Local and static access paths

Static access path are those, beginning with an extent name (or global variable). Since static access path do not have parents, they cannot change parent and need to be executed only once (e.g. in case of operation path). Nevertheless, the global collection may change and the result must be recalculated. This cannot be done by the system and must be triggered by the application.

Local access path are those, that have a parent property (collection or instance). In this case, the value of the access path depends on the instance selected in the parent property handle. When no instance is selected, the value of the access path is NULL, i.e. the data set is not only empty. You cannot even ask for the number of instances for the access path. Each time, when another instance in the parent property is selected, the path value changes. In case of operation or view paths this requires recalculating the result, i.e. the path must be executed. This is done automatically, when trying to access data from the path data set. The application may, however, explicitly execute the path. When explicitly executing an operation path, the path is executed regardless whether a new instance has been selected in the parent or not. This enables the application to recalculate the path in order to reflect changes in the path for the currently selected parent instance.