Search for	Example	Results
A single word	`cat`	Topics that contain the word "cat". You will also find its grammatical variations, such as "cats".
A phrase. You can specify that the search results contain a specific phrase.	`"cat food"` (quotation marks)	Topics that contain the literal phrase "cat food" and all its grammatical variations. Without the quotation marks, the query is equivalent to specifying an OR operator, which finds topics with one of the individual words instead of the phrase.

Search for	Operator	Example
Two or more words in the same topic	`AND` `and` `+` (plus symbol) `&` (ampersand)	`cat AND dog` `"cat food"+milk` `"cat food"&"dog food"`
Either word in a topic	`OR` `or` `\|` (pipe)	`cat OR dog` `cat \| dog`
Topics that do not contain a specific word or phrase	`NOT` `not` `!` (exclamation point)	`NOT cat` `! dog`
Topics that contain one string and do not contain another	`^` (caret)	`cat ^ mouse`
A combination of search types	`( )` parentheses	`cat + (dog \| mouse)` `cat \| dog + (! mouse)`

Service Manager9.52

Develop > Tailoring Best Practice Guide > Database (RDBMS) mapping > Array mapping options > BLOB in main table

BLOB in main table

The BLOB in main table format maps a Service Manager array field as a binary large object (BLOB) within a main table. This array format is good for situations where the following conditions apply:

Your array data is in a binary format (such as attachment data or RAD language expressions)
You want the option to store very large array elements
You want to support complex arrays of structure
You do not need to use third-party tools to run reports against your array data

The following table summarize the advantages of using this array mapping format.

Advantages
Advantage	Description
Preservation of any native binary data	The RDBMS does not have to do any code page translations to store binary data in the array. Since there is no translation from a binary format to a character-based format, there is no chance that the translation will result in data corruption such as high-bit characters becoming question marks.
The array can store very large array elements	Since the array is mapped to a binary large object column, the column can occupy a large amount of space. Most RDBMS vendors support at least 2 gigabytes of large object data in such a column.
The array has access to other fields in the main table	There is a greater probability that other fields reside in the same main table as the array. Having all or most of your fields in a main table reduces the number of SELECT and JOIN statements your system has to make to fetch a record. The less RDBMS traffic required, the better performance your queries and reports will have.
Support for complex arrays of structure	This array format supports complex arrays of structure such as an array of structure within an array of structure.

The following table summarize the disadvantages of using this array mapping format.

Disadvantages
Disadvantage	Description
Third-party tools cannot report against the array	Service Manager stores array data in a proprietary binary format that third-party reporting tools cannot read.
The RDBMS cannot directly query the array	Most RDBMS vendors cannot query a column containing a reference to character large object data.
Any query against the array is inefficient	The RDBMS cannot directly query this array format because the column is mapped to a large object data type. Instead, the RDBMS must scan the table to return all rows of the large object column, and then forward the results to Service Manager for evaluation.

To set up an array in a field in main table mapping, you must create the following mappings in a database dictionary record.

Database dictionary element type	RDBMS mapping required
Array data type	Mapped as a BLOB column in a main table
Sub-field of the array	Not mapped
RC flag	True

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