%OBJECT

Synopsis

%OBJECT(stream)

Description

%OBJECT is used to open a stream object and return the oref (object reference) of the stream field.

A SELECT on a stream field returns the fully formed oid (object ID) value of the stream field. A SELECT %OBJECT on a stream field returns the oref (object reference) of the stream field. This is shown in the following example, in which Notes and Picture are both stream fields:

  ZNSPACE "SAMPLES"
  SET myquery = "SELECT TOP 3 Title,Notes,%OBJECT(Picture) AS Photo FROM Sample.Employee"
  SET tStatement = ##class(%SQL.Statement).%New()
  SET qStatus = tStatement.%Prepare(myquery)
    IF qStatus'=1 {WRITE "%Prepare failed:" DO $System.Status.DisplayError(qStatus) QUIT}
  SET rset = tStatement.%Execute()
  WHILE rset.%Next() {
     WRITE "String field: ",rset.Title,!
     WRITE "Stream field oid: ",rset.Notes,!
     WRITE "Stream field oref: ",rset.Photo,!!
     }
  WRITE !,"End of data"

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If stream is not a stream field, %OBJECT generates an SQLCODE -128 error.

%OBJECT can be used as an argument to the following functions:

• CHARACTER_LENGTH(%OBJECT(streamfield)), CHAR_LENGTH(%OBJECT(streamfield)), or DATALENGTH(%OBJECT(streamfield)).

• SUBSTRING(%OBJECT(streamfield),start,length).

You can perform the same operation by issuing a SELECT on a stream field, then opening the stream oid by calling the $Stream.Object.%Open() class method, which generates an oref from the oid:

SET oref = ##class(%Stream.Object).%Open(oid)

For information on orefs, see “OREF Basics” in Using Caché Objects. For information on oids, see “Identifiers for Saved Objects: ID and OID” in the same book.

See Also

• SELECT

• Introduction to the Default SQL Projection in the “Introduction to Persistent Objects”chapter of Using Caché Objects

• Using Streams with SQL in the “Streams” chapter of Using Caché Objects

• Storing and Using BLOBs and CLOBs chapter of Using Caché SQL