External String Literal: CREATE FUNCTION and REPLACE FUNCTION (External Form)

The external string literal specifies an encoded list of the components required to create a UDF. When decoded, the string specifies what each component is and where it is located.

Depending on the requirements of the specific UDF, you can specify the following components (see Function Entry Name Clause: CREATE FUNCTION and REPLACE FUNCTION (External Form)):

Entry point name of the function to be run
Include file (C or C++ header file) paths
System library paths
Object code paths
Package (user-created library) paths
Source code paths

The system uses the code path to access the file it specifies, then adds an appropriate extension as it transfers that file to the UDF compile directory on the platform.

Do not use the following characters as the delimiter, because they can be interpreted as path string components rather than delimiters:

/ (SOLIDUS)
\ (REVERSE SOLIDUS)
: (COLON)

You must use the same delimiter character throughout the specified path string.

Vantage retrieves the source component from the specified client or server when it requests the source or object code. The system saves the function entry point name component in the dictionary and then uses that name to invoke the function.

Give include files (C/C++ header files) the name specified in the C/C++ include directive of the C or C++ source file.

For example for a z/OS client:

'CI¡sqltypes_td¡UDFDEFS¡CS¡myudf¡UDFSRC¡F¡theudf'

where UDFDEFS and UDFSRC are the DDNAMEs for the files on the z/OS client system. Whenever you refer to an IBM client file in a code path, you must identify it by its client DDNAME.

This clause causes the system to do the following things:

Retrieve the file UDFDEFS and rename it udfdefs.h in the UDF compile directory for the platform.
Retrieve UDFSRC and rename it myudf.c in the UDF compile directory for the platform.

The C or C++ source myudf.c must contain the following code:

#include <udfdefs.h>

#include "udfdefs.h"

The clause also specifies the F option, which stipulates that the function entry name is theudf. The C or C++ file named theudf must then have the following skeletal code:

void the udf ( ... )
 {
  ...
 }

You cannot specify the F option unless you also specify a source, object, package, or library file in the specification string.

Suppose you specify the following skeletal CREATE FUNCTION statement, where the ellipsis (...) denotes omitted details:

CREATE FUNCTION abc(...)
 ...
EXTERNAL NAME 'CS!matrix!matrix.c';

The name of the C or C++ source file in this example is matrix.c and the C or C++ function name, based on the function name abc, must have the following skeletal code:

void abc(...)
 {
  ...
 }

Suppose you specify the following skeletal CREATE FUNCTION statement, where the ellipsis denotes omitted details:

CREATE FUNCTION abc(...)
 ...
EXTERNAL NAME 'CO!matrix!matrix.o';

There is no source file for this function; instead, the code is an object file named matrix.o.

For this CREATE FUNCTION statement to compile successfully, there must be a function in the specified object file named abc.

See the table at the end of the External String Literal Examples: CREATE FUNCTION and REPLACE FUNCTION (External Form) topic for more information about function name usage.

You can specify the options as often as needed, except for the package option. You can specify the package option only with the C/C++ function entry point name option.

External String Literal: CREATE FUNCTION and REPLACE FUNCTION (External Form) - Teradata Vantage

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