Structured Query Language (SQL)

Database: A collection of understandable and meaningful data is called a database. DBMS: A system which can store, retrieve, process and manage the data in an efficient manner is called a DataBase Management System. RDBMS: A DBMS which is based on a Relational Model is called RDBMS. In RDBMS, data is stored in the form of related tables. As a result the data can be viewed in many different ways. The relational database can be spread and managed into different tables rather than centralizing the data into a single table. SQL: Developed by IBM in 1970s, it is a language which provides an interface to relational database systems. SQL is ANSI and ISO standard and often called as SEQUEL. Components of SQL: 1. Data Definition Language 2. Data Manipulation Language 3. Data Control Language 4. Transaction Control Language. 5. Data Query Language Data Definition Language: CREATE ALTER DROP TRUNCATE To create objects in a database Alters the structure of the database Delete objects from the database. Removes all records from the database including the space allocated from the records.

Data Manipulation Language: INSERT UPDATE DELETE INSERT ALL Inserts Data into the tables. Updates the current available data in the tables Deletes one or more rows from the tables but not the space allocated for the rows Inserts multiple rows into the table at a time.

Note: 1.) Delete statement, when issued, increases complexity when a record/row in a table which has a relationship with other table and is linked by a foreign key. If you wish to delete the row in the base table, then you need to first delete the row from the particular table having the foreign key constraint. 2.) Oracle has a concept of referential integrity between tables i.e., if a record from the base table is deleted, then the record in linked tables will also gets deleted if any.

Data Control Language: COMMIT ROLLBACK SAVEPOINT To save the work done Restore the database upto the last commit issued A save point is a transaction to which we can later rollback

Transaction Control Language: GRANT REVOKE Giving users access privileges to the database Withdraw/ take back the access privileges given by GRANT command

Data Query Language:

SELECT

The SQL SELECT statement is used to query or retrieve data from a table in the database

DATA TYPES in SQL:

CHAR(size)

This data type is used to store character string values of fixed length. This size in brackets determines the no.of characters the cell can hold and the maximum characters the CHAR data type can hold is 255 characters. Example: Name CHAR(10)

VARCHAR(size) or VARCHAR2(size)

This data type is used to store variable length alphanumeric data. It is a flexible form of CHAR data type. Maximum 4000 characters can be stored. The DATE data type is used to represent date and time. Standard format is DD-MM-YY. To store date in other forms, we need to use appropriate functions. By default, time in the date field is set to 12:00:00am if no time is specified along with Date. The Number data type is used to store both fixed and floating numbers. The precision (P) determines the maximum length of the data, whereas the scale(S) determines the number of places to the right of decimal. Negative or positive number upto 38 digits of precision can be stored Ex: 2234+.29 or 2234 -.29 This data type is used to store variable length character strings containing upto 2GB. Only one LONG variable can be defined per table. A table containing LONG data type cannot be clustered. This data type is used to store binary data such as digitized picture or image.

DATE

NUMBER(p,s)

LONG

RAW/LONG RAW RAW can have maximum length of 255 bytes. LONGRAW can contain upto 2GB

DATA CONSTRAINTS: Constraints are used to limit the type of data that can go into a table.Constraints can be specified when a table is created (with the CREATE TABLE statement) or after the table is created (with the ALTER TABLE statement). We will focus on the following constraints:

NOT NULL UNIQUE PRIMARY KEY FOREIGN KEY CHECK DEFAULT The NOT NULL constraint enforces a column to NOT accept NULL values.

NOT NULL

UNIQUE

The NOT NULL constraint enforces a field to always contain a value. This means that you cannot insert a new record, or update a record without adding a value to this field. The UNIQUE constraint uniquely identifies each record in a database table. The UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY constraints both provide a guarantee for uniqueness for a column or set of columns. A PRIMARY KEY constraint automatically has a UNIQUE constraint defined on it. The PRIMARY KEY constraint uniquely identifies each record in a database table. Primary keys must contain unique values. A primary key column cannot contain NULL values. Each table should have only ONE primary key. FOREIGN KEY in one table points to a PRIMARY KEY in another table. The FOREIGN KEY constraint also prevents that invalid data from being inserted into the foreign key column, because it has to be one of the values contained in the table it points to. The CHECK constraint is used to limit the value range that can be placed in a column. If you define a CHECK constraint on a single column it allows only certain values for this column. If you define a CHECK constraint on a table it can limit the values in certain columns based on values in other columns in the row.

