Structured Query Language (SQL) is a specialized language for updating, deleting, and requesting information from databases. SQL is an ANSI and ISO standard, and is the de facto standard database query language. A variety of established database products support SQL, including Microsoft SQL Server, Pervasive, Oracle, and many others.
In a distributed database system, a program often referred to as the database's "back end" runs constantly on a server, interpreting data files on the server as a standard relational database. Programs on client computers allow users to query or manipulate that data, using tables, columns, rows, and fields. To do this, client programs send SQL statements to the server. The server then processes these statements and returns result sets to the client program.
SQL statements are represented in plain text that is structured and formatted according to ANSI standards or specific variations of different types of databases.
Event 1 Software products such as Liberty Reports and Office Connector remove much (if not all) of the need for users work with SQL by creating SQL statements automatically based on the user's selections.
Example -The following example is an SQL statement that queries several columns from a table of vendor information:
SELECT
"VENDOR" AS "Vendor",
"VNAME" AS "Name",
"VADDR1" AS "Address 1",
"VADDR2" AS "Address 2",
"VCITY" AS "City",
"VZIP" AS "Zip"
FROM
"MASTER_APM_RECORD_9"
WHERE
"VTYPE"='Subcontractor'