The simplest way to test the newly created host data source and Super Q-pointer is to use the Access Query Language (AQL) list verb. The AQL list processor works the same on a OpenDB Super Q-pointer as on any D3 file.
For example, using the Super Q-pointer example, emp85.ora, the results of the list verb are shown below:
list emp85.ora page 1 emp85.ora 21:15:52 16 jul 2001 empno.. ename.. job.... hiredate.. 7369 smith manager 1980-12-1700:00:00 7499 smith salesman 1981-02-20 00:00:00 7521 ward salesman 1981-02-22 00:00:00 7566 jones manager 1981-04-02 00:00:00 7654 martin salesman 1981-09-28 00:00:00
In addition to the list verb, sort and select are other useful AQL verbs. For example:
sort emp85.ora by ename select emp85.ora with job salesman
Using the using connective
The using connective allows AQL to report on the data extracted by the Super Q-pointer using the attribute-defining items from a different D3 dictionary. This connective can be useful when reformatting data returned from OpenDB. For example, as shown in the list emp85.ora example, the date returned is formatted as a timestamp.
In the example below, the dictionary date is created to display the date portion from a timestamp.
For example:
date dictionary code <001> a attribute-count <002> 3 substitute-header <003> Hire Date correlative <008> t10 attribute-type <009> L column width <010> 10
The AQL command produces these results:
list emp85.ora using dict oracle.dict date page 1 emp85.ora 22:02:00 16 jul 2010 emp85.ora hiredate 7369 1980-12-17 7499 1981-02-20 7521 1981-02-22 7566 1981-04-02 7654 1981-09-28 [405] 5 items listed out of 5 items.