This documentation is not maintained. Please refer to doc.castsoftware.com/technologies to find the latest updates.

Summary: This document provides basic information about the extension that provides source code analysis support for SQL files.

What's new 2.3.12:

  • Perm Fix - False violation for the quality rule Avoid empty catch blocks
  • Perm Fix - False violation for the quality rule Avoid using SQL queries inside a loop
  • Fix - Warning messages in post application log file

What's new 2.3.11:

  • Permanent Fix - Analysis warning - AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'resolve_reference' on ALTER TABLE ... ADD ... when CREATE TABLE is not in the same file
  • Fix false positive on Avoid using SQL queries inside a loop

What's new 2.3.10:

  • Fix false violations on Avoid Empty Catch Block

What's new 2.3.9:

  • Skip UA processing of sourceFile starting with CAIP8.2.11, CAIP8.3.4
  • We recommend using AIP versions 8.2.11 and 8.3.4 to obtain improved analysis performance:
    • Permanent Fix - False positive for rule "Avoid Select * queries"
    • Permanent Fix - Metric assistant is running for 2+ days.
    • Added 7156 Avoid Too Many Copy Pasted Artifacts
  • Fix - GUID duplicated on unresolved tables on ABAP analysis
  • Fix - Description for the quality rule Replace OR conditions testing equality on the same identifier in SQL WHERE clauses by an IN test condition

What's new 2.3.8:

  • Fix - parsing issue while analyzing DB2 sql file, it throws error AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'text'

  • Fix - Missing Index objects

What's new 2.3.7:

  • Added the analysis of ABAP SQLScript methods for ABAP Analyzer

What's new 2.3.6:

  • Fix - GUID duplicate found : SQLScriptTableColumn  'SQLScriptTableColumn?XXXX.YYYYY.ZZZZ.AAAA' UNIVERSAL_CACHE : DUPLICATE OBJECTS NAME IN SOURCE: Source File not found
  • Fix - False Positive for Avoid queries using old style join convention instead of ANSI-Standard joins and Never use SQL queries with a cartesian product

  • Fix - Homonyms Primary Keys on homonyms Tables, created in different files

What's new 2.3.5:

  • Permanent Fix - Plugin has encountered the following error : Traceback (most recent call last).

  • Permanent Fix - SQL analyzer missing objects. No stored procedures objects are created for DB2 zOS

  • Permanent Fix - Warning messages when analyze ALTER TABLE .... ADD PRIMARY KEY ... statements

What's new 2.3.4:

  • Permanent Fix - SQL Objects are not getting created from SQL files.

What's new 2.3.3:

  • Permanent Fix - SQL Analyzer: missing SQL column objects.

  • Support of CREATE TYPE 2 Indexes.

What's new 2.3.2:

  • Permanent Fix - Table objects are missing in Teradata scan.

  • Fix - Icons are missing in Enlighten for synonym on a table.

  • Permanent Fix - [ORANGE][COSI][NNI] BFP is coming 0 for SQL.

What's new 2.3.1:

  • FIX - IndexError: list index out of range at application level.

What's new 2.3.0:

  • PERMANENT FIX - Duplicate external links between Cobol and SQL Tables.

Description

The SQL Analyzer (successor to the SQL Script extension) provides support for database technologies using the ANSI SQL-92 / 99 language. This extension uses the Universal Analyzer framework and is intended to analyse DDL, DML and SQL exports for a large variety of SQL variants:

  • This extension provides source code analysis support for DDL and DML*.sql files using an over language of the various sql variants.
  • This extension also accepts src and uaxDirectory files. Check here for more details about sqltablesize files.

In what situation should you install this extension?

  • If you need to analyze PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, DB2, Sybase, Microsoft SQL ServerTeradata or Informix
  • If your application contains schemas from database vendors not supported "out of the box" by CAST AIP (see http://doc.castsoftware.com, Supported Technologies for more information) but, which are compliant with ANSI SQL-92 / 99
  • When you do not have access to the online database to perform an extraction for use with CAST AIP and have instead been provided with DDL scripts

Transitioning from from the CAST AIP DB2 Analyzer to the SQL Analyzer extension

If you have been actively analyzing DB2 (z/OS or UDB) with the DB2 Analyzer (provided out-of-the-box in CAST AIP) you can transition to using the SQL Analyzer extension to analyze your DB2 source code. The process of transitioning is described in SQL Analyzer - To do transition from the CAST AIP Db2 Analyzer to the SQL Analyzer extension.

