Using a Database Handle

Go Up to Using simple CONNECT Statements

If a program uses SET DATABASE to provide database handles, those handles should be used in subsequent CONNECT statements instead of hard-coded names. For example,

. . .
EXEC SQL
SET DATABASE DB1 = 'employee.ib';
EXEC SQL
SET DATABASE DB2 = 'employee2.ib';
EXEC SQL
CONNECT DB1;
EXEC SQL
CONNECT DB2;
. . .

There are several advantages to using a database handle with CONNECT:

• Long file specifications can be replaced by shorter, mnemonic handles.
• Handles can be used to qualify table names in multi-database transactions. DSQL applications do not support multi-database transactions.
• Handles can be reassigned to other databases as needed.
• The number of database cache buffers can be specified as an additional CONNECT parameter.

For more information about setting the number of database cache buffers, see Setting Database Cache Buffers.