[Gambas-user] Wiki Observation, SQL syntax

[Lewis Balentine]

For some reason I do not seem to be able to log into the Gambas Wiki. 
That is probably a good thing considering my level of ignorance (which 
has proven to be immense). Thus I pass these observations along for 
consideration:

I have dealt with various SQL Data Bases for some two decades (primarily 
Oracle but also MS SQL, Access, etc.). When I started looking at some of 
the Gambas functions I found a syntax pattern that I was unfamiliar with.

Ref: http://gambaswiki.org/wiki/comp/gb.db/_connection/find


Function *Find* ( _Table_ As String *[* , _Request_ As String, 
_Arguments_ As , ... *]* ) As Result 
<http://gambaswiki.org/wiki/comp/gb.db/result>


  *

    _Table_

  *

    _Request_

  *

    _Arguments_


I assume that this form comes from a language that I am unfamiliar with 
(or perhaps an implementation of stored procedures) and thus goggled: 
SQL Request Arguments
I found a few references to MS Excel but no suitable explanation. I 
finally found the answer in the "obsolete" Gambas Wiki that is still online:

Ref: http://gambasdoc.org/help/comp/gb.db/connection/subst?v3
Creates a SQL sentence by substituting its arguments into a format string.

  * _Format_is the SQL sentence.
  * _Arguments_are the arguments to substitute.

The&1,&2... patterns inside the_Format_string are replaced by the SQL 
representation of the 1st, 2nd..._Arguments_.

These arguments are quoted according to the underlying database SQL syntax.


I also note from an example in the "obsolete" Gambas Wiki that an 
explanation mark "!" is used to delimit field names in a result.
http://gambasdoc.org/help/comp/gb.db/connection/edit?v3

I do not find any similar example in the current Gambas Wiki but perhaps 
I missed it.

Regards,

Lewis