Re: SQL: how to join header and detail records

On 03 Apr 2013 12:09, rob@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

OMG. I thought the comment was only a comment for the rest of the
line, like it is for embedded SQL in RPG.

The dash dash as comment *is* only a comment "for the rest of the line" just as "it is for embedded SQL in RPG." The actual issue is with what the input-method is for the SQL statement; what is sent from the user interface to the SQL parser\syntax-checker.

If the input method is fixed-length record input, then the /line/ is well-defined. This is how embedded SQL in RPG from a Source Physical File works; i.e. a fixed-length database record, with the data from field SRCDTA for each row. Any --comment must fit in a row, and has no effect on following rows.

If the input method is record-defined stream data [e.g. <CRLF> honored], then the /line/ is well-defined. Any --comment is implicitly stopped when <CRLF> is encountered.

But when the input method is purely a stream [i.e. with no record delimiter; no EOR; or possibly by request to the SQL that all control characters should be ignored], then the entire remainder of the stream is in-effect the "rest of the line". This is the way the interactive STRSQL interface works. What appear as newlines are not new lines, they are just a continuation of the stream, with any spaces from the end of the prior non-blank giving an *appearance* of data moved to [what looks like] a new line. Especially deceiving, per F15="Split line" offered as a feature.

Thus one needs to be fully aware of the interface being used; i.e. how the interface treats its input, to avoid experiencing possibly disturbing\incorrect results or non-functional [usu. syntax error] results :-( That, *or* instead just be sure to *always* use slash asterisk "/*" [paired with the asterisk slash "*/"] when commenting versus using the dash dash "--" commenting, whenever that commenting is to be done within a SQL statement.