PRIMARY KEY

FOREIGN KEY

CHECK

DEFAULT

The DEFAULT constraint is used to insert a default value into a column. The default value will be added to all new records, if no other value is specified.

SELECT statement usage and its CLAUSES:

SELECT is the beginning of the SQL command for querying (retrieving) data from a database table, view, or object. Objects are similar to tables, but they have a more complex structure. Order of Execution: SELECT -- which you use to specify the fields or calculated fields you want to return FROM -- which you use to specify table or tables you want to use and usually includes joins. WHERE -- which you use to filter rows GROUP BY -- used to grouped together values using field or expression you specified HAVING -- filters group by results with aggregate function (doesn't work on row by row basis like WHERE) ORDER BY -- used to specify results order.

Usage of SELECT Statement: 1. Simple Query: A SELECT statement can be used as simple query to retrieve data from a table or group of related tables. 2. Complex Query: A SELECT statement can be embedded within another SELECT statement. 3. Create a view or table: A SELECT statement can be used to create a view or new table. A view is a stored query that is executed whenever another SELECT statement retrieves data from the view by using the view in a query. 4. Insert, update or delete date: A SELECT statement can be used within the INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE statements to add greater flexibility to those commands.

Types of Select Queries: Simple Query: SELECT * FROM EMP_TABLE; Filtered Query: SELECT EMP_ID, NAME, DEPT FROM EMP_TABLE WHERE NAME LIKE s%; (*=ALL ROWs)

OPERATORS ALLOWED IN THE WHERE CLAUSE Operator Description = Equal <> Not equal > Greater than < Less than >= Greater than or equal <= Less than or equal BETWEEN Between an inclusive range LIKE Search for a pattern IN If you know the exact value you want to return for at least one of the columns Note: In some versions of SQL the <> operator may be written as !=

THE AND & OR OPERATORS The And & OR operators are used to filter records based on more than one condition

The AND operator displays a record if both the first condition and the second condition is true. The OR operator displays a record if either the first condition or the second condition is true.

Example for AND operator SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName='Tove' AND LastName='Svendson' Example for OR operator SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName='Tove' OR FirstName='Ola' Combining AND and OR SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE LastName='Svendson' AND (FirstName='Tove' OR FirstName='Ola')

THE ORDER BY KEYWORD

The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set. The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set by a specified column. The ORDER BY keyword sort the records in ascending order by default.

If you want to sort the records in a descending order, you can use the DESC keyword. SQL ORDER BY Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name ORDER BY column_name(s) ASC|DESC AGGREGATE FUNCTIONS: Aggregate functions are statistical functions such as count, min, max etc. They are used to compute a single value from a set of attribute values of a column:

Count: Counting Rows Example: How many tuples are stored in the relation EMP? select count(*) from EMP; Example: How many different job titles are stored in the relation EMP? select count(distinct JOB) from EMP;

Max: Maximum value for a column Min: Minimum value for a column Example: List the minimum and maximum salary. select min(SAL), max(SAL) from EMP; Example: Compute the difference between the minimum and maximum salary. select max(SAL) - min(SAL) from EMP;

sum Computes the sum of values (only applicable to the data type number) Example: Sum of all salaries of employees working in the department 30. select sum(SAL) from EMP where DEPTNO = 30;

avg Computes average value for a column (only applicable to the data type number)

Note: avg, min and max ignore tuples that have a null value for the specified attribute, but count considers null values

DATABASE OBJECTS IN SQL

 Table Partition Constraint Link View Materialized view Index Synonym Cluster Sequence Procedure Function Package Trigger Tablespace

TABLE Data is stored inside SQL tables which are contained within SQL databases. A single database can house hundreds of tables, each playing its own unique role in the database schema. SQL tables are comprised of rows and columns. Table columns are responsible for storing many different types of data, like numbers, texts, dates, and even files.

