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Status Future consideration
Workspace IBM i
Categories Db2 for i
Created by Guest
Created on Oct 4, 2021

CTE support in MERGE statement

Currently MERGE statements in DB2 for i do not support the use of CTEs inside the using clause.


Use Case:

Lately, I've come across the need for this funtionality several times when I had to update large amounts of records in our ERP with data gathered through complex queries (with 3 - 4 CTEs). Instead I either had to rewrite my queries with a lot of nesting levels (very tedious task) or create temporary tables and/or write programs to perform the MERGEs.
It would have been much more efficient to reuse the SELECT statements with CTEs directly in the MERGEs.


Idea priority Low
  • Admin
    Maria del Carmen Ruvalcaba Cevallos
    Reply
    |
    Feb 27, 2024

    The CAAC has reviewed this IBM Idea and recommends that IBM view this as a high priority Idea that is important to be addressed.

    This would make the merge statement even more powerful than it is today.

    Background: The COMMON Americas Advisory Council (CAAC) members have a broad range of experience in working with small and medium-sized IBM i customers. CAAC has a key role in working with IBM i development to help assess the value and impact of individual IBM Ideas on the broader IBM i community and has therefore reviewed your Idea.

    For more information about CAAC, see www.common.org/caac

    Carmelita Ruvalcaba- CAAC Program Manager

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Mar 3, 2022

    @ThereseEaton
    Thank you for this feedback. Really excited that this request caught your attention and I'm looking forward to seeing it implemented.

    @NielsLiisberg
    what you wanna do is actually already possible, just lose the parentheses after the insert statement:
    insert into qtemp.test
    with a as (
    select 'abc' as text
    from sysibm.sysdummy1
    )
    select * from a;
    => will work just fine

    And you can actually be even shorter:
    create or replace table qtemp.test as (
    with a as (
    select 'abc' as text
    from sysibm.sysdummy1
    )
    select * from a
    ) with data on replace delete rows;

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Oct 20, 2021

    IBM will use this request as input to planning but no commitment is made or implied. This request will be updated in the future if IBM implements it.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Oct 14, 2021

    The CEAC has reviewed this requirement and recommends that IBM view this as a HIGH priority requirement that is important to address. The CEAC believes that MERGE should support a full SELECT statement including CTEs.

    Background: The COMMON Europe Advisory Council (CEAC) members have a broad range of experience in working with small and medium-sized IBM i customers. CEAC has a crucial role in working with IBM i development to help assess the value and impact of individual RFEs on the broader IBM i community and has therefore reviewed your RFE.

    To find out how CEAC help to shape the future of IBM i, see CEAC @ ibm.biz/BdYSYj and the article "The Five Hottest IBM i RFEs Of The Quarter" at ibm.biz/BdYSZT

    Therese Eaton – CEAC Program Manager, IBM

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Oct 5, 2021

    This RFE need also to address "INSERT" statements where CTE also does not work:


    create or replace table qtemp.test (
    text varchar(256)
    );

    insert into qtemp.test (
    with a as (
    select
    'abc' as text
    from sysibm.sysdummy1
    )
    select * from a
    );

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Oct 4, 2021

    ooooh! this one I like a lot. it will give you a lot of flexibility.