Oracle® Database

Application Developer’s Guide - Object-Relational Features

10g Release 2 (10.2)
B14260-01

June 2005
Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features 10g Release 2 (10.2)

B14260-01

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 Contents

Send Us Your Comments ........................................................................................................................ xi

Preface ............................................................................................................................................................... xiii

Intended Audience.................................................................................................................................... xiii
Documentation Accessibility ................................................................................................................... xiii
Structure ..................................................................................................................................................... xiv
Related Documents ................................................................................................................................... xv
Conventions ............................................................................................................................................... xvi

What’s New in Object-Relational Features? ............................................................................... xxi

Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) New Features in Object-Relational Features ........................ xxi

1 Introduction to Oracle Objects

About Oracle Objects .............................................................................................................................. 1-1
Advantages of Objects............................................................................................................................. 1-1
Key Features of the Object-Relational Model .................................................................................... 1-2
Core Database Key Features............................................................................................................. 1-3
Object Types ................................................................................................................................ 1-3
Objects .......................................................................................................................................... 1-5
Object Methods............................................................................................................................ 1-5
Type Inheritance ......................................................................................................................... 1-6
Type Evolution ............................................................................................................................ 1-6
Object Tables................................................................................................................................ 1-6
Row Objects and Column Objects ............................................................................................ 1-7
Object Views ................................................................................................................................ 1-7
References .................................................................................................................................... 1-8
Collections................................................................................................................................. 1-10
Language Binding Features ........................................................................................................... 1-10

2 Basic Components of Oracle Objects

SQL Object Types and References........................................................................................................ 2-1
Null Objects and Attributes.............................................................................................................. 2-1
Character Length Semantics ............................................................................................................. 2-2
Constraints for Object Tables ........................................................................................................... 2-3

iii
 Indexes for Object Tables .................................................................................................................. 2-4
Triggers for Object Tables ................................................................................................................. 2-4
Rules for REF Columns and Attributes .......................................................................................... 2-5
Name Resolution................................................................................................................................ 2-5
When Table Aliases Are Required ........................................................................................... 2-6
Restriction on Using User-Defined Types with a Remote Database .......................................... 2-7
Object Methods ........................................................................................................................................ 2-7
Member Methods ............................................................................................................................... 2-7
Methods for Comparing Objects...................................................................................................... 2-8
Map Methods............................................................................................................................... 2-9
Order Methods ............................................................................................................................ 2-9
Guidelines for Comparison Methods.................................................................................... 2-10
Comparison Methods in Type Hierarchies .......................................................................... 2-10
Static Methods ................................................................................................................................. 2-11
Constructor Methods...................................................................................................................... 2-11
External Implemented Methods ................................................................................................... 2-11
Inheritance in SQL Object Types ....................................................................................................... 2-12
Types and Subtypes ........................................................................................................................ 2-12
FINAL and NOT FINAL Types and Methods ............................................................................ 2-14
Creating Subtypes With Overriding Methods............................................................................ 2-14
NOT INSTANTIABLE Types and Methods................................................................................ 2-17
Inheriting, Overloading, and Overriding Methods ................................................................... 2-18
Overloading Methods ............................................................................................................. 2-18
Redefining Methods ................................................................................................................ 2-19
Restrictions on Overriding Methods..................................................................................... 2-19
Dynamic Method Dispatch............................................................................................................ 2-20
Substituting Types in a Type Hierarchy ...................................................................................... 2-21
Column and Row Substitutability ................................................................................................ 2-21
Using OBJECT_VALUE and OBJECT_ID with Substitutable Rows ................................ 2-22
Subtypes Having Supertype Attributes................................................................................ 2-22
REF Columns and Attributes ................................................................................................. 2-23
Collection Elements ................................................................................................................. 2-23
Creating Subtypes After Creating Substitutable Columns ....................................................... 2-23
Dropping Subtypes After Creating Substitutable Columns ..................................................... 2-24
Turning Off Substitutability in a New Table .............................................................................. 2-24
Constraining Substitutability ........................................................................................................ 2-25
Modifying Substitutability............................................................................................................. 2-25
Restrictions on Modifying Substitutability ................................................................................. 2-26
Assignments Across Types ............................................................................................................ 2-26
Objects and REFs to Objects ................................................................................................... 2-26
Collection Assignments .......................................................................................................... 2-27
Comparisons of Objects, REF Variables, and Collections ......................................................... 2-28
Comparing Object Instances................................................................................................... 2-28
Comparing REF Variables ...................................................................................................... 2-28
Functions and Operators Useful with Objects ................................................................................ 2-28
CAST ................................................................................................................................................. 2-29
CURSOR ........................................................................................................................................... 2-29

iv
 DEREF............................................................................................................................................... 2-29
IS OF type ......................................................................................................................................... 2-29
REF .................................................................................................................................................... 2-31
SYS_TYPEID .................................................................................................................................... 2-31
TABLE() ............................................................................................................................................ 2-32
TREAT............................................................................................................................................... 2-32
VALUE.............................................................................................................................................. 2-33

