IBM Informix
        Release Notes for IBM Informix Binary DataBlade Module 
			1.00.UC1, March 22, 2006

                    =================================

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  I.  OVERVIEW OF RELEASE NOTES
 II.  NEW FEATURES
III.  IBM INFORMIX DYNAMIC SERVER COMPATIBILITY
 IV.  REGISTERING THE BINARY DATABLADE MODULE
  V.  UNREGISTERING THE BINARY DATABLADE MODULE
 VI.  KNOWN PROBLEMS AND WORKAROUNDS

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I.  OVERVIEW OF RELEASE NOTES
=============================

The purpose of these release notes is to make you aware of any special
actions required to register, configure, and use the Binary DataBlade
module on your computer. This file also describes new features and feature
differences from earlier versions of this product and other IBM Informix
products, and how these differences affect current products. In addition,
this file contains information about known bugs and their workarounds.

These release notes are written for the following audience:

  o System administrators who install IBM Informix Dynamic Server 
    and the Binary DataBlade module

  o Database administrators who control access to IBM Informix 
    Dynamic Server databases

  o Developers who write applications using the Binary DataBlade
    module


II.  NEW FEATURES
=================

This is a new datablade that provides an indexable binary datatype to 
IBM Informix Dynamic Server. It is similar to the CHAR FOR BIT DATA type 
in IBM DB2 Universal Database and Oracle's RAW data type. It is a variable 
length opaque type with a maximum length of 255 bytes.

The binaryvar data type takes its input as a series of bytes. The bytes can be 
either stored directly in a variable or via its ASCII 2 hexadecimal (0-9,A-F) 
digit equivalent. The characters A-F may be represented in either upper case 
or lower case. If the ASCII representation is used, an even number of bytes 
must be entered, otherwise an error will be generated. It is permissible 
to add a leading '0X' prefix to the string, but no spaces or other separators 
are supported in the ASCII representation.

Example:

create table bindata_test (int_col integer, bin_col binaryvar)

insert into bindata_test values (1, '30313233343536373839')
insert into bindata_test values (2, '0X30313233343536373839')

This would store the binary string of 0123456789 on disk.

The following IBM Informix Dynamic Server built-in string functions are 
supported in this release:
length(), octet_length()


Example:

select length(bin_col) from bindata_test where int_col=1;

(expression)

          10

Index operations

This type has support for indexing via the Btree method in this release. 
Nested loop joins are supported, but hash joins between binaryvar columns 
are not supported in this release. This also impacts GROUP BY and 
COUNT DISTINCT operations on this data type.

Bitwise operations

The following bitwise operations are supported in this release: 
AND (bit_and), OR (bit_or), XOR (bit_xor), NOT (bit_complement).

The bit_and, bit_or, and bit_xor functions take 2 binaryvar columns or 
expressions as arguments.  The bit_complement function takes a single 
binaryvar column or expression. If either argument is NULL, a NULL binaryvar 
is returned. If the lengths of the two arguments are different, the 
operation is performed up to the length of the shorter string. 
The data from the longer string is copied into the
result from that point.

Example:

create table bindata_test (int_col integer, bin_col binaryvar)

insert into bindata_test values (1, '00001000');
insert into bindata_test values (2, '00002000');
insert into bindata_test values (3, '00004000');
insert into bindata_test values (4, '023A2DE4');

select bit_or(bin_col, '00004000') from bindata_test where int_col=2;


(expression)  00006000

select bit_and(bit_or(bin_col, '40404040'), '01010200') 
from bindata_test where int_col=2;

(expression)  00000000

select bit_complement(bin_col) from bindata_test where int_col=4;

(expression)  FDC5D21B

select bit_xor(bin_col,'00004040') from bindata_test where int_col=3;

(expression)  00000040



III.  IBM INFORMIX DYNAMIC SERVER COMPATIBILITY
===============================================

Version 1.00.UC1 of the Binary DataBlade module is compatible with
IBM Informix Dynamic Server Version 9.13.UC3 or later.


IV.  REGISTERING THE BINARY DATABLADE MODULE
=================================================

To use the Binary DataBlade module, you must register it using
BladeManager in each database in which it will be used. 

See the "BladeManager User's Guide" for instructions on how to register
DataBlade modules.

NOTE: You cannot register the Binary DataBlade module into an ANSI-
compliant database. This is because BladeManager does not currently
support the registration of any DataBlade module into ANSI-compliant
databases.


V.  UNREGISTERING THE BINARY DATABLADE MODULE 
==================================================

Unregistration removes the definitions for a DataBlade module's user-
defined data types and routines.

You can unregister a DataBlade module that was previously installed only
if there is no data in your database that uses the definitions defined by
the DataBlade module. This means, for example, that if a table is
currently using the binaryvar or binary18 data type, you will not be able to
unregister the Binary DataBlade module from your database.

Unregistration is only available for modules that were registered with
BladeManager.

Refer to the "BladeManager User's Guide" for instructions on how to
unregister DataBlade modules.


VI.  KNOWN PROBLEMS AND WORKAROUNDS 
===================================

There are no known issues with this release.



Contact support: http://www.ibm.com/software/data/informix/ids/support/

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