The connect statement establishes a session. If your application requires more than one session, you can assign a session identifier or number to each session, and use the set connection or set_sql(session) statements to switch sessions. For a detailed discussion of multiple sessions, see Multiple Session Connections.

To assign a numeric session identifier to a connection, specify the session clause; for example:

assigns the numeric session identifier 99 to the connection to the "accounting" database. To determine the session identifier for the current session, use the inquire_sql(session) statement. To switch sessions using the numeric session identifier, use the set_sql(session) statement; for example:

To assign a name to a connection, specify the as clause; for example:

assigns the name "accounting" to the connection to the "act107b" database. To switch sessions using the connection name, use the set connection statement; for example:

If you omit the as clause, Ingres assigns a default connection name--the database specified in the connect statement. You can subsequently use this connection name in set connection statements to switch session. If you omit the as clause and specify a numeric session identifier (using the session clause), the default connection name is "iin," where n is the specified numeric session identifier.

To determine the connection name for the current session, use the inquire_sql(connection_name) statement.