3 Support for Collection Datatypes

Creating Collection Datatypes............................................................................................................... 3-1
Creating an Instance of a VARRAY or Nested Table.................................................................... 3-1
Constructor Methods for Collections .............................................................................................. 3-1
Varrays................................................................................................................................................. 3-2
Nested Tables...................................................................................................................................... 3-3
Specifying a Tablespace When Storing a Nested Table................................................................ 3-4
Varray Storage .................................................................................................................................... 3-5
Increasing the Size and Precision of VARRAYs and Nested Tables .......................................... 3-6
Increasing VARRAY Limit Size ....................................................................................................... 3-6
Creating a Varray Containing LOB References ............................................................................. 3-6
Multilevel Collection Types.............................................................................................................. 3-7
Nested Table Storage Tables for Multilevel Collection Types ............................................. 3-7
Assignment and Comparison of Multilevel Collections ....................................................... 3-9
Constructors for Multilevel Collections................................................................................... 3-9
Operations on Collection Datatypes ................................................................................................. 3-10
Querying Collections ...................................................................................................................... 3-10
Nesting Results of Collection Queries .................................................................................. 3-10
Unnesting Results of Collection Queries.............................................................................. 3-10
Unnesting Queries Containing Table Expression Subqueries........................................... 3-11
Unnesting Queries with Multilevel Collections .................................................................. 3-12
Performing DML Operations on Collections .............................................................................. 3-12
Performing DML on Multilevel Collections ........................................................................ 3-13
Comparisons of Collections........................................................................................................... 3-14
Equal and Not Equal Comparisons....................................................................................... 3-14
In Comparisons ........................................................................................................................ 3-14
Subset of Multiset Comparison.............................................................................................. 3-14
Member of a Nested Table Comparison............................................................................... 3-15
Empty Comparison.................................................................................................................. 3-15
Set Comparison ........................................................................................................................ 3-15
Multisets Operations....................................................................................................................... 3-15
CARDINALITY ........................................................................................................................ 3-16
COLLECT.................................................................................................................................. 3-16
MULTISET EXCEPT ................................................................................................................ 3-16
MULTISET INTERSECTION ................................................................................................. 3-16
MULTISET UNION ................................................................................................................. 3-17
POWERMULTISET.................................................................................................................. 3-17
POWERMULTISET_BY_CARDINALITY ............................................................................ 3-18
SET ............................................................................................................................................. 3-18

v
4 Object Support in Oracle Programming Environments
SQL.............................................................................................................................................................. 4-1
PL/SQL........................................................................................................................................................ 4-2
Oracle Call Interface (OCI)..................................................................................................................... 4-2
Associative Access in OCI Programs .............................................................................................. 4-2
Navigational Access in OCI Programs............................................................................................ 4-3
Object Cache........................................................................................................................................ 4-3
Building an OCI Program That Manipulates Objects ................................................................... 4-4
Defining User-Defined Constructors in C ...................................................................................... 4-4
Pro*C/C++ .................................................................................................................................................. 4-5
Associative Access in Pro*C/C++ ................................................................................................... 4-5
Navigational Access in Pro*C/C++ ................................................................................................ 4-5
Converting Between Oracle Types and C Types........................................................................... 4-6
Oracle Type Translator (OTT) .......................................................................................................... 4-6
Oracle C++ Call Interface (OCCI) ......................................................................................................... 4-6
OCCI Associative Relational and Object Interfaces ...................................................................... 4-7
The OCCI Navigational Interface .................................................................................................... 4-7
Oracle Objects For OLE (OO4O) ........................................................................................................... 4-7
Representing Objects in Visual Basic (OraObject)......................................................................... 4-8
Representing REFs in Visual Basic (OraRef) .................................................................................. 4-9
Representing VARRAYs and Nested Tables in Visual Basic (OraCollection) .......................... 4-9
Java: JDBC, Oracle SQLJ, JPublisher, and SQLJ Object Types ....................................................... 4-9
JDBC Access to Oracle Object Data .............................................................................................. 4-10
SQLJ Access to Oracle Object Data ............................................................................................... 4-10
Choosing a Data Mapping Strategy ............................................................................................. 4-10
Using JPublisher to Create Java Classes for JDBC and SQLJ Programs ................................. 4-11
What JPublisher Produces for a User-Defined Object Type .............................................. 4-11
Java Object Storage ......................................................................................................................... 4-12
Representing SQLJ Types to the Server ................................................................................ 4-12
Creating SQLJ Object Types ................................................................................................... 4-13
Additional Notes About Mapping ........................................................................................ 4-13
Evolving SQLJ Types............................................................................................................... 4-14
Constraints ................................................................................................................................ 4-14
Querying SQLJ Objects ........................................................................................................... 4-14
Inserting Java Objects .............................................................................................................. 4-15
Updating SQLJ Objects ........................................................................................................... 4-15
Defining User-Defined Constructors in Java .............................................................................. 4-15
XML.......................................................................................................................................................... 4-15