Reversed links

When transitioning from the DB2 Analyzer to the SQL Analyzer, links between Tables and Indexes, Foreign Keys, Primary Keys and Unique Keys will appear to be reversed when comparing the analysis results of the DB2 Analyzer and the SQL Analyzer. This is because the representation of links in the SQL Analyzer uses a different method (which is identical for all supported RDBMS) to the DB2 Analyzer.

Vendor compatibility matrix

Official support


Up to version 11Up to version 5.5Up to version 10.0Up to version 3.xUp to version 11.1 (UDB) and 12 (zOS)




Up to version 16Up to version 2016Up to version 16

Up to version 12.x


Unofficial support

Unofficial support refers to CAST AIP features or official CAST AIP extensions that provide specific capabilities that have not been officially validated or tested by CAST, therefore CAST cannot guarantee the results they produce. An example of a feature in this category is the capability built into the SQL Analyzer extension to analyze Oracle source code: while the analysis will work, results are not guaranteed.

Function Point, Quality and Sizing support

This extension provides the following support:

  • Function Points (transactions): a green tick indicates that OMG Function Point counting and Transaction Risk Index are supported
  • Quality and Sizing: a green tick indicates that CAST can measure size and that a minimum set of Quality Rules exist

Function Points
(transactions)

Quality and Sizing

(tick)(tick)

CAST AIP compatibility

This extension is compatible with:

CAST AIP releaseSupported
8.3.x(tick)
8.2.x(tick)
8.1.x(tick)
8.0.x(tick)
7.3.x(error)

Supported DBMS servers used for CAST AIP schemas

This extension is compatible with the following DBMS servers used to host CAST AIP schemas:

CAST AIP releaseCSSOracleMicrosoft
All supported releases(tick)(tick)(tick)

Prerequisites

(tick)An installation of any compatible release of CAST AIP (see table above)

Download and installation instructions

Please see:

  • The latest release status of this extension can be seen when downloading it from the CAST Extend server.
  • Please see Known Limitations and Issues for information about an error that may occur when installing the extension if you have also already installed a very old and unsupported Universal Analyzer langage pack that conflicts with the SQL Analyzer.

Upgrade from the SQL Script extension

If you have previously used the SQL Script extension (com.castsoftware.sqlscript) on existing schemas, you should proceed as following:

  • In CAST Server Manager use the Manage Extensions option on the CAST AIP schemas in which the SQL Script extension is installed
  • Select Analyzer for SQL files and choose deactivate to remove the existing extension. No further actions are required.

Packaging, delivering and analyzing your source code

Please see: SQL Analyzer - 2.x and 3.x - Packaging, delivering and analyzing your source code.

What results can you expect?

Once the analysis/snapshot generation has completed, you can view the results in the normal manner (for example via CAST Enlighten) - click to enlarge:

You can also use the CAST Management Studio option View Analysis Unit Content to see the objects that have been created following the analysis:

Objects

The following objects are displayed in CAST Enlighten:

IconDescription

Schema

Table

View

Table Column

Index

Foreign Key

Unique Constraint

Procedure

Function

Method

Trigger

Package 

Type

Event

Synonym

sourceFile

DML Script File

Note that:

  • Object identity is independent from the *.sql file the object comes from.
  • Object identity depends on the Analysis Unit's identity. Therefore, using a new Analysis Unit or deleting and then recreating an Analysis Unit will change the object's identity and will result in added/removed objects in the subsequent analysis results.
  • Typically a table will be identified by the Analysis Unit name, schema name and table name.
  • When no schema can be determined, the analyzer considers that a schema named "DEFAULT" is used. But generally, identifiers are qualified in CREATE TABLE statements.

Table deletion and renaming

DROP TABLE syntax is supported for table objects within the same file. When creating a table through CREATE TABLE tableName (colName int, ...) followed by a DROP TABLE tableName, the table will not be recorded and thus will not be displayed in CAST Enlighten. Similarly, if a table is renamed with a RENAME TABLE statement (or ALTER TABLE RENAME TO as in SQLite and PostgreSQL), this change will be reflected in CAST Enlighten. Presently we consider case-insensitive names, i.e., objects named tableName, TABLEname are considered to be the same object.

Links are created for transaction and function point needs:

DDL

You can expect the following links on the DDL side within the same sql file:

  • useSelect, useInsert, useUpdate, useDelete Links from Procedure / FunctionEvent  to Table / View
  • callLink from Procedure / Function / Event to Procedure / Function
  • useSelect from View to Table / View used in the query of the view
  • callLink from View to Function
  • relyonLink from Index to the Table
  • relyonLink from Index to the Column implied in the index
  • relyonLink from Synonym to Table / View / Function / Procedure / Package aliased by Synonym
  • referLink from Table / Table Column to a Table / Table Column referenced in a Foreign Key 
  • callLink to the correct Trigger where the tables is accessed in insert/update/delete
    • example a Trigger declared as BEFORE INSERT on a table, any insert to that table will call the trigger...

