Section

  • Welcome to the Multi-Model QuickStart!

    InterSystems IRIS Data Platform™ provides a multi-model architecture that allows you to use the data model that best fits each task in your application — relational, object, or even direct/native access — all accessible through the language of your choice.

    Multi-model features available in InterSystems IRIS™ include:

    • Industry-standard APIs for SQL and object access

    • An API to store data in a custom optimized data structure

    • A reusable database connection that supports using the best data model for each task

    • APIs for your language of choice (including Java, .NET, and ObjectScript)

    • An underlying consistent structure avoiding data duplication

    Feel free to watch the 2-minute video or try the exercise below using one of the languages listed.

    • Open allClose all

      • With Java, you can interact with InterSystems IRIS relationally (with JDBC), using objects (with XEP or Hibernate), or natively (with the Native API). For this exercise, you can use your favorite IDE that supports Java. One common example is Eclipse. You must also have JDK8 installed. In the steps below, you will create a set of airport data as objects, retrieve that data via SQL, and then natively access custom data structures to store route information.

        1.Set up

        1. Verify you have an instance of InterSystems IRIS, a Java IDE (such as Eclipse), and if you are using AWS, Azure, or GCP, that you have followed the steps to change the password for InterSystems IRIS.

        2. Download or clone the following repo (URI) into your Java IDE.
          https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-java

          For example, with Eclipse:
          • Select File > Import > Git > Projects from Git. Click Next.
          • Choose Clone URI. Click Next.
          • Supply the URI (as noted above). Click Next.
          • Select the master branch. Click Next.
          • Choose Import Existing Project. Click Next.
          • Click Finish.
          You should now have three new classes: Demo.Airport.java, Demo.Location.java, and multimodelQS.java.

        3. Modify the variables for IP and password (for InterSystems IRIS) in multimodelQS.java to connect to your instance of InterSystems IRIS. Port and username should be OK but verify these are correct as well. If using AWS, Azure, or GCP, make sure to use the username and password for the InterSystems IRIS instance (rather than the credentials of the container.) Compile the sample code in your IDE.

        2.Use objects and SQL side-by-side, simplifying each task

        1. Run multimodelQS.java which executes the populateAirports() and getAirports() methods.

        2. Inspect the output and code. The first method — populateAirports() — populates five objects and saves them to the database, while the second method — getAirports() — runs an SQL query and returns all airports, printing them to the screen. Using InterSystems IRIS, you can interact with data using either objects or SQL based on the task, optimizing both developer time and application performance.

        Create a custom data structure, optimizing development time and application performance

        1. In the case where you need to answer a question you did not expect when you built the database, refactoring a relational-only database could be expensive and complicated. In this case, with InterSystems IRIS, you may choose to natively store data in a custom data structure, allowing you to tune the storage for your specific data and easily handle new data that was not part of your initial schema or class design.

          Another method — StoreAirfare() — has been created to store route information to InterSystems IRIS and print if a particular route exists. Uncomment the line that calls StoreAirfare() to see this work:   // StoreAirfare(irisNative);

        2. To test this, run the code and enter in values to see if there are routes from BOS to AUS. You should find there are routes available. You can run it again and try BOS to LAX, which should return no available routes.

        You have now connected a sample Java application to InterSystems IRIS and explored the various APIs available. Check out What's Next? for more.

      • With .NET, you can interact with InterSystems IRIS relationally (with ADO.NET), using objects (with XEP or Entity Framework), or natively (with the Native API). For this exercise, you can use your favorite IDE that supports .NET. This sample works best with Microsoft Visual Studio. In the steps below, you will create a set of airport data as objects, retrieve that data via SQL, and then natively access custom data structures to store route information.

        1.Set Up

        1. Verify you have an instance of InterSystems IRIS, a .NET IDE (such as Visual Studio), and if you are using AWS, Azure, or GCP, that you have followed the steps to change the password for InterSystems IRIS.

