For Microsoft SQL Server I have following statement to only drop a column if the table exist.
IF EXISTS(SELECT 1
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'TEST_TABLE')
ALTER TABLE TEST_TABLE DROP COLUMN LEGACY_VALUE
GO
I was wondering if there was a related IF-EXISTS mechanism is present in Oracle.
All the metadata about the columns in Oracle Database is accessible using one of the following views.
user_tab_cols; -- For all tables owned by the user
all_tab_cols ; -- For all tables accessible to the user
dba_tab_cols; -- For all tables in the Database.
So, if you are looking for a column that exists and want to drop it, your code may look something like this ( see below).
Since this appears to be a one time task, is the effort really worth it?
DECLARE
v_column_exists number := 0;
BEGIN
Select count(*) into v_column_exists
from user_tab_cols
where upper(column_name) = 'LEGACY_VALUE''
and upper(table_name) = 'TEST_TABLE';
--and owner = 'SCOTT --*might be required if you are using all/dba views
if (v_column_exists = 1) then
execute immediate 'alter table test_table drop column legacy_value';
end if;
end;
/
I am working on a web application where users create copies of a table.
They choose the name of the original table in a dropdown and the application creates a copy with a random name in the schema copy_tables.
The name of the copy table is inserted into the table config.copy_tables into the column copy_table_name.
There is no way for users to delete the copies. However an admin might manually delete an entry from config.copy_tables.
When that happens I would like to also drop the corresponding table in the schema copy_tables.
You find my attempt below. The copy_tables.OLD.copy_table_name part causes issues and I am not sure how to fix that. Basically I would like to:
drop the table in the schema copy_tables
whose name appeared in the column copy_table_name (config.copy_tables) in the row that was just deleted
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION drop_copy_table()
RETURNS TRIGGER AS
$$
BEGIN
DROP TABLE copy_tables.OLD.copy_table_name;
RETURN NULL;
END;
$$
LANGUAGE plpgsql;
DROP TRIGGER IF EXISTS trigger_delete_copy_table ON config.copy_tables;
CREATE TRIGGER trigger_delete_copy_table
AFTER DELETE ON config.copy_tables
FOR EACH ROW
EXECUTE PROCEDURE drop_copy_table();
I am in the process of migrating a SQL Server database to Oracle, where I have to convert SQL Server procedure which uses special tables called INSERTED and DELETED in SQL Server.
As per my understanding these tables hold copies the data of last inserted/deleted records.
(find the msdn article here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms191300.aspx)
Are there any similar tables in Oracle to achieve this..? Please advise.
UPDATE:
Thanks for your answers and comments ,I think I need to explain the situation some more. Here is the full story to understand the real scenario;
Data base contains tables and shadow tables (shadow has an additional column).
When a table is updated same changes should be recorded in relevant shadow table with some additional data.
For this purpose they are having triggers for each table (these triggers copy data to relevant shadow table).
The above mentioned procedure generates these triggers dynamically for each and every table.
Now the real problem is I don't have the knowledge about the columns as triggers are dynamically generated for each table.
Basically I can’t get value like: NEW.col_1 or: OLD.col_1 as APC mentioned. Can I.?
Or else I have to write all those triggers manually using prefixes: NEW and: OLD rather than trying to generate them dynamically.
I am using Oracle 11g
Oracle triggers use pseudo-records rather than special tables. That is, instead of tables we can access the values of individual columns.
We distinguish pseudo-records in the affected table from records in (other) tables by using the prefixes :NEW and :OLD . Oracle allows us to declare our own names for these, but there is really no good reason for abandoning the standard.
Which column values can we access?
Action :OLD :NEW
------ ---- ----
INSERTING n/a Inserted value
UPDATING Superseded value Amended value
DELETING Deleted value n/a
You will see that :OLD is the same as the MSSQL table DELETED and :NEW is the same as table INSERTED
So, to trigger a business rule check when a certain column is updated:
create or replace trigger t23_bus_check_trg
before update on t23
for each row
begin
if :NEW.col_1 != :OLD.col_1 then
check_this(:NEW.col_1 , :OLD.col_1);
end if;
end t23_bus_check_trg;
There's a whole chapter on records in the PL/SQL Reference. Find out more.
There are many differences between Sql Server triggers and Oracle triggers. In Oracle, you can declare statement level or row level triggers. Sql Server only has statement level. In Oracle, you can declare before triggers or after triggers. Sql Server only has after triggers.
If you're going to be working with Oracle, although later versions have the compound trigger, get used to working with row level triggers. There you have the pseudo row designation of :old and :new, kinda like Deleted and Inserted except it's just the one row of data. It's like being in a cursor loop, something you can do in Sql Server, but cursor perform so poorly in Sql Server, developers go to great lengths to avoid them. They are commonly used in Oracle.
The general rule of thumb is this: if you need to examine the data and possibly alter it before it goes to the table, use a "before" trigger. If you want to perform an audit or logging procedure, use an "after" trigger.
The page I linked to above gives a lot of technical details, but it is absolutely atrocious at giving usable examples. For that, just google "oracle trigger tutorial" and you should get lots of handy, easy-to-learn-from examples.