  • inheritLink from sub Type to super Type:
    • example : CREATE OR REPLACE type gayerrortype under gayxmlmsg ....

  • useLink for PL/SQL tables, example : CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE "CNCUBLIST_2" is table of "HIS_TEST_A" ;

DML

You can expect the following links on the DML side :

  • Links from SQL Script to Table provided as dependencies
  • Links from client code to Table provided as dependencies

Quality Rules

You can find a full list of rules for this extension, here:

https://technologies.castsoftware.com/?rlH=extensions/com.castsoftware.sqlanalyzer/2.3.3.json

Client Side Support: COBOL, PB, VB, .NET, JAVA, C/C++, PYTHON

Name
Never use SQL queries with a cartesian product (1101000)
Never use SQL queries with a cartesian product on XXL Tables (1101002)
Avoid non-indexed SQL queries (1101004)
Avoid non-indexed XXL SQL queries (1101006)
Avoid non-SARGable queries (1101008)
Avoid NATURAL JOIN queries (1101010)
Specify column names instead of column numbers in ORDER BY clauses (1101012)
Avoid queries using old style join convention instead of ANSI-Standard joins (1101014)
Always define column names when inserting values (1101026)
Use MINUS or EXCEPT operator instead of NOT EXISTS and NOT IN subqueries (1101028)

Avoid exists and not exists independent clauses (1101032)

DISTINCT should not be used in SQL SELECT statements (1101034)

Use ANSI standard operators in SQL WHERE clauses (EMBEDDED SQL) (1101036)

Replace OR conditions testing equality on the same identifier in SQL WHERE clauses by an IN test condition (1101038)

Special note about XXL/XXS support

See SQL Analyzer - working with XXL or XXS tables for more information.

Special notes about Quality Rules on client side

Some Quality Rules are calculated on SQL queries on the client-side with some limitations:

  • Quality Rules will be enabled on client-side code only if the server-side code has been analyzed with SQL Analyzer extension.
  • For Java client-side code, SQL statements used in parameters of methods including a SQL parametrization rule are analyzed.
Example of call to a parametrized method
class Foo
{
   final static String TABLE_NAME = "Person";

	void method()
	{
    	String query = "select * from " + this.TABLE_NAME;
    	java.sql.Statement.execute(query );
	}
}
  • But 'queries' visible in the DLM (that need reviewing) are not analyzed:
Example ofa query visible in the DLM
class Foo
{
	// not passed to an execute something
	private final static String text = "select name from Person";
}
  • Queries to Hibernate or JPA objects or any other ORM are not analyzed

  • COBOL EXEC SQL queries are analysed

  • SQL queries founded in Python code

Special note about redundant Quality Rules

Redundant Quality Rules not added on SQL Analyzer

Errors and warning

See here the full list of analysis errors and warnings: SQL Analyzer - errors and warnings.

Known limitations and issues

Installation

If you encounter the following error in CAST Server Manager while installing the SQL Analyzer extension, please perform the workaround described here and then attempt the installation again. This error may occur if you have installed a very old and unsupported custom Universal Analyzer language pack that used the same metamodel type names as used in the official SQL Analyzer extension.

SQL Analyzer is incompatible with the schema metamodel. It is generally due to an extension that has changed it's ids

Analysis

  • All name resolution is considered as case insensitive: this may produce erroneous links on a case insensitive platform 'playing with case' :
    • 2 different tables with the same case insensitive name will be both called
  • Procedure resolution handles overriding when the number of parameters are matched or number and optionals are matched. Otherwise, when calling an overridden procedure, all overrides will be called. Below are some examples here is a single call Link, between the 2nd func1 and func2:
Match number of parameters
CREATE FUNCTION func1() RETURNS integer AS
begin
    DELETE FROM table1 WHERE ID in (SELECT ID FROM table2);
end;

CREATE FUNCTION func1(mode integer) RETURNS integer AS
begin
    DELETE FROM table1 WHERE ID in (SELECT ID FROM table2);
end;

CREATE FUNCTION func2(mode integer) RETURNS integer AS
begin
    select func1 (mode); 
end;
Match number of parameters and how many are optionals
CREATE FUNCTION func1(i_mode integer) RETURNS integer AS
begin
    DELETE FROM table1 WHERE ID in (SELECT ID FROM table2);
end;

CREATE FUNCTION func1(mode integer := 1) RETURNS integer AS
begin
    DELETE FROM table1 WHERE ID in (SELECT ID FROM table2);
end;