        2. Clone the following repo (URI) to get the sample code and open it in your .NET IDE:
          https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-dotnet

          For example, with Microsoft Visual Studio:
          • In Visual Studio, select View > Team Explorer > Clone and supply the URI (as noted above).
          • Double-click to open quickstarts-multimodel-dotnet.sln.

          You should now have three new classes: Airport.cs, Location.cs, and multimodelQS.cs.

        3. Open multimodelQS.cs and modify the variables for IP and password to connect to your instance of InterSystems IRIS. Port and username may be OK but verify these are correct as well. If using AWS, Azure, or GCP, make sure to use the username and password for the InterSystems IRIS instance (rather than the credentials of the container.)

        2.Use objects and SQL side-by-side, optimizing each task

        1. Run multimodelQS.cs which executes the populateAirports() and getAirports() methods.

        2. Inspect the output and code. The first method — populateAirports() — populates five objects and saves them to the database, while the second method — getAirports() — runs an SQL query and returns all airports, printing them to the screen. Using InterSystems IRIS, you can interact with data using either objects or SQL, based on the task optimizing both developer time and application performance.

        3.Create a custom data structure, optimizing development time and application performance

        1. In the case where you need to answer a question you did not expect when you built the database, refactoring a relational-only database could be expensive and complicated. In this case, with InterSystems IRIS, you may choose to natively store data in a custom data structure, allowing you to tune the storage for your specific data and easily handle new data that was not part of your initial schema or class design.

          Another method — StoreAirfare() — has been created to store route information to InterSystems IRIS and print if a particular route exists. Uncomment the line that calls StoreAirfare() to see this work:  // StoreAirfare(irisNative);

        2. To test this, run the code and enter in values see if there are routes from BOS to AUS. You should find there are routes available. You can run it again and try BOS to LAX, which should return no available routes.

        You have now connected a sample .NET application to InterSystems IRIS and explored the various APIs available. Check out What's Next? for more.

      • With InterSystems ObjectScript, you can interact with InterSystems IRIS relationally, using objects, or natively. For this exercise, you can use Studio (available with a licensed instance) or Atelier. In the steps below, you will create a set of airport data as objects, retrieve that data via SQL, and then natively access custom data structures to store route information.

        1.Set Up

        1. Verify you have an instance of InterSystems IRIS, Atelier or InterSystems Studio, and if you are using AWS, GCP or Azure, that you have followed the steps to change the password for InterSystems IRIS.

        2. Open terminal on your machine and clone the repo to get the sample code:
          git clone https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-objectscript

        3. Compile the sample code in your IDE. You should now have two new classes: Demo.Airport and Demo.Location

        2.Use objects and SQL side-by-side, optimizing each task

        1. Open Terminal and run:
          do ##class(Demo.Airport).PopulateAirports()
          do ##class(Demo.Airport).DisplayAirports()

        2. Inspect the output and code. The first method — populateAirports() — populates five objects and saves them to the database, while the second method — getAirports() — runs an SQL query and returns all airports, printing them to the screen. If you inspect the code, you will notice that the query uses a special shorthand notation (->, known as an implicit join) to retrieve data from a related table without requiring you to think about how to join tables. Using InterSystems IRIS, you can interact with data using either objects or SQL based on the task, optimizing both developer time and application performance.

        3.Create a custom data structure, optimizing development time and application performance

        1. In the case where you need to answer a question you did not expect when you built the database, refactoring a relational-only database could be expensive and complicated. In this case, with InterSystems IRIS, you may choose to natively store data in a custom data structure, allowing you to tune the storage for your specific data and easily handle new data that was not part of your initial schema or class design.

          Another method — StoreAirfare() — has been created to store route information to InterSystems IRIS and print if a particular route exists. Run this method to see this work:
          do ##class(Demo.Airport).StoreAirfare()

        2. To test this, run the code and enter in values see if there are routes from BOS to AUS. You should find there are routes available. You can run it again and try BOS to LAX, which should return no available routes.

        You have now run a sample ObjectScript application with InterSystems IRIS. Check out What's Next? for more.

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