Register a C UDR

The CREATE FUNCTION statement registers user-defined functions in the database. The CREATE PROCEDURE statement registers user-defined procedures in the database. These functions store information about the UDR in the sysprocedures system catalog table.

Registration for a C UDR requires the following special clauses of the CREATE FUNCTION and CREATE PROCEDURE statements to help the database server identify the routine:

The required EXTERNAL NAME clause specifies the path to the shared-object file that contains the compiled C code for the UDR.
The required LANGUAGE clause specifies the language in which the body of the UDR is written.
The optional WITH clause specifies the routine modifiers for the UDR.

For example, the following figure shows a CREATE FUNCTION statement that registers a user-defined function named abs_eq() whose corresponding C function is in a shared-object file named abs.so.

Figure 1. Registering a C UDR

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Tip: The BladeSmith development tool, which is part of the Informix® DataBlade Developers Kit (DBDK), automatically generates a file with the SQL statements needed to register a DataBlade. The BladeManager development tool can install and register a DataBlade module. For more information, see the HCL Informix DataBlade Developers Kit User's Guide.