Oracle trigger to prevent inserting the new row upon a condition - sql

Question

I've found few questions addressing the same question but without a better solution.
I need to create an Oracle trigger which will prevent new inserts upon a condition, but silently (without raising an error).
Ex : I need to stop inserting rows with bar='FOO' only. (I can't edit the constraints of the table, can't access the procedure which really does the insertion etc so the trigger is the only option)
Solutions so far confirms that it isn't possible. One promising suggestion was to create an intermediate table, insert key values to that when bar='FOO' and then delete those records from original table once insertion is done, which is not correct I guess.
Any answer will be highly appreciated.

Answer 1

Apparently, it is not possible to use a trigger to stop inserts without raising an exception.
However, if you have access to the schema (and asking about a trigger this is probably ok), you could think about replacing the table with a view and an instead of trigger.
As a minimal mock up for your current table. myrole is just a stand in for the privileges granted on the table:
CREATE ROLE myrole;
CREATE TABLE mytable (
bar VARCHAR2(30)
);
GRANT ALL ON mytable TO myrole;
Now you rename the table and make sure nobody can directly access it anymore, and replace it with a view. This view can be protected by a instead of trigger:
REVOKE ALL ON mytable FROM myrole;
RENAME mytable TO myrealtable;
CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW mytable AS SELECT * FROM myrealtable;
GRANT ALL ON mytable TO myrole;
CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER myioftrigger
INSTEAD OF INSERT ON mytable
FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
IF :new.bar = 'FOO' THEN
NULL;
ELSE
INSERT INTO myrealtable(bar) VALUES (:new.bar);
END IF;
END;
/
So, if somebody is inserting a normal row into the fake view, the data gets inserted into your real table:
INSERT INTO mytable(bar) VALUES('OK');
1 row inserted.
SELECT * FROM mytable;
OK
But if somebody is inserting the magic value 'FOO', the trigger silently swallows it and nothing gets changed in the real table:
INSERT INTO mytable(bar) VALUES('FOO');
1 row inserted.
SELECT * FROM mytable;
OK
Caution: If you want to protect your table from UPDATEs as well, you'd have to add a second trigger for the updates.

Answer 2

One way would be to hide the row. From 12c this is reasonably easy:
create table demo
( id integer primary key
, bar varchar2(10) );
-- This adds a hidden column and registers the table for in-database archiving:
alter table demo row archival;
-- Set the hidden column to '1' when BAR='FOO', else '0':
create or replace trigger demo_hide_foo_trg
before insert or update on demo
for each row
begin
if :new.bar = 'FOO' then
:new.ora_archive_state := '1';
else
:new.ora_archive_state := '0';
end if;
end demo_hide_foo_trg;
/
-- Enable in-database archiving for the session
-- (probably you could set this in a log-on trigger):
alter session set row archival visibility = active;
insert into demo (id, bar) values (1, 'ABC');
insert into demo (id, bar) values (2, 'FOO');
insert into demo (id, bar) values (3, 'XYZ');
commit;
select * from demo;
ID BAR
-------- --------
1 ABC
3 XYZ
-- If you want to see all rows (e.g. to delete hidden rows):
alter session set row archival visibility = all;
In earlier versions of Oracle, you could achieve the same thing using a security policy.
Another way might be to add a 'required' flag which defaults to 'Y' and set it to to 'N' in a trigger when bar = 'FOO', and (assuming you can't change the application to use a view etc) have a second trigger delete all such rows (or perhaps better, move them to an archive table).
create table demo
( id integer primary key
, bar varchar2(10) );
alter table demo add required_yn varchar2(1) default on null 'Y';
create or replace trigger demo_set_not_required_trg
before insert or update on demo
for each row
begin
if :new.bar = 'FOO' then
:new.required_yn := 'N';
end if;
end demo_hide_foo_trg;
/
create or replace trigger demo_delete_not_required_trg
after insert or update on demo
begin
delete demo where required_yn = 'N';
end demo_delete_not_required_trg;
/