What's New

This section summarizes new features and functionality of Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database Release 11.2.1 that are documented in this guide, providing links into the guide for more information.

New features in Release 11.2.1.6.0

TTClasses implements the following features beginning with the TimesTen Release 11.2.1.6.0.

• OUT parameters

  Discussion of binding parameters includes new support for binding OUT and IN OUT parameters.

  See appropriate subsections under "Binding parameters".

• Duplicate parameters

  TimesTen supports either of two modes for binding duplicate parameters in a SQL statement. Use the DuplicateBindMode general connection attribute to choose between Oracle mode (now the default) and traditional TimesTen mode.

  See "Binding duplicate parameters".

• REF CURSORs

  REF CURSOR is a PL/SQL concept, where a REF CURSOR is a handle to a cursor over a SQL result set and can be passed between PL/SQL and an application.

  See "Working with REF CURSORs".

• Rowids

  Each row in a TimesTen database table has a unique identifier known as its rowid. TimesTen now supports Oracle-style rowids. An application can retrieve the rowid of a row from the ROWID pseudocolumn. Rowids can be represented in either binary or character format.

  See "Working with rowids".

• DML returning (RETURNING INTO clause)

  TimesTen now supports the RETURNING INTO clause, referred to as DML returning, with an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement to return specified items from a row that was affected by the action. This is included in the discussion of OUT parameters in "Binding OUT or IN OUT parameters".

• Exception handling

  By default, TTStatus objects are thrown as exceptions whenever an error occurs. This allows C++ applications to use {try/catch} blocks to detect and recover from failure, which is the recommended mode of operation. The TTEXCEPT flag, which allowed exceptions to be disabled in previous releases, is now deprecated. It is possible, however, to selectively suppress exceptions and manually check a TTStatus object for error conditions by initializing the TTStatus object with the value TTStatus::DO_NOT_THROW, then passing that object as the last parameter of a method call. Most TTClasses methods documented in this manual also support a signature with this TTStatus& parameter as the last parameter in the calling sequence, although these signatures are not documented and it is generally not recommended to operate in this way.

  See "TTStatus".

• API changes

  Be aware that there have been numerous method additions and changes, especially regarding TTStatus parameters in the calling sequences. Consult the documentation in Chapter 3, "Class Descriptions," carefully. Many methods were documented with a TTStatus parameter in previous releases, and while these are still supported for backward compatibility, using these methods is no longer documented or encouraged.

New features in Release 11.2.1.1.0

• Quick Start demos

  The 11.2.1 release includes an optional Quick Start feature with introductory information, tutorials, and new or reworked demo applications. Note that the demos are in a different location than in earlier releases and some have been renamed.

  See "About the TimesTen TTClasses demos" and install_dir/quickstart.html in your installation.

• Access control

  Perhaps the most significant overall change to previous functionality in TimesTen Release 11.2.1 is access control. TimesTen has features to control database access with object-level resolution for database objects such as tables, views, materialized views, and sequences. This also affects access to certain TimesTen built-in procedures, utilities, and connection attributes.

  See "Considering TimesTen features for access control". For general information, see "Managing Access Control" in Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database Operations Guide.