I'm creating a table and I need a check constraint to validate the posibles values given a string value. I'm creating this table:
CREATE TABLE cat_accident (
acc_type VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL CHECK(acc_type = 'Home accident' OR acc_type = 'Work accident'),
acc_descrip VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL
);
So basically I want to validate if acc_type is equal to Home accident, then acc_descrip can be or 'Intoxication' OR 'burns' OR 'Kitchen wound', OR if acc_type is equal to Work Accident, then acc_descrip can be OR 'freezing' OR 'electrocution'.
How do I write that constraint?
Use a CHECK constraint with a CASE expression:
CREATE TABLE cat_accident (
acc_type VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL,
acc_descrip VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL
CHECK(
CASE acc_type
WHEN 'Home accident' THEN acc_descrip IN ('Intoxication', 'burns', 'Kitchen wound')
WHEN 'Work accident' THEN acc_descrip IN ('freezing', 'electrocution')
END
)
);
See the demo.
I'd suggest implementing this with a lookup table:
CREATE TABLE l_accident_description(
description_id VARCHAR(5) PRIMARY KEY,
description_full VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
location VARCHAR(30)
);
INSERT INTO l_accident_description
(description_id,description_full,location)
VALUES
('INTOX','Intoxication','Home Accident'),
('BURNS','Burns','Home Accident'),
('K_WND','Kitchen wound','Home Accident'),
('FREEZ','Freezing','Work Accident'),
('ELECT','Electrocution','Work Accident');
That way you can encode the relationship you want to encode into cat_accident, but if the details ever change, it's only a matter of inserting/deleting/updating rows in your lookup table. This implementation has the added benefit that you're not storing as much data repetitively in your table (just a VARCHAR(5) code rather than a VARCHAR(30) string). The table construction then becomes (with added primary key):
CREATE TABLE cat_accident (
cat_accident_id PRIMARY KEY,
acc_descrip VARCHAR(5) NOT NULL REFERENCES l_accident_description(description_id)
);
Any time you wanted to know whether the accident Home/Work, this could be accomplished with a query joining the lookup table. Joining lookup tables is more in the spirit of good database construction, rather than hard-coding checks to tables that may easily change or grow more complex as the database grows.
In fact, the ideal solution might be to create two lookup tables here, with l_accident_description in turn referencing a location lookup, but for simplicity's sake I've shown how it might be accomplished with one.
In my game, an archetype is a collection of associated traits, an attack type, a damage type, and a resource type. Each piece of data is unique to each
archetype. For example, the Mage archetype might look like the following:
archetype: Mage
attack: Targeted Area Effect
damage: Shock
resource: Mana
trait_defense: Willpower
trait_offense: Intelligence
This is the archetype table in SQLite syntax:
create table archetype
(
archetype_id varchar(16) not null,
attack_id varchar(16) not null,
damage_id varchar(16) not null,
resource_type_id varchar(16) not null,
trait_defense_id varchar(16) not null,
trait_offense_id varchar(16) not null,
archetype_description varchar(128),
constraint pk_archetype primary key (archetype_id),
constraint uk_archetype unique (attack_id, damage_id,
resource_type_id,
trait_defense_id,
trait_offense_id)
);
The primary key should be the complete composite, but I do not want to pass
all the data around to other tables unless necessary. For example, there are
crafting skills associated with each archetype which do not need to know any
other archetype data.
