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.