account that is established by a system security officer.
• isql Utility
  Use the standalone utility program isql to enter Transact-SQL statements directly from the operating system.
• Displaying SQL Text
  set show_sqltext allows you to print the SQL text for ad hoc queries, stored procedures, cursors, and dynamic prepared statements.