An effect is a combat outcome that can be applied to a friend or foe. An effect has an application type (instant, overtime), a type (buff, debuff, harm, heal, etc.) and a detail describing to which stat the effect applies. It also has most of the archetype data to make each effect unique. Also included is the associated trait used for progress and skill checks. For example, an effect might look like:
apply: Instant
type: Harm
detail: Health
archetype: Mage
attack_id: Targeted Area Effect
damage_id: Shock
resource: Mana
trait_id: Intelligence
This is the effect table in SQLite syntax:
create table effect
(
effect_apply_id varchar(16) not null,
effect_type_id varchar(16) not null,
effect_detail_id varchar(16) not null,
archetype_id varchar(16) not null,
attack_id varchar(16) not null,
damage_id varchar(16) not null,
resource_type_id varchar(16) not null,
trait_id varchar(16),
constraint pk_effect primary key(archetype_id, effect_type_id,
effect_detail_id, effect_apply_id,
attack_id, damage_id, resource_type_id),
constraint fk_effect_archetype_id foreign key(archetype_id, attack_id,
damage_id, resource_type_id)
references archetype (archetype_id, attack_id,
damage_id, resource_type_id)
);
An ability is a container that can hold multiple effects. There is no limit to
the kinds of effects it can hold, e.g. having both Mage and Warrior effects in
the same ability, or even having two of the same effects, is fine. Each effect
in the ability is going to have the archetype data, and the effect data.
Again.
Ability tables in SQLite syntax:
create table ability
(
ability_id varchar(64),
ability_description varchar(128),
constraint pk_ability primary key (ability_id)
);
create table ability_effect
(
ability_effect_id integer primary key autoincrement,
ability_id varchar(64) not null,
archetype_id varchar(16) not null,
effect_type_id varchar(16) not null,
effect_detail_id varchar(16) not null,
effect_apply_id varchar(16) not null,
attack_id varchar(16) not null,
damage_id varchar(16) not null,
resource_type_id varchar(16) not null,
trait_id varchar(16),
constraint fk_ability_effect_ability_id foreign key (ability_id)
references ability (ability_id),
constraint fk_ability_effect_effect_id foreign key (archetype_id,
effect_type_id,
effect_detail_id,
effect_apply_id)
references effect (archetype_id,
effect_type_id,
effect_detail_id,
effect_apply_id)
);
This is basically a one to many to many relationship, so I needed a technical
key to have duplicate effects in the ability_effect table.
Questions:
1) Is there a better way to design these tables to avoid the duplication of
data over these three tables?
2) Should these tables be broken down further?
3) Is it better to perform multiple table lookups to collect all the data? For example, just passing around the archetype_id and doing lookups for the data when necessary (which will be often).
UPDATE:
I actually do have parent tables for attacks, damage, etc. I removed those
tables and their related indexes from the sample to make the question clean,
concise, and focused on my duplicate data issue.
I was trying to avoid each table having both an id and a name, as both would be candidate keys and so having both would be wasted space. I was trying to keep the SQLite database as small as possible. (Hence, the many "varchar(16)"
declarations, which I now know SQLite ignores.) It seems in SQLite having both
values is unavoidable, unless being twice as slow is somehow ok when using the
WITHOUT ROWID option during table creation. So, I will rewrite my database to
use ids and names via the rowid implementation.
Thanks for your input guys!
1) Is there a better way to design these tables to avoid the
duplication of data over these three tables?
and also
2) Should these tables be broken down further?
It would appear so.
It would appear Mage is a unique archtype, as is Warrior. (based upon For example, the Mage archetype might look like the following:).
As such why not make the archtype_id a primary key and then reference the attack type, damage etc from tables for these. i.e. have an attack table and a damage table.
