Glossary

a 4-byte integer that is most often sequentially-ascending and which starts at 1, except when the Search Item (SI) is a 4-byte integer.

unique record designations in a database table or set of data that are not neatly sequential; for example, the first record is identified as row ID 37, the second record in the series is row ID 43, the third record is numbered 11, and so on. See record number, row ID, and well-behaved row IDs.

a list of key words or data items with associated pointers used to locate specific rows or records in a table of a database, facilitating fast access to data. See inverted, B-tree, and bitmap index.

a method of creating file structures that have pointers into a database, facilitating directed access to rows or records in a table.

when the data in an indexed column is not indexed correctly in its OMNIDEX index. For example, if a native row is deleted, but the keywords indexed for it are not, and indexing discrepancy is said to exist.

an option installed on an OMNIDEX index that customizes how that index's key values (keys) are indexed. For example, the Soundex option causes keywords to be indexed for Soundex (phonetic) retrieval.

term applied to high-performance retrievals and updates that affect the key value only. Discrete mode ASK Index retrievals return only the key values stored in the index sets without returning a record.

A join that retrieves rows from multiple tables by matching rows with common values in each table. Rows with no matching records in the joined tables are excluded.

Identifies a unique connection by a user to an environment catalog.

the most current list of record identifiers qualified by an ODXFIND.

on an HP3000, the subroutines used to perform database functions, including the OMNIDEX, ODXFIND, and ODXGET retrieval functions.

a style of indexing that uses a storage method opposite of that used in storing the data. To store data, a file starts with a record identifier, then associates data with it. Inverted indexing starts with a unique piece of data and associates record identifiers of records that contain the unique piece.

a file structure that stores the pointers to a database as data, and the data from the database as keys.

Indexed Sequential Access Method; a type of database indexing through which data is retrieved by incrementally successive rows.

the items passed through the list parameter.