Can I create indexes in the inactive state?

Problem: I want to create an index on a table in the inactive state. I am about to do a bunch of bulk inserts on this table and do not want the overhead of rebuilding the index as I go. How can I go about creating the index without making it active? Solution: Note: The information in this document regarding GDML refers to version 4.0 of InterBase. Information related to SQL is true of InterBase versions 4.0 and later. You cannot create indexes as inactive under SQL. They must be created in the active state if you use SQL. You will have to deactivate the index after creating it. Under GDML, you can create indexes in the inactive state with the "define index" command. Here is the GDML syntax to create an inactive index: define index [for] [unique | duplicates] [asc | desc] inactive fieldname- comma list; (The square brackets in the syntax listing mean that the parameter is optional. The asc and desc options are short for ascending and descending.) Here is an example of syntax to create an inactive index: define index state_idx2 for states inactive unique state; This tells the system to create an index called "state_idx2" . It says to build it for data in the state field in the states table. The keyword "inactive" tells the system that the index will be built at a later time. The database will store the index definition, so it can be activated later. You can activate the index two ways. From within GDML, you can use the "modify index" command. In SQL , you can use the "ALTER INDEX" command to activate the index. The syntax for modify index is modify index [unique | duplicate ] [active | inactive] [asc | desc]; For example, to change the index we created above to be active, use this command: modify index state_idx2 active; The syntax for alter index is : ALTER INDEX [ACTIVE| INACTIVE] For example, to make the index we created earlier active, use this command, ALTER INDEX state_idx2 ACTIVE