Table of Contents

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Configuring Queries

AwareIM Queries are used to retrieve data from the system using specific search criteria and present results of the search to the user. Therefore AwareIM queries combine search with data presentation. Most queries are defined at the configuration stage (predefined queries, as oppsed to user-defined ones) - a configurator defines them in the Configuration Tool and a user runs them in the Operation Mode. Pre-configured queries can be referenced by rules - FIND. PICK FROM. DISPLAY and other actions of the Rule Language. There are three types of queries as far as search criteria is concerned:

  1. Those that use search criteria compatible with the FIND action (we will be calling them “standard queries”)
  2. Queries that use stored prcedures and map to the EXEC SP action
  3. Queries that use the SQL SELECT statement and map to the EXEC SQLaction.

Standard queries should be suitable for most needs. However, some complex queries may require stored procedures or raw SQL. When configurators create a new query, they specify whether they want a standard query a stored procedure or an SQL SELECT statement.

The concept of a query in AwareIM includes both data search criteria and a particular presentation of the found data to the user (grid, calendar, chart, tree etc). Irrespective of the implementation the options for data presentation are for the most part the same - whether it's a standard query, a stored procedure or raw SQL.

When defining a query, the configurator has to indicate the business object, (or business object group) the instances of which the query will be searching. For standard queries the configurator has to either select the business object or group explicitly (if working in the Query Builder View) or provide it as part of the FIND action (if working with the Query Text View). For queries implemented as stored procedure the user has to specify the RETURN statement followed by the name of the business object or group. For queries implemented as an SQL SELECT statement, the name of the business object can be derived from the name of the table in the SELECT statement of the SQL.

The next step when defining a query is to indicate the conditions of search – only those instances of the business object that have attribute values matching the specified conditions will be retrieved by the query. for queries implemented as stored procedures or SQL SELECT statements, this step is done inside the stored procedure or SQL itself. For standard queries conditions of the search can be specified using Query Builder View as explained below or as part of the FIND action (if working in the Textual View)

Using Query Builder to Define Standard Queries

For standard queries conditions of the search can be specified using the Query Builder. If conditions are not specified all instances of the business object will be retrieved. For example, if a query is to retrieve accounts of John Smith, the query has to include a condition that compares the value of the OwnerName attribute with ‘John Smith’: 

FIND Account WHERE Account.OwnerName = 'John Smith'

One can define multiple conditions for a query – the conditions may be linked with the AND or OR keywords.

Note that query conditions allow specifying not only attributes of the business object that the query will be searching, but also attributes of the related objects. For example, if account owner is a Customer object related to the Account object via the Owner reference attribute, the above query could be specified as follows: 

FIND Account WHERE Account.Owner.Name = 'John Smith'

It is also possible to indicate attributes of objects related to the related objects, for example, Account.Owner.Company.Name. There is no limit on the level of nesting of the related objects.

The configurator may indicate that instances of a business object found by a query should be sorted by a particular attribute(s) in a particular order and also indicate how these instances should be displayed in the Operation Mode – see Data Presentation.

Configuration of queries is described in more detail in the Adding/Editing Queries section.

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If a query searches for instances of business objects belonging to a business object group, the conditions of the query may only use attributes common to all members of the group (see Business Object Groups). When the results of such a query are presented to the user the presentation is only allowed to show common attributes of the group (see Data Presentation).

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It is possible to define a query with conditions that use attributes of a business object that the query is not searching for (they are also called dynamically resolved attributes or simply dynamic attributes). Consider the following query as an example:
FIND Account WHERE Account.OwnerName = Customer.Name

The business object Customer used in a query condition is not the object that the query is searching for. AwareIM replaces references to such attributes with the actual values at run time – just before the search is performed. For example, if the value of the Name attribute of the Customer object is ‘John Smith’ the actual query performed by AwareIM is: 

FIND Account WHERE Account.OwnerName = 'John Smith'

Where does AwareIM find the instance of the Customer object and what happens if there are no instances of this object or if there are more than one instance? The answer to the first part of the question is that the instance is taken from the Context (this is explained in the Other Usages of Context section); the answer to the second part is that if AwareIM cannot find the instance of the object in the Context it logs a run-time error and the query is not run. The queries using dynamic attributes should only be used in situations where such attributes can be unambiguously resolved.

See also Queries that Require User Input

Defining Queries Implemented as Stored Procedures

As explained before, queries implemented as stored procedures refer to a particular stored procedure defined in the AwareIM database. When such queries execute, AwareIM automatically executes the related stored procedure providing values of parameters if required. The results of the stored procedure are then presented to the user as defined by the query - either as a grid, a calendar or a chart. The query follows the format of the EXEC SP action. Some examples are described below: 

EXEC_SP 'AllCustomers' RETURN Customer

This query is implemented as a stored procedure called “AllCustomer”. The stored procedure does not require any parameters and return results that are compatible with the structure of the Customer object (the stored procedure returns records of the table that the Customer object is mapped to in the database). 

EXEC_SP 'TESTWITHPARAM' WITH 'ProspState'=ParamObject.State, 'ProspName'='Julie%' RETURN Prospect

This stored procedure has two parameters - the second is hardcoded and the first one is initialized from the object in Context (ParamObject).

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When a configurator defines a new AwareIM query implemented as stored procedure and the stored procedure already exists, a developer can initialize the new query from the list of stored procedures available in the database and generate an appropriate EXEC_SP statement.

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AwareIM automatically provides support for dynamic paging, dynamic sorting and dynamic filtering of records returned by queries implemented as stored procedures. However, you need to know the following:
  1. Support for dynamic paging, sorting and filtering is only provided for MySQL and SQL Server databases.
  2. If a stored procedure has multiple SELECT statements, AwareIM needs to know which one of the SELECT statements returns records compatible with the RETURN statement of the stored procedure. To do this, enclose this SELECT statement with BEGIN MAIN SELECT and END MAIN SELECT comments, for example:

-- BEGIN MAIN SELECT
SELECT...
-- END MAIN SELECT

Defining Queries Implemented as SQL SELECT Statements

Queries implemented as SQL SELECT statements should just include the SELECT statement in the query textual view. The SQL table that the SELECT statement operates with should be the table that stores records of a business object that the query queries on. Before AwareIM runs such a query it replaces any tag expressions used in the SELECT statement with values from Context, so the SELECT statement is allowed to include tag expressions. For example: 

SELECT * FROM Customer WHERE Name=<<ParamObject.Name>>