A temporary name that identifies a relation in a record stream to Oracle Rdb. Once you have associated a context variable with a relation, you use the context variable to refer to fields from that relation. In this way, Oracle Rdb always knows which field from which relation you are referring to. You must use a context variable in every data manipulation statement and in every data definition statement that uses a record selection expression. If you are accessing several record streams at once, the context variable lets you distinguish between fields from different record streams, even if different fields have the same name. If you are accessing several record streams at once that consist of the same relation and fields within that relation, context variables let you distinguish between the two record streams.
1 – Examples
The following programs demonstrate the use of the context variable "CS" for the CURRENT_SALARY view. These programs: o Use "CS" to qualify field names in the record selection expression, printf, and WRITELN statement o Print the employee ID of all the employees who earn more than forty thousand dollars
1.1 – C Example
#include <stdio.h> DATABASE PERS = FILENAME "PERSONNEL"; main() { READY PERS; START_TRANSACTION READ_ONLY; FOR CS IN CURRENT_SALARY WITH CS.SALARY_AMOUNT > 40000.00 printf ("%s\n",CS.EMPLOYEE_ID); END_FOR; COMMIT; FINISH; }
1.2 – Pascal Example
program context_var (input,output); DATABASE PERS = FILENAME 'PERSONNEL'; begin READY PERS; START_TRANSACTION READ_ONLY; FOR CS IN CURRENT_SALARY WITH CS.SALARY_AMOUNT > 40000.00 writeln (CS.EMPLOYEE_ID); END_FOR; COMMIT; FINISH; end.
2 – Format
(B)0[mcontext-variable = qqqqqqq> identifier qqqq>
2.1 – Format arguments
identifier A valid alphanumeric host language identifier.