Syntax to Create a Table: CREATE TABLE table_name ( column_name1 data_type,

column_name2 data_type, column_name3 data_type, .... ); Example: CREATE TABLE orders (id number PRIMARY KEY, customer VARCHAR(50), day_of_order DATE, product VARCHAR(50), quantity number);

PARTITIONS In Oracle you can partition a table by

Range Partitioning Hash Partitioning List Partitioning Composite Partitioning

Range Partitioning This type of partitioning is useful when dealing with data that has logical ranges into which it can be distributed; For example, value of year. Performance is best when the data evenly distributes across the range

Hash partitioning

Use hash partitioning if your data does not easily lend itself to range partitioning, but you would like to partition for performance and manageability reasons. Hash partitioning provides a method of evenly distributing data across a specified number of partitions. Rows are mapped into partitions based on a hash value of the partitioning key Create a hash partition table. The following example creates a hash-partitioned table. The partitioning column is partno, four partitions are created and assigned system generated names, and they are placed in four named tablespaces (tab1,tab2, ...). CREATE TABLE products (partno NUMBER, description VARCHAR2 (60)) PARTITION BY HASH (partno) PARTITIONS 4 STORE IN (tab1, tab2, tab3, tab4); List Partitioning Use list partitioning when you require explicit control over how rows map to partitions. You can specify a list of discrete values for the partitioning column in the description for each partition. This is different from range partitioning, where a range of values is associated with a partition, and from hash partitioning, where the user has no control of the row to partition mapping. List partitioning allows unordered and unrelated sets of data to be grouped and organized together very naturally Create a table with list partitioning Create table customers (custcode number(5), Name varchar2(20), Addr varchar2(10,2), City varchar2(20), Bal number(10,2)) Partition by list (city), Partition north_India values (DELHI,CHANDIGARH), Partition east_India values (KOLKOTA,PATNA), Partition south_India values (HYDERABAD,BANGALORE, CHENNAI), Partition west India values (BOMBAY,GOA);

COMPOSITE PARTITONING

Composite partitioning partitions data using the range method, and within each partition, sub partitions it using the hash method. Composite partitions are ideal for both historical data and striping, and provide improved manageability of range partitioning and data placement, as well as the parallelism advantages of hash partitioning. When creating composite partitions, you specify the following:

Partitioning method: range Partitioning column(s) Partition descriptions identifying partition bounds Sub-partitioning method: hash Sub-partitioning column(s) Number of sub-partitions for each partition or descriptions of sub-partitions

Create a composite-partitioned table. In this example, three range partitions are created, each containing eight sub-partitions. Because the sub-partitions are not named, system generated names are assigned, but the STORE IN clause distributes them across the 4 specified tablespaces (tab1, ...,tab4). CREATE TABLE PRODUCTS (partno NUMBER, description VARCHAR(32), costprice NUMBER) PARTITION BY RANGE (partno) SUBPARTITION BY HASH(description) SUBPARTITIONS 8 STORE IN (tab1, tab2, tab3, tab4) (PARTITION p1 VALUES LESS THAN (100), PARTITION p2 VALUES LESS THAN (200), PARTITION p3 VALUES LESS THAN (MAXVALUE));

DATABASE LINKS A database link is a schema object in one database that enables you to access objects on another database. The other database need not be an Oracle Database system. However, to access nonOracle systems you must use Oracle Heterogeneous Services. After you have created a database link, you can use it in SQL statements to refer to tables and views on the other database by appending @dblink to the table or view name. You can query a table or view on the other database with the SELECT statement. You can also access remote tables and views using any INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, or LOCK TABLE statement.

Pre-requisites for creating a DBLINK To create a private database link, you must have the CREATE DATABASE LINK system privilege. To create a public database link, you must have the CREATE PUBLIC

DATABASE LINK system privilege. Also, you must have the CREATE SESSION system privilege on the remote Oracle database. Oracle Net must be installed on both the local and remote Oracle databases A Database LINK can be created as Public, Private or shared. Default is Private link. SYNTAX for Creating DBLINK: CREATE [SHARED] [PUBLIC] DATABASE LINK dblink [ CONNECT TO { CURRENT_USER | user IDENTIFIED BY password [dblink_authentication] } | dblink_authentication ] [USING 'connect_string] ; Example: create public database link mylink connect to remote_username identified by mypassword using 'tns_service_name'; VIEW A view is a virtual table based on the result-set of an SQL statement. View contains rows and columns, just like a real table. The fields in a view are fields from one or more real tables in the database. You can add SQL functions, WHERE, and JOIN statements to a view and present the data as if the data were coming from one single table. Syntax to Create a view: CREATE VIEW view_name AS SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE condition Example: CREATE VIEW [Products Above Average Price] AS SELECT ProductName, UnitPrice FROM Products WHERE UnitPrice > (SELECT AVG(UnitPrice) FROM Products)

MATERIALISED VIEWS A materialized view is a replica of a target master from a single point in time. The master can be either a master table at a master site or a master materialized view at a materialized view site. Whereas in multi-master replication tables are continuously updated by other master sites, materialized views are updated from one or more masters through individual batch updates, known as a refreshes, from a single master site or master materialized view site. Materialised views are used for one or more of the following: Ease Network Loads Create a Mass Deployment Environment Enable Data Subsetting Enable Disconnected Computing

You can create Readable, Updateable and Writeable materialised views.

