Built-In 4GL Functions

The built-in functions of 4GL are predefined functions that support features of Querix4GL. Except for the fact that no FUNCTION definition is required, built-in functions behave exactly like the 4GL functions that you define with the FUNCTION statement.

Built-in 4GL functions include the following features:

• They can be invoked with a CALL statement. (If they return a single value, they can be used without a CALL statement, but must instead use a LET statement.)  For example: LET variable = some_function()  is similar to CALL some_function() RETURNING variable.
• They must have parentheses in them, even if there are no arguments used.
• They cannot be invoked from SQL statements.
• They can be invoked from C modules.  Note that there are also Built-In Functions that can be used by C, but cannot be used by 4GL.

If a FUNCTION statement is used to define a function that has the same name as a built-in function, the built-in function will not work in your program.