5 Applying an Object Model to Relational Data

Why Use Object Views............................................................................................................................ 5-1
Defining Object Views............................................................................................................................ 5-2
Using Object Views in Applications .................................................................................................... 5-3
Nesting Objects in Object Views .......................................................................................................... 5-3
Identifying Null Objects in Object Views .......................................................................................... 5-4
Using Nested Tables and Varrays in Object Views ........................................................................... 5-5
Single-Level Collections in Object Views ....................................................................................... 5-5

vi
 Multilevel Collections in Object Views ........................................................................................... 5-6
Specifying Object Identifiers for Object Views................................................................................. 5-7
Creating References to View Objects ................................................................................................... 5-7
Modelling Inverse Relationships with Object Views....................................................................... 5-8
Updating Object Views ........................................................................................................................... 5-9
Updating Nested Table Columns in Views.................................................................................... 5-9
Using INSTEAD OF Triggers to Control Mutating and Validation ........................................ 5-10
Applying the Object Model to Remote Tables ................................................................................ 5-10
Defining Complex Relationships in Object Views ........................................................................ 5-11
Tables and Types to Demonstrate Circular View References................................................... 5-12
Creating Object Views with Circular References ....................................................................... 5-13
Object View Hierarchies ...................................................................................................................... 5-14
Creating an Object View Hierarchy.............................................................................................. 5-16
The Flat Model.......................................................................................................................... 5-16
The Horizontal Model ............................................................................................................. 5-18
The Vertical Model .................................................................................................................. 5-19
Querying a View in a Hierarchy ................................................................................................... 5-20
Privileges for Operations on View Hierarchies .......................................................................... 5-21

6 Managing Oracle Objects

Privileges on Object Types and Their Methods ................................................................................. 6-1
System Privileges for Object Types ................................................................................................. 6-1
Schema Object Privileges .................................................................................................................. 6-1
Using Types in New Types or Tables ............................................................................................. 6-2
Example: Privileges on Object Types .............................................................................................. 6-2
Privileges on Type Access and Object Access................................................................................ 6-3
Dependencies and Incomplete Types................................................................................................... 6-4
Completing Incomplete Types ........................................................................................................ 6-5
Manually Recompiling a Type ......................................................................................................... 6-6
Type Dependencies of Substitutable Tables and Columns ......................................................... 6-6
The FORCE Option ..................................................................................................................... 6-6
Synonyms for Object Types ................................................................................................................... 6-7
Creating a Type Synonym ................................................................................................................ 6-7
Using a Type Synonym ..................................................................................................................... 6-7
Describing Schema Objects That Use Synonyms ................................................................... 6-8
Dependents of Type Synonyms ................................................................................................ 6-8
Restriction on Replacing a Type Synonym ............................................................................. 6-8
Dropping Type Synonyms ........................................................................................................ 6-8
Renaming Type Synonyms........................................................................................................ 6-9
Public Type Synonyms and Local Schema Objects................................................................ 6-9
Performance Tuning................................................................................................................................. 6-9
Tools Providing Support for Objects................................................................................................. 6-10
Utilities Providing Support for Objects............................................................................................ 6-11

7 Advanced Topics for Oracle Objects

Storage of Objects .................................................................................................................................... 7-1

