Accessing DB2 data that is not in a table

You can access DB2® data that is not in a table by returning the value of an SQL expression in a host variable.

About this task

The expression does not include a column of a table. The three ways to return a value in a host variable are shown in the following examples.

Example: To set the contents of a host variable to the value of an expression, use the SET host-variable assignment statement:

EXEC SQL SET :hvrandval = RAND(:hvrand);

Example: To return the value of an expression in a host variable, use the VALUES INTO statement:

EXEC SQL VALUES RAND(:hvrand)
   INTO :hvrandval;

Example: To select the expression from the DB2-provided EBCDIC table, named SYSIBM.SYSDUMMY1, which consists of one row, use the following statement:

EXEC SQL SELECT RAND(:hvrand)
   INTO :hvrandval
   FROM SYSIBM.SYSDUMMY1;

Parent topic: Accessing data from application programs