Section

  • 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 two-minute video or try the exercise below using one of the languages listed.

    • Open allClose all

    • Click the button below to launch an InterSystems Learning Lab for use in each of the following exercises.

      • 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. Try out the Java code in one of three ways:
            1. Use the InterSystems Learning Lab that you have launched above.
            2. Use AWS, Azure, or GCP, first following the steps to change the password for InterSystems IRIS.
            3. Try the exercise locally with an instance of InterSystems IRIS and an IDE that supports Java (such as Eclipse).
          2. Get the sample Java code:

            InterSystems Learning Lab
            		 Clone the sample code:
            git clone -b try-iris https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-java

            AWS, GCP, or Azure Community Editions
            		 Within your SSH client, type: iris load https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-java
            Local computer
            1. Clone or download this repository:
              git clone https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-java.
            2. 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. Correct the credentials.

            InterSystems Learning Lab Correct the credentials. In the multimodelQS.java file, on line 31, change the value of the IP address from localhost to the IP address under the InterSystems IRIS connection box in the main README.md file.
            AWS, GCP, Azure
            		 Make sure to use the username and password for the InterSystems IRIS instance (rather than the credentials of the container.)
            Local instance Modify the variables for IP and port (for InterSystems IRIS) in multimodelQS.java to connect to your instance of InterSystems IRIS. Username and password should be OK but verify these are correct as well.

          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. With InterSystems IRIS, you may choose to natively store data in a custom data structure, allowing you to modify the structure to fit your specific data and easily handle new data that was not part of your initial schema or class design.

            Two other methods — storeAirfare() and checkAirfare() — have been created to store route information to InterSystems IRIS and print if a particular route exists. Uncomment the lines that calls storeAirfare() and checkAirfare() to see how they work: 
            // storeAirfare(irisNative); 
// checkAirfare(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. Try out the .NET code in one of three ways:
            1. Use the InterSystems Learning Lab that you have launched above.
            2. Use AWS, Azure, or GCP, first following the steps to change the password for InterSystems IRIS.
            3. Try the exercise locally with an instance of InterSystems IRIS and an IDE that supports .NET (such as Microsoft Visual Studio 2017).

          2. Get the sample .NET code:
            InterSystems Learning Lab

            Clone the sample code:
            git clone -b try-iris https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-dotnet

            AWS, GCP, or Azure Community Editions
            		 Within your SSH client, type: iris load https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-dotnet
            Local computer
            1. With Microsoft Visual Studio Code:
              • Clone the sample code:
                git clone -b try-iris https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-dotnet.
            2. With Microsoft Visual Studio:
              • In Visual Studio, select View > Team Explorer > Clone and supply the following URI:
                https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-dotnet.
            You should now have three new classes: Demo.Airport.cs, Demo.Location.cs, and MultimodelQS.cs.

          3. Correct the credentials.
            InterSystems Learning Lab In the MultiModelQS.cs file, on line 20, change the value of the IP address from localhost to the IP address under the InterSystems IRIS connection box in the main README.md file.
            AWS, GCP, Azure
            		 Make sure to use the username and password for the InterSystems IRIS instance, rather than the credentials of the container.
            Local instance Modify the variables for IP and port for InterSystems IRIS in MultimodelQS.cs to connect to your instance of InterSystems IRIS. Username and password should be correct, but verify them as well.

          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. With InterSystems IRIS, you may choose to natively store data in a custom data structure, allowing you to modify the structure to fit your specific data and easily handle new data that was not part of your initial schema or class design.
            Two other methods — storeAirfare() and checkAirfare() — have been created to store route information to InterSystems IRIS and print if a particular route exists. Uncomment the lines that calls storeAirfare() and checkAirfare() to see how they work: 
            // storeAirfare(irisNative);
// checkAirfare(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 Python, you can interact with InterSystems IRIS relationally (with PyODBC) or natively (with the Native API). For this exercise, you can use your favorite IDE that supports Python, such as PyCharm. In the steps below, you will create a set of airport data and retrieve that data via SQL, and then natively access custom data structures to store route information.

        • 1.Set Up

          1. Try out the Python code in one of three ways:
            1. Use the InterSystems Learning Lab that you have launched above.
            2. Use AWS, Azure, or GCP, first following the steps to change the password for InterSystems IRIS.
            3. Try the exercise locally with an instance of InterSystems IRIS and an IDE that supports Python (such as PyCharm).

