Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Data Management:
SQL Reference

Overview

Array fields are created using the Progress 4GL Data Dictionary. OpenEdge SQL provides a mechanism for referencing and updating these arrays. Subscripted references are not supported. OpenEdge SQL manages the arrays as NVARCHAR strings, and the string representation is the concatenation of each array element, with a semicolon separating each element.

To escape an instance of a semicolon in the data of a Progress 4GL CHARACTER array, use the escape character tilde before the semicolon ( ~; ). An unquoted question mark represents a NULL element. To distinguish a NULL element from a question mark, use a tilde as an escape character for a question mark in the data ( ~? ). A tilde is also the escape character for a
tilde ( ~~ ).

OpenEdge SQL supplies three built-in functions for extracting an element, and for adding escape characters to and removing escape characters from a single element of a character array. The PRO_ELEMENT, PRO_ARR_ESCAPE, and PRO_ARR_DESCAPE functions provide full internationalization support. A description of each function follows.