Everything in SQL DATA LENS starts with a connection. Once one server is configured, the Server Navigator shows every namespace on it and you can go straight to writing SQL. This post covers the first three steps.
Add a server
To reach a database server, set up a connection to InterSystems IRIS or InterSystems Caché. Right-click the Connections node in the Server Navigator and choose Add Server.
The next dialogue asks for the details specific to IRIS or Caché — server name, address, port, driver version, and the login to use.
Fill in the details and click OK. For a field-by-field explanation of that dialogue, including the options that control which namespaces and objects appear in the tree, see setting up a connection to InterSystems IRIS or Caché.
Choose a driver version from the same release as your database server, or newer. SQL DATA LENS bundles the InterSystems drivers, so there is nothing to download separately.
Group your servers
If you work with more than a handful of instances, structure them rather than scrolling. Right-click the Connections node — the top-level server group — and add further groups, then arrange your connections into them however your organisation works: by environment, by customer, by application.
Open a query editor
SQL statements are executed in the SQL editor, and it can be reached from most places in the interface. One way is to right-click a server node and choose New query.
CTRL+Oalso opens a new query editor.
The editor is IRIS-aware: completion, highlighting and formatting all understand IRIS SQL rather than treating it as generic ANSI SQL. See the SQL editor for what that means in practice.
Where to go next
- Working with namespaces — why you do not need to configure a JDBC URL per namespace.
- Hide the system objects — one checkbox that makes the tree readable.
- The user’s guide for everything else, and the download page if you have not installed it yet.