Thanks for the answers and comments. here is the complete solution to my problem.If some one meet the exact problem this will help.
create or replace PROCEDURE CreateTrackingTriggers
(
-- take the target table and shadow user as agruments
v_TableName IN NVARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
v_ShadowUser IN NVARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'SHADOW_USER'
)
AUTHID CURRENT_USER -- grant permission to create triggers
AS
v_TriggerName NVARCHAR2(500);
v_ColList NVARCHAR2(2000);
v_ColList_shadow NVARCHAR2(2000);
v_SQLCommand VARCHAR2(4000);
v_ColName NVARCHAR2(500);
v_ColSize NUMBER(10,0);
v_Prefix NVARCHAR2(500);
v_count NUMBER(1,0);
BEGIN
DECLARE
-- define a cursor to get the columns of the target table. order by COLUMN_ID is important
CURSOR Cols
IS SELECT COLUMN_NAME , CHAR_COL_DECL_LENGTH FROM USER_TAB_COLS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = upper(v_TableName) order by COLUMN_ID;
-- define a cursor to get the columns of the target shadow table order by COLUMN_ID is important
CURSOR Shadow_Cols
IS SELECT COLUMN_NAME , CHAR_COL_DECL_LENGTH FROM ALL_TAB_COLS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = upper(v_TableName) and upper(owner)=upper(v_ShadowUser) order by COLUMN_ID;
BEGIN
-- generate the trigger name for target table
v_TriggerName := 'TRG_' || upper(v_TableName) || '_Track' ;
-- check v_count , determine whether shdow table exist if not handle it
select count(*) into v_count from all_tables where table_name = upper(v_TableName) and owner = upper(v_ShadowUser);
-- iterate the cursor. generating column names prefixing ':new.'
OPEN Cols;
FETCH Cols INTO v_ColName,v_ColSize;
WHILE Cols%FOUND
LOOP
BEGIN
IF v_ColList IS NULL THEN
v_ColList := ':new.'||v_ColName ;
ELSE
v_ColList := v_ColList || ',' || ':new.'||v_ColName;
END IF;
FETCH Cols INTO v_ColName,v_ColSize;
END;
END LOOP;
CLOSE Cols;
-- iterate the cursor. get the shadow table columns
OPEN Shadow_Cols;
FETCH Shadow_Cols INTO v_ColName,v_ColSize;
WHILE Shadow_Cols%FOUND
LOOP
BEGIN
IF v_ColList_shadow IS NULL THEN
v_ColList_shadow := v_ColName;
ELSE
v_ColList_shadow := v_ColList_shadow || ',' || v_ColName;
END IF;
FETCH Shadow_Cols INTO v_ColName,v_ColSize;
END;
END LOOP;
CLOSE Shadow_Cols;
-- create trigger command. This will generate the trigger that dupilicates target table's data into shdow table
v_SQLCommand := 'CREATE or REPLACE TRIGGER '||v_TriggerName||'
AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE OR DELETE ON '||upper(v_TableName)||'
REFERENCING OLD AS old NEW AS new
FOR EACH ROW
DECLARE
ErrorCode NUMBER(19,0);
BEGIN
-- v_ColList_shadow : shdow table column list
-- v_ColList : target table column list with :new prefixed
INSERT INTO '|| v_ShadowUser ||'.'||upper(v_TableName)||'('||v_ColList_shadow||') values ('||v_ColList||');
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN ErrorCode := SQLCODE;
END;';
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE v_SQLCommand;
END;
END;
Can anyone please tell me whats going on here...
CREATE TRIGGER afr_alt_trig AFTER ALTER ON SCHEMA
cols ora_name_list_t;
BEGIN
IF (ora_dict_obj_type = 'TABLE') THEN
select column_name bulk collect into cols from user_tab_cols where table_name = ora_dict_obj_name;
FOR i IN cols.first .. cols.last LOOP
dbms_output.put_line(cols(i));
END LOOP;
END IF;
END;
The above trigger is expected to display the list of all the columns in a table after the ALTER TABLE command is executed.
It works just fine when I ALTER a table with column(s) without any constraints.
Ex: Alter Table tab_xxx ADD(nucol char);--FINE
However, if I add a new column with a constraint like
Ex: ALTER TALE tab_xxx ADD(n number NOT NULL);
then this new column is not immediately reflected in the USER_TAB_COLS DD view and the FOR loop above to display the names of all the columns DOESN'T show this NEW column added.
Thanks already.
I need a script which creates table or if it already exist drops it, and when recreates table. After some research I have found out that CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE in pl/sql doesn't exist. So I come up with this script :
DECLARE
does_not_exist EXCEPTION;
PRAGMA EXCEPTION_INIT (does_not_exist, -942);
BEGIN
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'DROP TABLE foobar';
EXCEPTION
WHEN does_not_exist
THEN
NULL;
END;
/
CREATE TABLE foobar (c1 INT);
Is there any proper way to achieve this functionality?
You really shouldn't be doing this in PL/SQL, tables created at runtime would be indicative of a flaw in your data model. If you're really convinced you absolutely have to do this then investigate temporary tables first. Personally, I'd reassess whether it's necessary at all.
You seem to be going for the EAFP as opposed to LBYL approach, which is described in a few answers to this question. I would argue that this is unnecessary. A table is a fairly static beast, you can use the system view USER_TABLES to determine whether it exists before dropping it.
declare
l_ct number;
begin
-- Determine if the table exists.
select count(*) into l_ct
from user_tables
where table_name = 'THE_TABLE';
-- Drop the table if it exists.
if l_ct = 1 then
execute immediate 'drop table the_table';
end if;
-- Create the new table it either didn-t exist or
-- has been dropped so any exceptions are exceptional.
execute immediate 'create table the_table ( ... )';
end;
/
Using a global temporary table would seem to be a better option. However, if you insist on dropping and re-adding tables at runtime you could query one of the _TABLES views (i.e. USER_TABLES, DBA_TABLES, ALL_TABLES) to determine if the table exists, drop it if it does, then create it:
SELECT COUNT(*)
INTO nCount
FROM USER_TABLES
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'FOOBAR';
IF nCount <> 0 THEN
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'DROP TABLE FOOBAR';
END IF;
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'CREATE TABLE FOOBAR(...)';
Share and enjoy.