Range Variable Declarations

To declare an identification variable as an abstract schema type, you specify a range variable declaration. In other words, an identification variable can range over the abstract schema type of an entity. In the following example, an identification variable named p represents the abstract schema named Player:

FROM Player p

A range variable declaration can include the optional AS operator:

FROM Player AS p

In most cases, to obtain objects a query uses path expressions to navigate through the relationships. But for those objects that cannot be obtained by navigation, you can use a range variable declaration to designate a starting point (or root).

If the query compares multiple values of the same abstract schema type, then the FROM clause must declare multiple identification variables for the abstract schema:

FROM Player p1, Player p2

For a sample of such a query, see Comparison Operators.