          2. Get the sample Python code:
            InterSystems Learning Lab Clone the sample code:
            git clone -b try-iris https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-python
            AWS, GCP, or Azure Community Editions
            		 Within your SSH client, type: iris load https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-python
            Local computer Clone the following repo:
            git clone https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-python
            You should now have a Python file: multimodelQS.py.

          3. Correct the credentials.
            InterSystems Learning Lab In the multimodelQS.py file, on line 37, change the value of the IP address from localhost to the IP address under the InterSystems IRIS connection box in the main README.md file.
            AWS, GCP, Azure
            		 Make sure to use the username and password for the InterSystems IRIS instance, rather than the credentials of the container.
            Local instance Modify the variables for IP and port for InterSystems IRIS in multimodelQS.py to connect to your instance of InterSystems IRIS. Username and password should be correct, but verify these are correct as well.

          4. Install InterSystems IRIS Native API for Python:
            Windows
            		 pip install nativeAPI_wheel\irisnative-1.0.0-cp36-cp36m-win_amd64.whl
            Mac OS pip install nativeAPI_wheel/irisnative-1.0.0-cp34-abi3-macosx_10_13_x86_64.macosx_10_14_x86_64.whl
            Linux, InterSystems Learning Lab, AWS, GCP, Azure
            		 pip install nativeAPI_wheel/irisnative-1.0.0-cp34-abi3-linux_x86_64.whl
            If installed successfully, you should see the following message: Successfully installed irisnative-1.0.0

          5. Install InterSystems IRIS PyODBC driver:
            • Verify you have PyODBC installed locally. If not, please see how to install PyODBC. If you use InterSystems Learning Lab, PyODBC is already installed for you.
            Windows
            		pyodbc_wheel\ODBC-2018.1.1.635.0-win_x64.exe
            Mac OSodbcinst –i –d –f pyodbc_wheel/mac/odbcinst.ini
            Linux, InterSystems Learning Lab, AWS, GCP, Azureodbcinst –i –d –f pyodbc_wheel/linux/odbcinst.ini

            If installed successfully:

            • On Windows: The .exe file finishes without any error.
            • On other operating systems, you should see the following message:
              odbcinst: Driver installed. Usage count increased to 1.

          2.Use SQL to easily create, read, update, and delete data

          1. Run multimodelQS.py which executes the populate_airports() and get_airports() methods.

          2. Inspect the output and code. The first method — populate_airports() — populates five airports and saves them to the database, while the second method — get_airports() — runs an SQL query and returns all airports, printing them to the screen.

            Not only are you able to create and read data as shown in the sample code, with InterSystems IRIS you can also use SQL to update, delete, and perform many other actions to interact with data.

          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. With InterSystems IRIS, you may choose to natively store data in a custom data structure, allowing you to modify the structure to fit your specific data and easily handle new data that was not part of your initial schema or class design.

            Two functions — store_airfare() and check_airfare() — have been created to store route information to InterSystems IRIS and print if a particular route exists. Uncomment the store_airfare() and check_airfare() lines to see how they work. 
            # store_airfare(iris_native)
# check_airfare(iris_native)
          2. To test this, run the code and enter 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 Python application to InterSystems IRIS and explored the various APIs available. Check out the Python QuickStart for another Python example or see What's Next? for more.

      • With InterSystems ObjectScript, you can interact with InterSystems IRIS relationally, using objects, or natively. 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. Try out the ObjectScript code in one of three ways:
            1. Use the InterSystems Learning Lab that you have launched above.
            2. Use AWS, Azure, or GCP, first following the steps to change the password for InterSystems IRIS.
            3. Try the exercise locally with an instance of InterSystems IRIS and an IDE that supports ObjectScript (such as Visual Studio Code).

          2. Get the sample ObjectScript code:
            InterSystems Learning Lab Clone the sample code:
            git clone -b try-iris https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-objectscript
            AWS, GCP, or Azure Community Editions
            		 Within your SSH client, type: iris load https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-python
            Local computer Clone the following repo:
            git clone https://github.com/intersystems/quickstarts-multimodel-objectscript
            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 — DisplayAirports() — 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. With InterSystems IRIS, you may choose to natively store data in a custom data structure, allowing you to modify the structure to fit your specific data and easily handle new data that was not part of your initial schema or class design.

            Two other methods — StoreAirfare() and CheckAirfare() — have been created to store route information to InterSystems IRIS and print if a particular route exists. Run these methods to see how they work:
            do ##class(Demo.Airport).StoreAirfare()
            do ##class(Demo.Airport).CheckAirfare("BOS", "AUS")

          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.

      • Want to learn more about the topics above? Select a link below.