SYNTAX: Create materialised view schema.mview_name Refresh complete | fast | force| [on commt] For update [enable/disable] As < sub-query>; Example: Create materialised view hr.departments refresh fast on commit for update as select deptno, dname where deptno=10;

INDEX An index can be created in a table to find data more quickly and efficiently. The users cannot see the indexes, they are just used to speed up searches/queries.

Note: Updating a table with indexes takes more time than updating a table without (because the indexes also need an update). So you should only create indexes on columns (and tables) that will be frequently searched against. Syntax to Create an Index: CREATE [unique] INDEX index_name ON table_name (column_name,[column_name],..); Example: Create index PIndex on EMP (EMP_ID); DROP index PIndex;

SYNONYM A synonym is an alias or alternate name for a table, view, Sequence, or other Schema object. They are used mainly to make it easy for users to access database objects owned by other users. Because a synonym is just an alternate name for an object, it requires no storage other than its definition. Synonyms can be public or private Syntax to create a Synonym: CREATE [OR REPLACE] [PUBLIC] SYNONYM [schema.]synonym FOR [schema.]object [@dblink] Example: CREATE SYNONYM addresses for hr.locations; DROP SYNONYM addresses.

SET OPERATIONS : UNION INTERSECT

MINUS

Oracle provides set operations that can be used to combine rows produced by two or more separate SELECT statements.Sometimes it is useful to combine query results from two or more queries into a single result. SQL supports three set operators which have the pattern: <query 1> <set operator> <query 2> The set operators are:

union [all] returns a table consisting of all rows either appearing in the result of <query1> or in the result of <query 2>. Duplicates are automatically eliminated unless the clause all is used. intersect returns all rows that appear in both results <query 1> and <query 2>. minus returns those rows that appear in the result of <query 1> but not in the result of <query 2>.

Of the three, UNION is the most useful in practice. Example: Assume that we have a table EMP2 that has the same structure and columns as the table EMP:

All employee numbers and names from both tables:

select EMPNO, ENAME from EMP union select EMPNO, ENAME from EMP2;

Employees who are listed in both EMP and EMP2:

select * from EMP intersect select * from EMP2;

Employees who are only listed in EMP:

select * from EMP minus select * from EMP2; Each operator requires that both tables have the same data types for the columns to which the operator is applied.

USING RELATIONAL OPERATORS AND WILD CARD CHARACTERS

You can use different types of search conditions and comparison operators where constructing Where clause. Different Type of Comparison Operators is given below.

Operator = > < >= <= <> !

Meaning Equal to Greater than Less than Greater than or equal to Less than or equal to Not equal to Not

JOINS: Joins are used to retrieve data from two or more tables based on a logical relationship between tables. Sometimes we have to select data from two or more tables to make our result complete. We have to perform a join. Tables in a database can be related to each other with keys. A primary key is a column with a unique value for each row. Each primary key value must be unique within the table. The purpose is to bind data together, across tables, without repeating all of the data in every table. Syntax: Select Employees.Name, Orders.Product From Employees, Orders Where Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

There are Three type of JOINS: Inner Join Outer Join

Self Join

Inner Joins: In inner join, records from two tables are combined and added to a queries result only if the rows from both the tables are matched based on a column. Syntax: Select <Shortname.ColumnNameList of Columns> From Table_A as Table_Alias A Inner join Table_B as Table_Alias_B On Table_Alias A.Column_Field = Table_Alias_B.Column_Field>

Example: select a.emp_id, a.emp_name, b.prod_name, b.price from employee a inner join product b on a.emp_id=b.prod_id

OUTER JOINS: Inner join returns rows only when there is at least one row from both tables that matches the join condition. Inner join eliminate the rows that do not match with a row from the other table. Outer joins, however, return all rows from atleast one of the tables mentioned in the from clause, as long as those rows meat anywhere or having search conditions of the select statement.