So you could, for example, have something like (simplified for demonstration) :-
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS archtype;
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS attack;
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS damage;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS attack (attack_id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, attack_name TEXT, a_more_columns TEXT);
INSERT INTO attack (attack_name, a_more_columns) VALUES
('Targetted Affect','ta blah'), -- id 1
('AOE','aoe blah'), -- id 2
('Bounce Effect','bounce blah') -- id 3
;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS damage (damage_id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, damage_name TEXT, d_more_columns TEXT);
INSERT INTO damage (damage_name,d_more_columns) VALUES
('Shock','shock blah'), -- id 1
('Freeze','freeze blah'), -- id 2
('Fire','fire blah'), -- id 3
('Hit','hit blah')
;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS archtype (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, archtype_name TEXT, attack_id_ref INTEGER, damage_id_ref INTEGER, at_more_columns TEXT);
INSERT INTO archtype (archtype_name,attack_id_ref,damage_id_ref,at_more_columns) VALUES
('Mage',1,1,'Mage blah'),
('Warrior',3,4,'Warrior Blah'),
('Dragon',2,3,'Dragon blah'),
('Iceman',2,2,'Iceman blah')
;
SELECT archtype_name, damage_name, attack_name FROM archtype JOIN damage ON damage_id_ref = damage_id JOIN attack ON attack_id_ref = attack_id;
Note that the aliases of rowid have been used for id's rather than the name as these are generally the most efficient.
The data for rowid tables is stored as a B-Tree structure containing one entry for each table row, using the rowid value as the key. This means that retrieving or sorting records by rowid is fast. Searching for a record with a specific rowid, or for all records with rowids within a specified range is around twice as fast as a similar search made by specifying any other PRIMARY KEY or indexed value. SQL As Understood By SQLite - CREATE TABLE- ROWIDs and the INTEGER PRIMARY KEY
A rowid is generated for all rows (unless WITHOUT ROWID is specified), by specifying ?? INTEGER PRIMARY KEY column ?? is an alias of the rowid.
Beware using AUTOINCREMENT, unlike other RDMS's that use this for automatically generating unique id's for rows. SQLite by default creates a unique id (the rowid). The AUTOINCREMENT keyword adds a constraint that ensures that the generated id is larger than the highest existing. To do this requires an additional table sqlite_sequence that has to be maintained and interrogated and as such has overheads. The AUTOINCREMENT keyword imposes extra CPU, memory, disk space, and disk I/O overhead and should be avoided if not strictly needed. It is usually not needed. SQLite Autoincrement
The query at the end will result in :-
Now say you wanted types to have multiple attacks and damages per type then the above could easily be adapted by using many-many relationships by introducing reference/mapping/link tables (all just different names for the same). Such a table will have two columns (sometime other columns for data specific to the distinct reference/map/link) one for the parent (archtype) reference/map/link and the other for the child (attack/damage) referenced/mapped/linked.
e.g. the following could be added :-
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS archtype_attack_reference;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS archtype_attack_reference
(aar_archtype_id INTEGER NOT NULL, aar_attack_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY(aar_archtype_id,aar_attack_id))
WITHOUT ROWID;
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS archtype_damage_reference;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS archtype_damage_reference
(adr_archtype_id INTEGER NOT NULL, adr_damage_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY(adr_archtype_id,adr_damage_id))
WITHOUT ROWID
;
INSERT INTO archtype_attack_reference VALUES
(1,1), -- Mage has attack Targetted
(1,3), -- Mage has attack Bounce
(3,2), -- Dragon has attack AOE
(2,1), -- Warrior has attack targetted
(2,2), -- Warrior has attack AOE
(4,2), -- Iceman has attack AOE
(4,3) -- Icemane has attack Bounce
;
INSERT INTO archtype_damage_reference VALUES
(1,1),(1,3), -- Mage can damage with Shock and Freeze
(2,4), -- Warrior can damage with Hit
(3,3),(3,4), -- Dragon can damage with Fire and Hit
(4,2),(4,4) -- Iceman can damage with Freeze and Hit
;
SELECT archtype_name, attack_name,damage_name FROM archtype
JOIN archtype_attack_reference ON archtype_id = aar_archtype_id
JOIN archtype_damage_reference ON archtype_id = adr_archtype_id
JOIN attack ON aar_attack_id = attack_id
JOIN damage ON adr_damage_id = damage_id
;
The query results in :-
With a slight change the above query could even be used to perform a random attack e.g. :-
SELECT archtype_name, attack_name,damage_name FROM archtype
JOIN archtype_attack_reference ON archtype_id = aar_archtype_id
JOIN archtype_damage_reference ON archtype_id = adr_archtype_id
JOIN attack ON aar_attack_id = attack_id
JOIN damage ON adr_damage_id = damage_id
ORDER BY random() LIMIT 1 -- ADDED THIS LINE
;
You could get :-
Another time you might get :-
3) Is it better to perform multiple table lookups to collect all the
data? For example, just passing around the archetype_id and doing
lookups for the data when necessary (which will be often).
