5.1

Table Of Contents
Using the Query Service 9
You can use the vCloud API query service to query the vCloud Director database for information about objects
in the cloud.
The query service provides the following kinds of queries:
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Typed queries, which require you to construct a query URL that specifies a query type and optional
parameters.
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Packaged queries, which have well-known URLs and can accept many of the same parameters used with
typed queries.
Both typed and packaged queries allow you to specify one of the following formats in which to display the
result set:
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A records format that returns name=value pairs for all properties of each matching object. This is the default.
A name can be either a static or dynamic. Static names are predefined object property names, and are
returned in an object-specific QueryRecordResultType element. For a list of these names, see the Queries
reference pages in the vCloud API Schema Reference. Dynamic names are user-defined metadata key names.
Dynamic name=value pairs are not returned unless the object includes a non-empty Metadata element. See
Chapter 8, “Working With Object Metadata,” on page 239.
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An idrecords format that is identical to the records format, except that object reference values are returned
in id format rather than href format. See “Objects, References, and Representations,” on page 12.
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A references format that returns a reference in href format to each object that matches the query criteria.
Query results are paginated, and include links to previous and next pages where needed. Page size can be
specified in the query request. Default and maximum page sizes are specified in the vCloud Director
configuration. You can also apply filter criteria to the list of items returned.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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“Typed Queries,” on page 248
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“Packaged Queries,” on page 252
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“Query Parameters,” on page 257
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“Add a Metadata Filter to a Query,” on page 260
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