There are three types of outer joins: Left Outer Join Right Outer Join Full Join

LEFT OUTER JOIN Left Outer join returns all the records from the left table and only matching records from the right table. Example: select * from employee a left outer join product b on a.emp_id=b.prod_id

RIGHT OUTER JOIN In the right outer join pulls all the records from the second table in the join regard less of whether there is matching data in the first table. Example: select * from employee a right outer join product b on a.emp_id=b.prod_id where a.salary>40000

FULL OUTER JOIN Besides these two outer join, Sql server has yet another kind of join called Full join or Full Outer Join. A full join lists all the record from both the tables, regardless of whether there are matching records in the tables or not. Example: select * from employee a full outer join product b on a.emp_id=b.prod_id

SELF JOIN: Self join is a type of inner join. This is used to find records in a table that are related to other records in the same table. A table is joined itself in a self join. Example: select a.emp_id as 'Employee 1', a.emp_name, b.emp_id as 'Employee 2' from employee a join employee b on a.emp_name=b.emp_name and a.emp_name='kaleem'

SEQUENCES: A Sequence is a user created database object. A sequence is a column in a table that allows a faster retrieval of data from the table because this column contains data which uniquely identifies a row. It is the fastest way to fetch data through a select query.

Syntax: Create sequence seq_name Increment by n Start with n Maxvalue n | NoMaxvalue Minvalue n | NoMinvalue Cycle | NoCycle Cache n | NoCache ; Each of the Create Sequence Clauses are explained below: INCREMENT BY: Tells the system how to increment the sequence. If it is positive, the values are ascending; if it is negative, the values are descending. START WITH: Tells the system which integer to start with. MINVALUE: Tells the system how low the sequence can go. For ascending sequences, it defaults to 1; for descending sequences, the default value is 10e27-1. MAXVALUE: Tells the system the highest value that will be allowed. For descending sequences, the default is 1; for ascending sequences, the default is 10e27-1. CYCLE: Causes the sequences to automatically recycle to min value when max value is reached for ascending sequences; for descending sequences, it causes a recycle from min value back to max value. CACHE: Caches the specified number of sequence values into the buffers in the SGA. This speeds access, but all cached numbers are lost when the database is shut down. The default value is 20; maximum value is max value-min value.

CLUSTER A cluster is a schema object that contains data from one or more tables, all of which have one or more columns in common. Oracle Database stores together all the rows from all the tables that share the same cluster key.

Pre-Requisites to create a cluster: To create a cluster in your own schema, you must have CREATE CLUSTER system privilege. To create a cluster in another user's schema, you must have CREATE ANY CLUSTER system privilege. Also, the owner of the schema to contain the cluster must have either space quota on the tablespace containing the cluster or the UNLIMITED TABLESPACE system privilege. Oracle Database does not automatically create an index for a cluster when the cluster is initially created. Data manipulation language (DML) statements cannot be issued against cluster tables in an indexed cluster until you create a cluster index with a CREATE INDEX statement. Because clusters store related rows of different tables together in the same data blocks, properly used clusters offer two primary benefits:

Disk I/O is reduced and access time improves for joins of clustered tables. The cluster key is the column, or group of columns, that the clustered tables have in common. You specify the columns of the cluster key when creating the cluster. You subsequently specify the same columns when creating every table added to the cluster. Each cluster key value is stored only once each in the cluster and the cluster index, no matter how many rows of different tables contain the value.

Example: EMP and DEPT tables have deptno column in common. So these two tables can be made a cluster table with deptno as the CLUSTER_KEY. We can create Clustered tables as well as Clustered Indexes. Example for Clustered Tables: CREATE TABLE emp ( empno NUMBER(5) PRIMARY KEY, ename VARCHAR2(15) NOT NULL, ... deptno NUMBER(3) REFERENCES dept) CLUSTER emp_dept (deptno);

CREATE TABLE dept ( deptno NUMBER(3) PRIMARY KEY, . . . ) CLUSTER emp_dept (deptno);

Creating Clustered Indexes: To create a cluster index, one of the following conditions must be true:

Your schema contains the cluster. You have the CREATE ANY INDEX system privilege.

In either case, you must also have either a quota for the tablespace intended to contain the cluster index, or the UNLIMITED TABLESPACE system privilege.

