Patent ID: 7716213

Claim:
An apparatus for efficiently supporting generic SQL data manipulation statements, the apparatus comprising: a structured query language (SQL) input module configured to interpret a generic SQL statement from a client application, wherein the generic SQL statement comprises at least one of a statement that references all of the data columns that can experience a change when the generic SQL statement is executed and a statement referencing all of the data columns that can be involved in a selection criteria, and wherein the generic SQL statement includes extended indicator parameters and one of an insert, update, select, and merge operation directed to a target column of a database management system (DBMS) object; an extended indicator module configured to determine whether the generic SQL statement includes at least one extended indicator parameter, wherein the at least one extended indicator parameter enables the client application and a database management system (DBMS) receiving the generic SQL statement to exchange information regarding NULL values, and wherein each extended indicator parameter has a value indicating that a related host variable is treated as one of NULL, NOT_NULL, and UNASSIGNED, wherein treating the host variable as NOT_NULL comprises utilizing a value of the host variable; an authorization module configured to determine the host variable value for the target column of the DBMS object, and bypass an authorization check when the host variable value for the target column is treated as UNASSIGNED; an optimization module configured to prepare an SQL execution plan based on the generic SQL statement and each extended indicator parameter; and wherein the SQL input module, extended indicator module, and optimization module are at least one of software stored on computer readable media and hardware circuits.