That's pretty hard to say. You may initially think gather all the data once and keep it in memory say as an object. However, at times the underlying data may well already be in memory due to it being cached. Perhaps it could be better to utilise part of each. So I believe the answer is, you will need to test various scenarios.
I would probably avoid those composite primary keys.
And use the more commonly used integer with an autoincrement.
Then add the unique or non-unique composite indexes where needed.
Although i.m.h.o it's not always a bad idea to use a short CHAR or VARCHAR as the primary key in some cases. Mostly when easy to understand abbreviations can be used.
An example. Suppose you have a reference table for Countries. With a primary key on the 2 character CountryCode. Then when querying a table with a foreign key on that CountryCode, then for the human mind it's way easier to understand 'US' than some integer. Even without joining to Countries you'll probably know what Country is referenced.
So here are your tables with a slightly different layout.
create table archetype
(
archetype_id integer primary key autoincrement,
attack_id varchar(16) not null,
damage_id varchar(16) not null,
resource_type_id varchar(16) not null,
trait_defense_id varchar(16) not null,
trait_offense_id varchar(16) not null,
archetype_description varchar(128),
constraint uk_archetype unique (attack_id, damage_id,
resource_type_id,
trait_defense_id,
trait_offense_id)
);
create table effect
(
effect_id integer primary key autoincrement,
archetype_id integer not null, -- FK archetype
effect_apply_id varchar(16) not null,
effect_type_id varchar(16) not null,
effect_detail_id varchar(16) not null,
attack_id varchar(16) not null,
damage_id varchar(16) not null,
resource_type_id varchar(16) not null,
trait_id varchar(16),
constraint pk_effect unique(archetype_id, effect_type_id,
effect_detail_id, effect_apply_id,
attack_id, damage_id, resource_type_id),
constraint fk_effect_archetype_id foreign key(archetype_id)
references archetype (archetype_id)
);
create table ability
(
ability_id integer primary key autoincrement,
ability_description varchar(128)
);
create table ability_effect
(
ability_effect_id integer primary key autoincrement,
ability_id integer not null, -- FK ability
effect_id integer not null, -- FK effect
attack_id varchar(16) not null,
damage_id varchar(16) not null,
resource_type_id varchar(16) not null,
trait_id varchar(16),
constraint fk_ability_effect_ability_id foreign key (ability_id)
references ability (ability_id),
constraint fk_ability_effect_effect_id foreign key (effect_id)
references effect (effect_id)
);
I have looked over the internet and their solutions wont fix my problem, hence I'm asking for help here to check if there's mistakes in my coding.