Example for Clustered Indexes: A cluster index must be created before any rows can be inserted into any clustered table. The following statement creates a cluster index for the emp_dept cluster: CREATE INDEX emp_dept_index ON CLUSTER emp_dept TABLESPACE users STORAGE (INITIAL 50K NEXT 50K MINEXTENTS 2 MAXEXTENTS 10 PCTINCREASE 33); The cluster index clause (ON CLUSTER) identifies the cluster, emp_dept, for which the cluster index is being created. The statement also explicitly specifies several storage settings for the cluster and cluster index.

FUNCTIONS

A function is a named PL/SQL Block which is similar to a procedure. The major difference between a procedure and a function is, a function must always return a value, but a procedure may or may not return a value. The General Syntax to create a function is: CREATE [OR REPLACE] FUNCTION function_name [parameters] RETURN return_datatype; IS Declaration_section BEGIN Execution_section Return return_variable; EXCEPTION exception section Return return_variable; END;

PROCEDURES Store Procedures: Store Procedures are a vital tool for any database system. Store Procedures are written by database developer or database administrators to run commonly performed administrative tasks or to apply complex business rules. The stored procedure contains data manipulation or data retrieval statements. System Stored Procedures A Store Procedure is a precompiled collection of Sql statement stored with a name and processed as a unit. Sql server provides some precompiled stored procedures for managing Sql server and displaying information about the databases and users. These Stored Procedures are called as System Stored Procedures.

Stored procedures in Sql server are similar to procedures in other languages as they can: Accept input parameters and return values to the calling procedure or statement.

Contain programming statements that perform operations in the database of call another Stored Procedure. Return a status value to a calling procedure to indicate the success or failure (and also reason for failure).

Benefits of Stored Procedures:

Speed: One of the greatest advantages using the Store Procedure is the Speed. Stored Procedures are optimized the first time they are compiled, this allow them to run with much less overhead than a normal Sql Statement. Faster Access to data: Stored Procedures are optimized for the best execution path to the required data. They enhance the performance greatly because Sql server does not have to select the best route to execute Sql statements and access the data once they are complied. Less compilation time: When the stored procedures are executed, the query plan is read into the procedure plan and run. In case of normal Sql statement, Sql server first checks for Syntax, resolves and compiles a query every time it is executed. Modular Programming: Another benefit associated with Stored Procedure is being able to share application logic. A large Stored Procedure can be broken down into many smaller Stored Procedures. These smaller stored procedures can be shared between many large stored procedures. This greatly decreases the time in designing and implementing the stored procedures. These individual parts can be easily managed and debugged. Consistency: Utilizing Store Procedures enforces consistency because the user do not have to use their own Sql Statement. Enhance security mechanism: One of the major benefits of using Stored Procedures is to enforce the security. If the user is not supposed to access the data directly, complete access the data directly, complete access to the table can be revoked and you can create your own stored procedure. You can give Execute rights to this stored procedure and it will perform the right task for the user. This creates a more secure environment because fewer people will have direct access to the underlying data.

Types of Stored Procedures: System stored procedures (Can be executed only) Extended stored procedures (Can be created and executed) User-defined stored procedures (Can be created and executed)

System Stored Procedures: System Stored Procedures are supplied by Sql server, they are precompiled collection of Sql statements. Sql server provides system stored procedures to report and manage the information in system tables. Users should use these system procedures instead of accessing the system tables directly. The users should not update any of the system tables directly. The name of all system stored procedures begins with sp_. Extended Stored Procedures: Similar to user-defined and system stored procedures except that they are not residents of Sql server. They work outside Sql Server and are stored as DLLs (Dynamic Link Library). Sql server dynamically locates them and executes them. Extended stored procedures are usually denoted by the xp_ prefix. Dynamic Link Library is an executable routine containing a specific set of functions stored in .dll file and loaded on demand when needed by the program. User defined Stored Procedures: Apart from using the built-in stored procedures. (System and extended) you can create your own stored procedures. To create stored procedure, Create procedure or create proc statement are used. All stored procedures are created in the current database. In order to create procedure you must the permission to execute the create procedure statement. A stored procedure can have upto 1024 parameters. Procedures can be nested upto 32 levels.

