IQ Language

The language used to query data from IQ RestAPI uses natural words. It is similar to the well known database language called SQL. Data available from IQ RestAPI is represented in tables. IQL statements to retrieve data issue SELECT statements, and posting data issue INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statements. Results are also represented as tables and are named in the requesting statments.

SELECT Statement

A SELECT statment retrieves data according to the search criteria provided. A SELECT statement follows the pattern:

SELECT {column names | *} FROM {table name} [WHERE {key field name} {operator} {key value}]

For example, the following statement would collect the last traded price for the stock with the code “BHP”:

SELECT SymbolCode, Name, LastPrice FROM Security WHERE Code = ‘BHP’

  • SELECT indicates that we are retrieving data
  • SymbolCode, Name, LastPrice are the data columns we are interested in
  • FROM Security indicates which data source to search
  • WHERE Code = ‘BHP’ is the search criteria

The result table will look something like this:

SymbolCode Name LastPrice
BHP BHP Limited 37.48

Please note: String and character literals are enclosed in single quotes, as in ‘BHP’.

Search Criteria

The WHERE portion of the statement filters the data source to return only the values you are interested in. The way this is achieved can be with any of the following methods.

Operator Meaning Example
= Value is equal to SymbolCode = “BHP”
IS Value is equal to SymbolCode IS “BHP”
> Value is greater than LastPrice > 20
>= Value is greater than or equal to LastPrice >= 20
< Value is less than LastPrice < 20
<= Value is less than or equal to LastPrice <= 20
BEGINS Text value start with the characters Name BEGINS “AUS”
CONTAINS Text value contains the characters Name CONTAINS “MONEY”
IN Value is contained in the set SymbolCode IN [“BHP”, “ANZ”, “WOW”]
LIKE Text value conforms to wildcard expression SymbolCode LIKE ‘AT*’
BETWEEN a AND b Value lies between a and b LastPrice BETWEEN 10 AND 20
AND conjoining WHERE statments LastPrice > 20 AND SymbolCode BEGINS “T”
OR conjoing WHERE statements LastPrice > 20 OR SymbolCode BEGINS “A”

Catalogue meta functions

There exists 2 tables which describe what data is available in the system. These are meta data tables

  • CatalogueTable returns a list of all the available tables
  • CatalogueField returns a list of all the available fields

INSERT Statement

An INSERT statement is a mechanism of posting data to the IQ system. They are used in the Order Pad functions to Place, Amend, and Cancel orders. An INSERT statment follows the pattern:

INSERT INTO {table name} ({field name}[,…]) VALUES ({field value}[,…])

For example, the following would issue a cancel order request:

INSERT INTO CancelOrderRequest (AccountCode, OrderId) VALUES (‘TST0001’, ‘abcdef0123456789’)