I wanted to create a temporary table populated by other source tables and then implement it into the fact table. I have checked if the data type and the parameter is matching or the sequence of the keys but still it's giving me the error
"ORA-02291: integrity constraint (SYSTEM.SYS_C007167) violated -
parent key not found"
Fact Table:
CREATE TABLE DW_ITEMS7364 (
DW_ID int not null,
ManID char(5),
WHID char(5),
STKID char(5),
Profit number,
CONSTRAINT DW_ID PRIMARY KEY (DW_ID),
FOREIGN KEY(ManID) REFERENCES DW_MANUFACTURER7364,
FOREIGN KEY(WHID) REFERENCES DW_WAREHOUSE7364,
FOREIGN KEY(StkID) REFERENCES DW_STOCKITEM7364);
CREATE SEQUENCE seq_items7364 START WITH 101 increment by 1;
CREATE TRIGGER trg_items7364 BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE ON DW_ITEMS7364
FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
SELECT seq_items7364.NEXTVAL
INTO :new.DW_ID
FROM dual;
END;
Temporary Table:
CREATE TABLE TEMP_TAB7364 AS( SELECT m.ManID, w.WHID, s.STKID, (s.SellingPrice-s.PurchasePrice) AS "Profit"
FROM MANUFACTURER7364 m LEFT OUTER JOIN STOCKITEM7364 s ON s.ManID = m.ManID
RIGHT OUTER JOIN WAREHOUSE7364 w on s.WHID = w.WHID WHERE s.SELLINGPRICE IS NOT NULL AND s.PURCHASEPRICE IS NOT NULL
);
These are my source tables:
CREATE TABLE MANUFACTURER7364(
ManID char(5),
ManName varchar (25),
CityID char(5) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY(ManID),
FOREIGN KEY(CityID) REFERENCES CITY7364);
CREATE TABLE WAREHOUSE7364(
WHID char(5),
MaxNoOfPallets number,
CostPerPallet number,
SecurityLevel char(1),
FreezerFacilities varchar(10),
QuarantineFacilities varchar(10),
CityID char(5) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY(WHID),
FOREIGN KEY(CityID) REFERENCES CITY7364);
CREATE TABLE STOCKITEM7364(
StkID char(5),
StkName varchar(20),
SellingPrice number,
PurchasePrice number,
ManID char(5) NOT NULL,
WHID char(5) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY(StkID),
FOREIGN KEY(ManID) REFERENCES MANUFACTURER7364,
FOREIGN KEY(WHID) REFERENCES WAREHOUSE7364);
As far as I can tell, nothing of what you posted raises that error.
Additional drawback is the way you chose to create foreign key constraints. If you don't name it, Oracle assigns the name itself and it looks the way you posted it: SYSTEM.SYS_C007167.
SQL> create table test
2 (id_dept number,
3 id_emp number,
4 foreign key (id_dept) references dept (deptno),
5 foreign key (id_emp) references emp (empno));
Table created.
SQL> select constraint_name from user_constraints where table_name = 'TEST';
CONSTRAINT_NAME
------------------------------
SYS_C008172
SYS_C008173
SQL>
When one of these fails, looking at its name you have no idea what went wrong, unless you investigate a little bit more:
SQL> select column_name from user_cons_columns where constraint_name = 'SYS_C008173';
COLUMN_NAME
-----------------------
ID_EMP
SQL>
But, if you name the constraint, it is way simpler:
SQL> create table test
2 (id_dept number,
3 id_emp number,
4 constraint fk_test_dept foreign key (id_dept) references dept (deptno),
5 constraint fk_test_emp foreign key (id_emp) references emp (empno));
Table created.
SQL> select constraint_name from user_constraints where table_name = 'TEST';
CONSTRAINT_NAME
------------------------------
FK_TEST_DEPT
FK_TEST_EMP
SQL>
Another major drawback one notices is what's written in front of the dot, here: SYSTEM.SYS_C007167. Yes, that would be SYSTEM. Shortly, don't do that. Leave SYS and SYSTEM alone; they are powerful, they are special. Why would you take the risk of destroying the database if you (un)intentionally do something hazardous? Create another user, grant required privileges and work in that schema.
If I understood you correctly, once you create that temp table (TEMP_TAB7364), its contents is transferred into the DW_ITEMS7364 and - doing so - you hit the error.
If that's so, what's the purpose of the temp table? Insert directly into the target table and save resources. Will it fail? Of course it will, unless you change the query. How? I don't know - make sure that you don't insert values that don't exist in any of three tables used for enforcing referential integrity.
