[DRILL-4506] Allow substitution variables in SQL scripts

• Type: Wish
• Status: Open
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Unresolved
• Affects Version/s: 1.5.0
• Component/s: SQL Parser
• Labels: features
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Ian Hellstrom
• Created: 14/Mar/16 06:52
• Updated: 14/Mar/16 11:55

Description

It would be great if substitution variables could be created à la SQL*Plus in scripts. This would be especially helpful when objects need to be (re-)created from scratch (i.e. in testing), and they share e.g. workspaces, which have to be hard-coded otherwise.

The following is a rough idea (based on SQL*Plus syntax):

IN_LOCATION=hdfs.project
OUT_LOCATION=hdfs.storage

CREATE VIEW &OUT_LOCATION.view_name AS
SELECT * FROM &IN_LOCATION.table_name;

For a first implementation, it would be best to have simply substitution variables and not allow computations to be done, although it is conceivable that that would be a second step.