Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Data Management:
DataServer for ORACLE

ORACLE hints

The DataServer issues hints to ORACLE in the following cases:

For deletions and updates.
For queries that use the USE-INDEX phrase if the DataServer determines that a hint would ensure that the order of the report is consistent with the Progress 4GL. The index that you specify in the USE-INDEX phrase must have a FOREIGN_NAME. That is, it must be an index defined in the ORACLE database and in the schema holder. It cannot be a field that you define as an index in the schema holder only.
For queries that use the native ORACLE ROWID. Note that you must specify that a table use the native ROWID in the schema holder using the OpenEdge Data Dictionary.

If you create your ORACLE database using the Progress-to-ORACLE migration utility and choose the Create Progress RECID option, your tables must use the PROGRESS_RECID column instead of the native ROWID or your applications will not benefit from this performance enhancement. The combination of this enhancement and using the native ORACLE ROWID results in performance gains when your application holds exclusive locks or upgrades locks.

In general, using the native ROWID tends to help performance, though you lose the following functionality:

Support for FIND PREV and FIND LAST statements.
Ability of FIND statements to reposition each other.
Support for the RECID function, although you can still use the Progress 4GL ROWID function.