Though, as you already have the temp table, if it isn't too large, a (relatively) quick & dirty way of finding out which row is responsible for the error can be found with a loop, such as
begin
for cur_r in (select col1, col2, ... from temp_table) loop
begin
insert into target (col1, col2, ...)
values (cur_r.col1, cur_r.col2, ...);
exception
when others then
dbms_output.put_line(sqlerrm ||': '|| cur_r.col1 ||', '||cur_r.col2);
end;
end loop;
end;
The inner BEGIN-END block is here to make sure that the PL/SQL code won't exit at the first error, but will display them all. Then review those values and find the reason that makes your query invalid.
I am trying to make a procedure that takes makes potential empty "received" fields use the current date. I made a sequence called Order_number_seq that populates the order number (Ono) column. I don't know how to link errors in the orders table to a entry in the Orders_errors table.
this is what i have so far:
CREATE PROCEDURE Add_Order
AS BEGIN
UPDATE Orders
CREATE Sequence Order_number_seq
Start with 1,
Increment by 1;
UPDATE Orders SET received = GETDATE WHERE received = null;
These are the tables I am working with:
Orders table
(
Ono Number Not Null,
Cno Number Not Null,
Eno Number Not Null,
Received Date Null,
Shipped_Date Date Null,
Creation_Date Date Not Null,
Created_By VARCHAR2(10) Not Null,
Last_Update_Date Date Not Null,
Last_Updated_By VARCHAR2(10) Not Null,
CONSTRAINT Ono_PK PRIMARY KEY (Ono),
CONSTRAINT Cno_FK FOREIGN KEY (Cno)
REFERENCES Customers_Proj2 (Cno)
);
and
Order_Errors table
(
Ono Number Not Null,
Transaction_Date Date Not Null,
Message VARCHAR(100) Not Null
);
Any help is appreciated, especially on linking the orders table errors to create a new entry in OrderErrors table.
Thanks in advance.
Contrary to Martin Drautzburg's answer, there is no foreign key for the order number on the Order_Errors table. There is an Ono column which appears to serve that purpose, but it is not a foreign as far as Oracle is concerned. To make it a foreign key, you need to add a constraint much like the Cno_FK on Orders. An example:
CREATE TABLE Order_Errors
(
Ono Number Not Null,
Transaction_Date Date Not Null,
Message VARCHAR(100) Not Null,
CONSTRAINT Order_Errors_Orders_FK FOREIGN KEY (Ono) REFERENCES Orders (Ono)
);
Or, if your Order_Errors table already exists and you don't want to drop it, you can use an ALTER TABLE statement:
ALTER TABLE Order_Errors
ADD CONSTRAINT Order_Errors_Orders_FK FOREIGN KEY (Ono) REFERENCES Orders (Ono)
;
As for the procedure, I'm inclined to say what you're trying to do does not lend itself well to a PROCEDURE. If your intention is that you want the row to use default values when inserted, a trigger is better suited for this purpose. (There is some performance hit to using a trigger, so that's a consideration.)
-- Create sequence to be used
CREATE SEQUENCE Order_Number_Sequence
START WITH 1
INCREMENT BY 1
/
-- Create trigger for insert
CREATE TRIGGER Orders_Insert_Trigger
BEFORE INSERT ON Orders
FOR EACH ROW
DECLARE
BEGIN
IF :NEW.Ono IS NULL
THEN
SELECT Order_Number_Sequence.NEXTVAL INTO :NEW.Ono FROM DUAL;
END IF;
IF :NEW.Received IS NULL
THEN
SELECT CURRENT_DATE INTO :NEW.O_Received FROM DUAL;
END IF;
END;
/
This trigger will then be executed on every single row inserted into the Orders table. It checks if the Ono column was NULL and replaces it with an ID from the sequence if so. (Be careful that you don't ever provide an ID that will later be generated by the sequence; it will get a primary key conflict error.) It then checks if the received date is NULL and sets it to the current date, using the CURRENT_DATE function (which I believe was one of the things you were trying to figure out), if so.