vii
 Leaf-Level Attributes ......................................................................................................................... 7-1
How Row Objects Are Split Across Columns................................................................................ 7-1
Hidden Columns for Tables with Column Objects....................................................................... 7-2
Hidden Columns for Substitutable Columns and Tables ............................................................ 7-2
REFs...................................................................................................................................................... 7-3
Internal Layout of Nested Tables..................................................................................................... 7-3
Internal Layout of VARRAYs........................................................................................................... 7-3
Creating Indexes on Typeids or Attributes ......................................................................................... 7-4
Indexing a Type Discriminant Column .......................................................................................... 7-4
Indexing Subtype Attributes of a Substitutable Column ............................................................. 7-4
Type Evolution .......................................................................................................................................... 7-5
Changes Involved When a Type Is Altered ................................................................................... 7-6
Altering a Type by Adding a Nested Table Attribute .................................................................. 7-7
Validating a Type That Has Been Altered...................................................................................... 7-9
If a Type Change Validation Fails ................................................................................................ 7-11
ALTER TYPE Statement for Type Evolution .............................................................................. 7-12
ALTER TABLE Statement for Type Evolution ........................................................................... 7-14
The Attribute-Value Constructor.................................................................................................. 7-15
Constructors and Type Evolution................................................................................................. 7-15
Advantages of User-Defined Constructors ................................................................................. 7-15
Defining and Implementing User-Defined Constructors ......................................................... 7-15
Overloading and Hiding Constructors ........................................................................................ 7-17
Calling User-Defined Constructors .............................................................................................. 7-17
Constructors for SQLJ Object Types............................................................................................. 7-18
Transient and Generic Types............................................................................................................... 7-19
User-Defined Aggregate Functions ................................................................................................... 7-22
Partitioning Tables That Contain Oracle Objects ........................................................................... 7-22
How Locators Improve the Performance of Nested Tables...................................................... 7-23

8 Design Considerations for Oracle Objects

General Storage Considerations for Objects ...................................................................................... 8-1
Storing Objects as Columns or Rows .............................................................................................. 8-1
Column Object Storage .............................................................................................................. 8-2
Row Object Storage in Object Tables ....................................................................................... 8-4
Storage Considerations for Object Identifiers (OIDs) ................................................................... 8-4
Primary-Key Based OIDs........................................................................................................... 8-5
Performance of Object Comparisons.................................................................................................... 8-5
Design Considerations for REFs ........................................................................................................... 8-6
Storage Size of REFs........................................................................................................................... 8-6
Integrity Constraints for REF Columns .......................................................................................... 8-6
Performance and Storage Considerations for Scoped REFs ........................................................ 8-6
Indexing Scoped REFs................................................................................................................ 8-7
Speeding up Object Access Using the WITH ROWID Option .................................................... 8-8
Design Considerations for Collections ................................................................................................ 8-8
Viewing Object Data in Relational Form with Unnesting Queries............................................. 8-8
Using Procedures and Functions in Unnesting Queries ....................................................... 8-9
Storage Considerations for Varrays ................................................................................................ 8-9

viii
 Propagating VARRAY Size Change...................................................................................... 8-10
Performance of Varrays Versus Nested Tables .......................................................................... 8-10
Design Considerations for Nested Tables ................................................................................... 8-10
Nested Table Storage............................................................................................................... 8-11
Nested Table Indexes .............................................................................................................. 8-13
Nested Table Locators ............................................................................................................. 8-13
Optimizing Set Membership Queries ................................................................................... 8-14
Design Considerations for Multilevel Collections ..................................................................... 8-15
Design Considerations for Methods ................................................................................................. 8-18
Choosing a Language for Method Functions.............................................................................. 8-18
Static Methods ................................................................................................................................. 8-20
Using SELF IN OUT NOCOPY with Member Procedures ....................................................... 8-21
Function-Based Indexes on the Return Values of Type Methods ............................................ 8-21
Writing Reusable Code Using Invoker Rights ................................................................................ 8-22
Replicating Object Tables and Columns .......................................................................................... 8-23
Replicating Columns of Object, Collection, or REF Type ......................................................... 8-23
Replicating Object Tables............................................................................................................... 8-24
Constraints on Objects ......................................................................................................................... 8-24
Considerations Related to Type Evolution....................................................................................... 8-25
Pushing a Type Change Out to Clients........................................................................................ 8-25
Changing Default Constructors .................................................................................................... 8-25
Altering the FINAL Property of a Type....................................................................................... 8-26
Parallel Queries with Oracle Objects ................................................................................................ 8-26
Design Consideration Tips and Techniques .................................................................................... 8-26
Deciding Whether to Evolve a Type or Create a Subtype Instead........................................... 8-26
How ANYDATA Differs from User-Defined Types.................................................................. 8-27
Polymorphic Views: An Alternative to an Object View Hierarchy ......................................... 8-27
The SQLJ Object Type..................................................................................................................... 8-28
The Intended Use of SQLJ Object Types............................................................................... 8-28
Actions Performed When Creating a SQLJ Object Type.................................................... 8-28
Uses of SQLJ Object Types...................................................................................................... 8-29
Uses of Custom Object Types................................................................................................. 8-29
Differences Between SQLJ and Custom Object Types Through JDBC ............................ 8-29
Miscellaneous Tips.......................................................................................................................... 8-29
Column Substitutability and the Number of Attributes in a Hierarchy.......................... 8-30
Circular Dependencies Among Types .................................................................................. 8-30

A Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features

Introduction to the Sample Application............................................................................................. A-1
Implementing the Schema on the Relational Model ....................................................................... A-2
Entities and Relationships................................................................................................................ A-2
Creating Tables Under the Relational Model................................................................................ A-3
Customer_reltab......................................................................................................................... A-4
PurchaseOrder_reltab................................................................................................................ A-4
Stock_reltab................................................................................................................................. A-5
LineItems_reltab......................................................................................................................... A-5
Inserting Values Under the Relational Model .............................................................................. A-5

ix
 Querying Data Under the Relational Model ................................................................................. A-6
Updating Data Under the Relational Model ................................................................................. A-7
Deleting Data Under the Relational Model................................................................................... A-7
Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model.......................................................... A-7
Defining Types .................................................................................................................................. A-8
Method Definitions ......................................................................................................................... A-12
The getPONo Method ............................................................................................................. A-13
The sumLineItems Method..................................................................................................... A-13
The compareCustOrders Method.......................................................................................... A-14
Creating Object Tables.................................................................................................................... A-14
The Object Table Customer_objtab ....................................................................................... A-15
Object Datatypes as a Template for Object Tables ..................................................................... A-16
Object Identifiers and References ................................................................................................. A-16
Object Tables with Embedded Objects ........................................................................................ A-17
The Object Table Stock_objtab ............................................................................................... A-17
The Object Table PurchaseOrder_objtab .............................................................................. A-17
Inserting Values........................................................................................................................ A-22
Querying ................................................................................................................................... A-24
Deleting ..................................................................................................................................... A-25
Evolving Object Types ......................................................................................................................... A-26
Adding an Attribute to the Customer Type................................................................................ A-27
Working with Multilevel Collections........................................................................................... A-29
Inserting into Nested Tables................................................................................................... A-29
Inserting a New Purchase Order with Line Items .............................................................. A-30
Querying Multilevel Nested Tables ...................................................................................... A-31
Type Inheritance and Substitutable Columns............................................................................. A-33
Creating a Subtype................................................................................................................... A-33
Inserting Subtypes ................................................................................................................... A-34
Querying Substitutable Columns .......................................................................................... A-35

Index

x
 Send Us Your Comments

Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features 10g

Release 2 (10.2)
B14260-01

Oracle welcomes your comments and suggestions on the quality and usefulness of this
publication. Your input is an important part of the information used for revision.
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xi
xii
 Preface

Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features describes how

to use the object-relational features of the Oracle Server, 10g release 2 (10.2).
Information in this guide applies to versions of the Oracle Server that run on all
platforms, and does not include system-specific information.
■ Intended Audience
■ Documentation Accessibility
■ Structure
■ Related Documents
■ Conventions

Intended Audience
Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features is intended for
programmers developing new applications or converting existing applications to run
in the Oracle environment. The object-relational features are often used in content
management, data warehousing, data/information integration, and similar
applications that deal with complex structured data. The object views feature can be
valuable when writing new C++, Java, or XML applications on top of an existing
relational schema.
This guide assumes that you have a working knowledge of application programming
and that you are familiar with the use of Structured Query Language (SQL) to access
information in relational database systems.

Documentation Accessibility
Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation
accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. To that end, our
documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive
technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to
facilitate access by the disabled community. Accessibility standards will continue to
evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading
technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be
accessible to all of our customers. For more information, visit the Oracle Accessibility
Program Web site at
http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/

xiii
 Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation
Screen readers may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The
conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an
otherwise empty line; however, some screen readers may not always read a line of text
that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation

This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or
organizations that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes
any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.

TTY Access to Oracle Support Services

Oracle provides dedicated Text Telephone (TTY) access to Oracle Support Services
within the United States of America 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For TTY
support, call 800.446.2398.

Structure
This document contains:

Chapter 1, "Introduction to Oracle Objects"

Introduces the key features and explains the advantages of the object-relational model.

Chapter 2, "Basic Components of Oracle Objects"

Explains the basic concepts and terminology that you need to work with Oracle
Objects.

Chapter 3, "Support for Collection Datatypes"

Discusses collection datatypes and operations on collection datatypes.

Chapter 4, "Object Support in Oracle Programming Environments"

Summarizes the object-relational features in SQL and PL/SQL; Oracle Call Interface
(OCI); Pro*C/C++; Oracle Objects For OLE; and Java, JDBC, and Oracle SQLJ. The
information in this chapter is high-level, for education and planning.

Chapter 5, "Applying an Object Model to Relational Data"

Explains object views, which allow you to develop object-oriented applications
without changing the underlying relational schema.

Chapter 6, "Managing Oracle Objects"

Explains how to perform essential operations with objects and object types.

