Access-method purpose functions
An access method is a set of functions that the database
server uses to access and manipulate a table or an index. The two
types of access methods are as follows:
- Primary-access methods
- A primary-access method, which creates and manipulates tables, is a set of routines that perform all the operations needed to make a table available to a database server, such as create, drop, insert, delete, update, and scan. The database server provides a built-in primary-access method.
- Secondary-access methods
- A secondary-access method, which creates and manipulates indexes, is a set of routines that perform all the operations needed to make an index available to a database server, such as create, drop, insert, delete, update, and scan. The database server provides the B-tree and R-tree secondary-access methods. For information about R-tree indexes, refer to the Informix® R-Tree Index User's Guide.
DataBlade® modules can provide other primary- and secondary-access methods. For more information, refer to the Informix Virtual-Table Interface Programmer's Guide and the Informix Virtual-Index Interface Programmer's Guide.