(Side note: Other databases may not require a trigger to do this and instead could use a default value. I believe PostgreSQL, for instance, allows the use of function calls in its DEFAULT clauses, and that is how its SERIAL auto-increment type is implemented.)
If you are merely trying to update existing data, I would think the UPDATE statements by themselves would suffice. Is there a reason this needs to be a PROCEDURE?
One other note. Order_Errors has no primary key. You probably want to have an auto-incrementating surrogate key column, or at least create an index on its Ono column if you only ever intend to select off that column.
There are a number of confusing things in your question:
(1) You are creating a sequence inside a procedure. Does this even compile?
(2) Your procedure does not have any parameters. It just updates the RECEIVED column of all rows.
(3) You are not telling us what you want in the MESSAGE column.
My impression is that you should first go "back to the books" before you ask questions here.
As for your original question
how to link errors in the orders table to a entry in the Orders_errors
table.
This is aleady (correctly) done. The Orders_error table contains an ONO foreign key which points to an order.
I am new to php and sql and I am building a little game to learn a little bit more of the latter.
This is my simple database of three tables:
-- *********** SIMPLE MONSTERS DATABASE
CREATE TABLE monsters (
monster_id VARCHAR(20),
haunt_spawn_point VARCHAR(5) NOT NULL,
monster_name VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL,
level_str VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL,
creation_date DATE NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT monster_id_pk PRIMARY KEY (monster_id)
);
-- ****************************************
CREATE TABLE spawntypes (
spawn_point VARCHAR(5),
special_tresures VARCHAR (5) NOT NULL,
maximum_monsters NUMBER NOT NULL,
unitary_experience NUMBER NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT spawn_point_pk PRIMARY KEY (spawn_point)
);
-- ****************************************
CREATE TABLE fights (
fight_id NUMBER,
my_monster_id VARCHAR(20),
foe_spawn_point VARCHAR(5),
foe_monster_id VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
fight_start TIMESTAMP NOT NULL,
fight_end TIMESTAMP NOT NULL,
total_experience NUMBER NOT NULL
loot_type NUMBER NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT my_monster_id_fk FOREIGN KEY (my_monster_id)
REFERENCES monsters (monster_id),
CONSTRAINT foe_spawn_point_fk FOREIGN KEY (foe_spawn_point)
REFERENCES spawntypes (spawn_point),
CONSTRAINT fight_id_pk PRIMARY KEY (fight_id)
);
Given this data how can I easily carry out this two tasks:
1) I would like to create a pl/sql function that passing only a fight_id as a parameter and given the foe_spawn_point (inside the fight table) return the unitary_experience that is related to this spawn point referencing the spawntypes table, how can I do it? :-/ [f(x)]
In order to calculate the total experience earned from a fight (unitary_experience * fight_length) I have created a function that given a particular fight will subtract the fight_end with the fight_start so now I know how long the fight lasted. [f(y)]
2) is it possible to use this two functions (multiply the result that they returns) during the database population task?
INSERT INTO fights VALUES(.... , f(x) * f(y), 'loot A');
in order to populate all the total_experience entries inside the fights table?
thank you for your help
In SQL, you don't generally talk about building functions to do things. The building blocks of SQL are queries, views, and stored procedures (most SQL dialects do have functions, but that is not the place to start).
So, given a variable with $FIGHTID you would fetch the unitary experience with a simple query that uses the join operation:
select unitary_experience
from fight f join
spawnTypes st
on st.spawn_point = f.foe_spawn_point
where fightid = $FIGHTID
If you have a series of values to insert, along with a function, I would recommend using the select form of insert:
insert into fights(<list of columns, total_experience)
select <list of values>,
($FIGHT_END - $FIGHT_START) * (select unitary_experience from spawnTypes where spawnType ='$SPAWN_POINT)
One comment about the tables. It is a good idea for all the ids in the table to be integers that are auto-incremented. In Oracle you do this by creating a sequence (and it is simpler in most other databases).