You can invoke the ARRAY constructor expression without using the NEW keyword. This is compatible with Oracle syntax. When invoked without the NEW keyword, Vantage handles the expression like a UDF expression. This restricts the places an ARRAY constructor expression can be used to the same usage as a scalar UDF. Therefore, in some scenarios, the ARRAY constructor expression with NEW keyword can be used in an SQL statement where the ARRAY constructor expression without NEW keyword cannot. For example, you can use the ARRAY constructor expression with NEW keyword in the DEFAULT clause of a CREATE TABLE statement. However you cannot use the ARRAY constructor expression without NEW keyword in the DEFAULT clause.
Additionally, because the ARRAY constructor expression without NEW keyword is treated like a scalar UDF, the existing search order rules for UDFs apply. Vantage searches for UDFs in the following databases in the following order:
- Default database
- SYSLIB database
- TD_SYSFNLIB database
- SYSUDTLIB database
If a UDF exists in the default database, SYSLIB, or TD_SYSFNLIB and has the same name as a defined ARRAY data type, and if you invoke the ARRAY constructor expression without the NEW keyword, then Vantage invokes the UDF instead of the ARRAY constructor. To avoid this conflict, use the NEW keyword when invoking the ARRAY constructor.