Chapter 7, "Advanced Topics for Oracle Objects"

Discusses features that you might need to manage storage and performance as you
scale up an object-oriented application.

Chapter 8, "Design Considerations for Oracle Objects"

Explains the implementation and performance characteristics of the Oracle
object-relational model.

xiv
 Appendix A, "Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features"
Demonstrates how a relational program can be rewritten as an object-oriented one,
schema and all.

Related Documents
For more information, see these Oracle resources:
■ For additional information on objects, see the Oracle Technology Network (OTN),
at http://www.oracle.com/technology/index.html
If you want to access information for a specific topic on OTN, such as
"object-relational technology", enter the appropriate phrase in the search field on
the OTN main page at http://www.oracle.com/technology/
■ Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Large Objects for information on
Large Objects (LOBs)
■ Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals for general information
about developing applications
■ Oracle Database PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference for information on PL/SQL, the
procedural language extension to Oracle SQL
■ Oracle XML DB Developer's Guide and Oracle XML Developer's Kit Programmer's
Guide for information about developing applications with XML
■ Oracle Database JDBC Developer's Guide and Reference and Oracle Database Java
Developer's Guide to use Oracle object-relational features through Java
■ Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide and Oracle C++ Call Interface Programmer's
Guide for information on using the Oracle Call Interface (OCI) and Oracle C++ Call
Interface to build third-generation language (3GL) applications that access the
Oracle Server
■ Pro*C/C++ Programmer's Guide for information on Oracle's Pro* series of
precompilers, which allow you to embed SQL and PL/SQL in 3GL application
programs written in Ada, C, C++, COBOL, or FORTRAN
■ Oracle Database SQL Reference and Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for
information on SQL
■ Oracle Database Concepts for information on basic Oracle concepts
Many of the examples in this book use the sample schemas of the seed database, which
is installed by default when you install Oracle. Refer to Oracle Database Sample Schemas
for information on how these schemas were created and how you can use them
yourself.
Printed documentation is available for sale in the Oracle Store at
http://oraclestore.oracle.com/
To download free release notes, installation documentation, white papers, or other
collateral, please visit the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). You must register online
before using OTN; registration is free and can be done at
http://www.oracle.com/technology/membership/
If you already have a username and password for OTN, then you can go directly to the
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xv
 For information on additional books
http://www.oracle.com/technology/books/10g_books.html

Conventions
This section describes the conventions used in the text and code examples of this
documentation set. It describes:
■ Conventions in Text
■ Conventions in Code Examples
■ Conventions for Windows Operating Systems

Conventions in Text
We use various conventions in text to help you more quickly identify special terms.
The following table describes those conventions and provides examples of their use.

Convention Meaning Example

Bold Bold typeface indicates terms that are When you specify this clause, you create an
defined in the text or terms that appear in a index-organized table.
glossary, or both.
Italics Italic typeface indicates book titles or Oracle Database Concepts
emphasis.
Ensure that the recovery catalog and target
database do not reside on the same disk.
UPPERCASE Uppercase monospace typeface indicates You can specify this clause only for a NUMBER
monospace elements supplied by the system. Such column.
(fixed-width) elements include parameters, privileges,
You can back up the database by using the
font datatypes, RMAN keywords, SQL
BACKUP command.
keywords, SQL*Plus or utility commands,
packages and methods, as well as Query the TABLE_NAME column in the USER_
system-supplied column names, database TABLES data dictionary view.
objects and structures, usernames, and
Use the DBMS_STATS.GENERATE_STATS
roles.
procedure.
lowercase Lowercase monospace typeface indicates Enter sqlplus to start SQL*Plus.
monospace executables, filenames, directory names,
The password is specified in the orapwd file.
(fixed-width) and sample user-supplied elements. Such
font elements include computer and database Back up the datafiles and control files in the
names, net service names, and connect /disk1/oracle/dbs directory.
identifiers, as well as user-supplied
The department_id, department_name, and
database objects and structures, column
location_id columns are in the
names, packages and classes, usernames
hr.departments table.
and roles, program units, and parameter
values. Set the QUERY_REWRITE_ENABLED initialization
parameter to true.
Note: Some programmatic elements use a
mixture of UPPERCASE and lowercase. Connect as oe user.
Enter these elements as shown.
The JRepUtil class implements these methods.
lowercase Lowercase italic monospace font represents You can specify the parallel_clause.
italic placeholders or variables.
Run old_release.SQL where old_release
monospace
refers to the release you installed prior to
(fixed-width)
upgrading.
font

xvi
 Conventions in Code Examples
Code examples illustrate SQL, PL/SQL, SQL*Plus, or other command-line statements.
They are displayed in a monospace (fixed-width) font and separated from normal text
as shown in this example:
SELECT USERNAME FROM DBA_USERS WHERE USERNAME = 'MIGRATE';
The following table describes typographic conventions used in code examples and
provides examples of their use.