The syntax: Create Proc[edure] procedure_name Example: Create proc proc1 As Select * from login go

Executing Store Procedures Stored procedures can be executed using Sql statement Exec or Execute. Syntax: Execute procedure_name For example to execute the stored procedure, Execute proc1

PACKAGES PL/SQL package is a group of related stored functions, procedures, types, cursors and etc. PL/SQL package is like a library once written stored in the Oracle database and can be used by many applications. A package has two parts:

A package specification is the public interface of your applications. The public here means the stored function, procedures, type are accessible by other applications. A package body contains the code that implements the package specification.

SYNTAX: CREATE [OR REPLACE] PACKAGE package_name [AUTHID {CURRENT_USER | DEFINER}] {IS | AS} [definitions of public TYPES ,declarations of public variables, types, and objects ,declarations of exceptions ,pragmas ,declarations of cursors, procedures, and functions ,headers of procedures and functions] END [package_name];

TRIGGERS A trigger is a fragment of code that you tell Oracle to run before or after a table is modified. A trigger has the power to:

make sure that a column is filled in with default information make sure that an audit row is inserted into another table after finding that the new information is inconsistent with other stuff in the database, raise an error that will cause the entire transaction to be rolled back

Some of the common uses of triggers are:

Triggers can cascade(primary-foreign) changes through related tables in a database. This means if a row is deleted in a table, the related row in other tables will also be deleted. Triggers can disallow or reject changes that violate referential integrity, thereby cancelling the attempted data modification. Such a trigger will be affected when the foreign key of one table, is given a value which does not match, with the Primary key of another table. Triggers are used to apply validation rules that are complex and cannot be implemented using constraints like foreign keys, defaults and check constraints. Triggers can enforce complex restrictions than those defined with check constraints. Unlike Check constraints, triggers can refer a column in another table. Triggers can find the difference between the state of a table before and after data modification. Multiple triggers of the same type (Insert, Update or Delete) on a table allow multiple different actions to take place in response to the same modification statement.

Syntax of Triggers CREATE [OR REPLACE ] TRIGGER trigger_name {BEFORE | AFTER | INSTEAD OF } {INSERT [OR] | UPDATE [OR] | DELETE} [OF col_name] ON table_name

[REFERENCING OLD AS o NEW AS n] [FOR EACH ROW] WHEN (condition) BEGIN --- sql statements END;

CREATE [OR REPLACE ] TRIGGER trigger_name - This clause creates a trigger with the given name or overwrites an existing trigger with the same name. {BEFORE | AFTER | INSTEAD OF } - This clause indicates at what time should the trigger get fired. i.e for example: before or after updating a table. INSTEAD OF is used to create a trigger on a view. before and after cannot be used to create a trigger on a view. {INSERT [OR] | UPDATE [OR] | DELETE} - This clause determines the triggering event. More than one triggering events can be used together separated by OR keyword. The trigger gets fired at all the specified triggering event. [OF col_name] - This clause is used with update triggers. This clause is used when you want to trigger an event only when a specific column is updated. CREATE [OR REPLACE] TRIGGER trigger_name - This clause creates a trigger with the given name or overwrites an existing trigger with the same name. [ON table_name] - This clause identifies the name of the table or view to which the trigger is associated. [REFERENCING OLD AS o NEW AS n] - This clause is used to reference the old and new values of the data being changed. By default, you reference the values as :old.column_name or :new.column_name. The reference names can also be changed from old (or new) to any other user-defined name. You cannot reference old values when inserting a record, or new values when deleting a record, because they do not exist. [FOR EACH ROW] - This clause is used to determine whether a trigger must fire when each row gets affected ( i.e. a Row Level Trigger) or just once when the entire sql statement is executed(i.e.statement level Trigger). WHEN (condition) - This clause is valid only for row level triggers. The trigger is fired only for rows that satisfy the condition specified.

CURSORS A cursor is a temporary work area created in the system memory when a SQL statement is executed. A cursor contains information on a select statement and the rows of data accessed by it. This temporary work area is used to store the data retrieved from the database, and manipulate this data. A cursor can hold more than one row, but can process only one row at a time. The set of rows the cursor holds is called theactive set. There are two types of cursors in PL/SQL: Implicit cursors: These are created by default when DML statements like, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements are executed. They are also created when a SELECT statement that returns just one row is executed. Explicit cursors: They must be created when you are executing a SELECT statement that returns more than one row. Even though the cursor stores multiple records, only one record can be processed at a time, which is called as current row. When you fetch a row the current row position moves to next row. Both implicit and explicit cursors have the same functionality, but they differ in the way they are accessed.