Purpose Options

The CREATE ACCESS_METHOD, CREATE XADATASOURCE TYPE, and ALTER ACCESS_METHOD statements of Informix® can specify purpose options for user-defined routines with the following syntax.

Syntax


Purpose Options

|--+-task-- =  -external_routine---+----------------------------|
   +-value-- =  -+-string_value--+-+   
   |             '-numeric_value-' |   
   '-flag--------------------------'

Element	Description	Restrictions	Syntax
external _routine	User-defined routine that performs a task	Must be registered in the database	Database Object Name
flag	Keyword indicating which feature a flag enables	The interface specifies flag names	Flag Purpose Category in the table in Purpose Functions, Flags, and Values.
numeric _value	A value of a real number	Must be within the range of a numeric data type	Literal Number
string _value	A value that is expressed as one or more characters	Characters must be from the code set of the database	Quoted String.
task	Keyword that identifies a purpose function	Keywords to which you can assign a function (whose name cannot match the keyword)	Task Purpose Category in the table in Purpose Functions, Flags, and Values.
value	Keyword that identifies configuration information	Predefined configuration keywords to which you can assign values	Value Purpose Category in the table in Purpose Functions, Flags, and Values.

Usage

Informix supports purpose options in two contexts:

Defining or modifying primary and secondary access methods for local or remote tables, views, and indexes
Defining access methods for XA-compliant external data sources.