inlineSubplan Step

The <inlineSubplan> step is a step used to execute a sequential series of steps. This step may only appear as the child of the <compositeSteps> element.

An <inlineSubplan> step is similar to an <execSubplan> step except that the <execSubplan> steps names an external plan to execute, whereas the <inlineSubplan> step directly contains the plan to execute as a child element. The primary difference between an inline subplan and a top-level plan is that inline subplans are not saved as distinct named entities, and therefore may not be externally referenced by <execSubplan> steps, whereas top-level plans are distinct named entities and therefore can be referenced from <execSubplan> steps. Inline subplans are useful in cases where the subplan content is concise and directly tied to the context and logic of the calling plan, and does not otherwise make sense as a stand-alone plan. In these cases, having all steps in one self-contained unit can facilitate maintenance and readability for the plan.

Unlike top-level plans, inline subplans may not declare parameters. They implicitly inherit the parameters and variables of all enclosing plans. They may declare additional variables local to the inline subplan, which may hide variables and parameters of the enclosing plans. A subplan variable hides the variable of an enclosing plan if both have the same name. In this case, only the value of the variable declared by the innermost subplan is available for use by its steps.

inlineSubplan Step attributes

inlineSubplan Element child elements

The <inlineSubplan> element consists of an optional <varList> followed by one additional child element, which is either <simpleSteps> or <compositeSteps>, depending on whether the inline subplan is a simple or composite plan.