Convention Meaning Example

[ ] Brackets enclose one or more optional DECIMAL (digits [ , precision ])
items. Do not enter the brackets.
{ } Braces enclose two or more items, one of {ENABLE | DISABLE}
which is required. Do not enter the braces.
| A vertical bar represents a choice of two or {ENABLE | DISABLE}
more options within brackets or braces. [COMPRESS | NOCOMPRESS]
Enter one of the options. Do not enter the
vertical bar.
... Horizontal ellipsis points indicate either:
■ That we have omitted parts of the CREATE TABLE ... AS subquery;
code that are not directly related to the
example SELECT col1, col2, ... , coln FROM
employees;
■ That you can repeat a portion of the
code
. Vertical ellipsis points indicate that we SQL> SELECT NAME FROM V$DATAFILE;
. have omitted several lines of code not NAME
. directly related to the example. ------------------------------------
/fsl/dbs/tbs_01.dbf
/fs1/dbs/tbs_02.dbf
.
.
.
/fsl/dbs/tbs_09.dbf
9 rows selected.
Other notation You must enter symbols other than acctbal NUMBER(11,2);
brackets, braces, vertical bars, and ellipsis acct CONSTANT NUMBER(4) := 3;
points as shown.
Italics Italicized text indicates placeholders or CONNECT SYSTEM/system_password
variables for which you must supply DB_NAME = database_name
particular values.
UPPERCASE Uppercase typeface indicates elements SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM
supplied by the system. We show these employees;
terms in uppercase in order to distinguish SELECT * FROM USER_TABLES;
them from terms you define. Unless terms DROP TABLE hr.employees;
appear in brackets, enter them in the order
and with the spelling shown. However,
because these terms are not case sensitive,
you can enter them in lowercase.
lowercase Lowercase typeface indicates SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM
programmatic elements that you supply. employees;
For example, lowercase indicates names of sqlplus hr/hr
tables, columns, or files. CREATE USER mjones IDENTIFIED BY ty3MU9;
Note: Some programmatic elements use a
mixture of UPPERCASE and lowercase.
Enter these elements as shown.

xvii
 Conventions for Windows Operating Systems
The following table describes conventions for Windows operating systems and
provides examples of their use.

Convention Meaning Example

Choose Start > How to start a program. To start the Database Configuration Assistant,
choose Start > Programs > Oracle - HOME_
NAME > Configuration and Migration Tools >
Database Configuration Assistant.
File and directory File and directory names are not case c:\winnt"\"system32 is the same as
names sensitive. The following special characters C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32
are not allowed: left angle bracket (<), right
angle bracket (>), colon (:), double
quotation marks ("), slash (/), pipe (|), and
dash (-). The special character backslash (\)
is treated as an element separator, even
when it appears in quotes. If the file name
begins with \\, then Windows assumes it
uses the Universal Naming Convention.
C:\> Represents the Windows command C:\oracle\oradata>
prompt of the current hard disk drive. The
escape character in a command prompt is
the caret (^). Your prompt reflects the
subdirectory in which you are working.
Referred to as the command prompt in this
manual.
Special characters The backslash (\) special character is C:\>exp hr/hr TABLES=employees
sometimes required as an escape character QUERY=\"WHERE job='SALESMAN' and
for the double quotation mark (") special sal<1600\"
character at the Windows command C:\>imp SYSTEM/password FROMUSER=hr
prompt. Parentheses and the single TABLES=(employees, departments)
quotation mark (’) do not require an escape
character. Refer to your Windows
operating system documentation for more
information on escape and special
characters.
HOME_NAME Represents the Oracle home name. The C:\> net start OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener
home name can be up to 16 alphanumeric
characters. The only special character
allowed in the home name is the
underscore.

xviii
Convention Meaning Example
ORACLE_HOME In releases prior to Oracle8i release 8.1.3, Go to the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_
and ORACLE_ when you installed Oracle components, all HOME\rdbms\admin directory.
BASE subdirectories were located under a top
level ORACLE_HOME directory that by
default used one of the following names:
■ C:\orant for Windows NT
■ C:\orawin98 for Windows 98
This release complies with Optimal
Flexible Architecture (OFA) guidelines. All
subdirectories are not under a top level
ORACLE_HOME directory. There is a top
level directory called ORACLE_BASE that
by default is C:\oracle. If you install the
latest Oracle release on a computer with no
other Oracle software installed, then the
default setting for the first Oracle home
directory is C:\oracle\orann, where nn
is the latest release number. The Oracle
home directory is located directly under
ORACLE_BASE.
All directory path examples in this guide
follow OFA conventions.
Refer to Oracle Database Platform Guide for
Microsoft Windows (32-Bit) for additional
information about OFA compliances and
for information about installing Oracle
products in non-OFA compliant
directories.

xix
xx
 What’s New in Object-Relational Features?

