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A Virtual Table is operated upon as an ordinary FairCom DB API table (with a few limitations, depending on the type of the Virtual Table, see Unsupported Functions for details). However, it is not an actual physical table; it is an “interpretation” of the records (some or all) within the host (parent) table. Virtual Tables can be thought of as a generic concept. Actual implementations of this concept are the Virtual Table types, which are currently implemented through the MultiRecordTable type.
A Virtual Table is identified in the FairCom DB API database dictionary as a particular marker indicating the type of Virtual Table. The dictionary handling function has been modified to differentiate Virtual Tables from regular tables and also make the FairCom DB API interface view a Virtual Table as a regular table. For instance, when listing tables of a dictionary, Virtual Tables are listed together along with regular tables. Once created, a Virtual Table is operated upon as any other FairCom DB API table.