CREATE FUNCTION func2(mode integer) RETURNS integer AS
begin
    select func1 (); 
end;
  • Dynamic SQL statements are resolved when:
    • the sql statement is readable, even for sliced statements. For example: 

      TABLE1, TABLE2, TABLE3 and TABLE4 are visibles and useSelect link were be added
CREATE PROCEDURE test
AS
L_QryStr varchar2(4000);
begin
L_QryStr := 'select S.COL1, P.COL2, P.COL3, P.COL4, P.COL5, ' ||
' P.COL6, B.COL7, R.COL8, B.COL9, B.COL10' ||
' from TABLE1 S, TABLE2 P, TABLE3 B, ' ||
' ( select distinct R.COL1, R.COL2 ' ||
' from TABLE4 R ' ||
' where R.COL3 = 99999 ';
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE L_QryStr;
end;
/

test_table is visible and useDelete link will be added


CREATE PROCEDURE test
AS
begin
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'truncate table test_table'; 
end;
/

test_table is visible and useDelete link will be added


CREATE PROCEDURE test
AS
L_QryStr varchar2(4000);
begin
	L_QryStr := 'truncate table ';
	L_QryStr := L_QryStr || ' test_table ';
	EXECUTE IMMEDIATE L_QryStr; 
end;
/
    • table name is valued via a variable which could be resolved. For example:
CREATE PROCEDURE test
AS
emp_rec  emp%ROWTYPE;
sql_stmt VARCHAR2(200);
begin
    sql_stmt := 'SELECT * FROM || emp_rec.T1 ||  WHERE job = 1';
    EXECUTE IMMEDIATE sql_stmt;
end;
/

emp table is visible and useSelect link will be added


CREATE OR REPLACE package body test_package as
 
 type T_1 is table of varchar2(22);
 emp_rec  emp%ROWTYPE;

 PROCEDURE test
is
sql_stmt VARCHAR2(2000);
emp_tab VARCHAR2(200);
begin
    emp_tab := emp_rec;
    sql_stmt := 'SELECT * FROM || emp_tab ||  WHERE job = :j';
    EXECUTE IMMEDIATE sql_stmt;
end test;
 
end;
/
    • OPEN-FOR-USING : emp table and test procedure are linked by a use SELECT link

create table emp (col1 int);
/
CREATE OR REPLACE type body test_body as

 type t_emp is table of t_table index by varchar2(22);
 emp_rec  emp%ROWTYPE;

 member PROCEDURE test(o_cursor OUT my_cursor)
IS
BEGIN
   OPEN    o_cursor FOR
   'SELECT  rule_id,
           expression_id,
           parent_expression_id,
           operator
   FROM    emp
   ORDER   BY rule_id, expression_id';
END test;

end;
/

create table emp (col1 int);
/
CREATE OR REPLACE type body test_body as

 type t_emp is table of t_table index by varchar2(22);
 emp_rec  emp%ROWTYPE;

 member PROCEDURE test(o_cursor OUT my_cursor)
IS
L_SQL varchar(20000) := '';
BEGIN
    L_SQL := 'SELECT  rule_id,
           expression_id,
           parent_expression_id,
           operator
   FROM    emp
   ORDER   BY rule_id, expression_id';
   
   OPEN o_cursor FOR L_SQL;
END test;

end;
/
  • ALTER TABLE ... ADD ... syntax is supported. All other syntaxes, such as ALTER TABLE ... DELETE .. or ALTER TABLE ... DROP ... or ALTER TABLE ... MODIFY ... etc. are not supported.

  • Moving a table from one database/scheme to another is not supported through RENAME TABLE schema1.tableName1 TO schema2.tableName2.   
  • Sequences are not taken in to account and that is not a limitation but a choice because they have no effect on transactions nor Quality Rules
  • Oracle synonyms on packages are not taken in to account.
  • For the QR 7156 Avoid Too Many Copy Pasted Artifacts, total values are displayed but no detail values.
  • For the QR 1101012 Specify column names instead of column numbers in ORDER BY clauses, the case when a function that returns a number or a numeric variable is used in order by is not reported to violate the rule.

CAST Health Dashboard (ex. Application Analytics Dashboard)

Starting with release 2.1 of the SQL Analyzer extension, the name used to represent the technology has changed from SQL Analyzer to SQL: if you have already transfered snapshots that contain SQL Analyzer analysis results in to a Measurement Service schema, you'll see SQL Analyzer in the list of technologies instead of SQL.

If you would like to change the technology name for existing snapshots, you can change it using the following SQL query run against the Measurement Service schema:

Change technology name in AAD
update DSS_OBJECT_TYPES
set OBJECT_TYPE_NAME = 'SQL'
where OBJECT_TYPE_ID = 1101000