qbf Command--Start Query-By-Forms
The qbf command invokes Query-By-Forms (QBF), a forms-based interface for manipulating data in a database.
For a complete description of QBF, see the Character-based Querying and Reporting Tools User Guide.
The qbf command has the following format:
qbf dbname |vnode::dbname[/server_class] [-mmode] [[-t]|-f|-j|-l querytarget]
[-e] [‑s] [‑uusername] [‑Ggroupid]
dbname
-mmode
Bypasses the Join Definition phase of QBF, putting you directly into the mode function for Query Execution, where mode is retrieve, append, update or all. If you use the -m flag, you must also specify a querytarget.
-t
Indicates that querytarget is a table. A table field format will be used to query the table. This is the default type.
-f
Indicates that querytarget is a QBFName. This invokes Query-By-Forms with a Visual-Forms-Editor form.
-j
Indicates that querytarget is a JoinDef.
-l
Allows QBF to locate the querytarget type. QBF searches in the order QBFName, JoinDef, table, until it finds the querytarget specified.
querytarget
Identifies the table, view, synonym, QBFName, or JoinDef you want to access in your query.
If you specify a query target, you must own all the tables that underlie the query target or have the proper permissions to access them. If you specify a JoinDef for the query target, you or the database administrator must own it.
Specifying querytarget puts you directly into the Query Execution phase. If you specify it without also specifying -mmode, you have the option of switching to the Join Definition phase.
You can specify the type of querytarget to QBF by using the -t, -f, -j, or -l flag. If no flag is specified for querytarget, QBF assumes that the type is table and generates an error if it cannot find a table with that name.
-e
Invokes the command in expert mode, causing the catalogs to be displayed empty initially. Doing this allows you to enter the name of a specific object directly, rather than select it from a list.
-s
Suppresses status messages.
-uusername
-Ggroupid
On VMS, enclose this parameter in double quotation marks ("-Ggroupid").
Last modified date: 08/28/2024