access path

An access path is an expression, which defines a general way of accessing the database. An access path can be as simple as a property name but also very complex including OQL like operations or other methods. An access path is more powerful than an OQL statement, which is based on a defined set of operations as SELECT, WHERE or GROUP_BY.

An access path may present a sequence of path elements, where each path element is either a property, an operation or an expression.

The result of an access path is a property, which might represent a basic type value, a complex value or a collection.

The first path element in a path defines the input data and can be a property, but also an expression or a path again. Thus, access path can be combined, i.e. an access path can act as the input for another access path.

An access path is a generalization of operands used in OSI/OQL.