This section describes the new object-relational features of Oracle 10g release 2 (10.2).
New features information from previous releases is also retained to help those users
upgrading to the current release.
The following sections describe the new features in Oracle Object-Relational Features:
■ Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) New Features in Object-Relational Features

Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) New Features in Object-Relational

Features
New object-relational features for Oracle 10g release 1 (10.1) include the following
collection enhancements:

Nested Table and Varray Storage

New functionality for nested table and varray storage, including the evolution of
varray size and specification of a tablespace when storing nested tables. See "Creating
Collection Datatypes" on page 3-1.

Nested Table Comparisons and ANSI SQL Multiset Operations

New functionality for nested table comparisons and ANSI SQL multiset operations for
nested tables. See "Operations on Collection Datatypes" on page 3-10.

xxi
xxii
 1
Introduction to Oracle Objects

This chapter describes the advantages and key features of the Oracle object-relational
model. The chapter contains these topics:
■ About Oracle Objects
■ Advantages of Objects
■ Key Features of the Object-Relational Model

About Oracle Objects

Oracle object types are user-defined types that make it possible to model real-world
entities such as customers and purchase orders as objects in the database.
Oracle object technology is a layer of abstraction built on Oracle relational technology.
New object types can be created from any built-in database types and any previously
created object types, object references, and collection types. Metadata for user-defined
types is stored in a schema that is available to SQL, PL/SQL, Java, and other published
interfaces.
Object types and related object-oriented features such as variable-length arrays and
nested tables provide higher-level ways to organize and access data in the database.
Underneath the object layer, data is still stored in columns and tables, but you are able
to work with the data in terms of the real-world entities, such as customers and
purchase orders, that make the data meaningful. Instead of thinking in terms of
columns and tables when you query the database, you can simply select a customer.
Internally, statements about objects are still basically statements about relational tables
and columns, and you can continue to work with relational data types and store data
in relational tables as before. But now you have the option to take advantage of
object-oriented features too. You can begin to use object-oriented features while
continuing to work with most of your data relationally, or you can go over to an
object-oriented approach entirely. For instance, you can define some object data types
and store the objects in columns in relational tables, which enables you to extend the
system built-in types with user-defined ones. You can also create object views of
existing relational data to represent and access this data according to an object model.
Or you can store object data in object tables, where each row is an object.

Advantages of Objects
In general, the object-type model is similar to the class mechanism found in C++ and
Java. Like classes, objects make it easier to model complex, real-world business entities
and logic, and the reusability of objects makes it possible to develop database
applications faster and more efficiently. By natively supporting object types in the

Introduction to Oracle Objects 1-1

Key Features of the Object-Relational Model

database, Oracle enables application developers to directly access the data structures
used by their applications. No mapping layer is required between client-side objects
and the relational database columns and tables that contain the data. Object
abstraction and the encapsulation of object behaviors also make applications easier to
understand and maintain.
Below are listed several other specific advantages that objects offer over a purely
relational approach.

Objects Can Encapsulate Operations Along with Data

Database tables contain only data. Objects can include the ability to perform
operations that are likely to be needed on that data. Thus a purchase order object
might include a method to sum the cost of all the items purchased. Or a customer
object might have methods to return the customer's buying history and payment
pattern. An application can simply call the methods to retrieve the information.

Objects Are Efficient

Using object types makes for greater efficiency:
■ Object types and their methods are stored with the data in the database, so they
are available for any application to use. Developers can benefit from work that is
already done and do not need to re-create similar structures in every application.
■ You can fetch and manipulate a set of related objects as a single unit. A single
request to fetch an object from the server can retrieve other objects that are
connected to it. For example, when you select a customer object and get the
customer's name, phone, and the multiple parts of his address in a single
round-trip between the client and the server. When you reference a column of a
SQL object type, you retrieve the whole object.

Objects Can Represent Part-Whole Relationships

In a relational system, it is awkward to represent complex part-whole relationships. A
piston and an engine have the same status in a table for stock items. To represent
pistons as parts of engines, you must create complicated schemas of multiple tables
with primary key-foreign key relationships. Object types, on the other hand, give you
a rich vocabulary for describing part-whole relationships. An object can have other
objects as attributes, and the attribute objects can have their own object attributes too.
An entire parts-list hierarchy can be built up in this way from interlocking object types.

Key Features of the Object-Relational Model

Oracle implements the object-type system as an extension of the relational model. The
object-type interface continues to support standard relational database functionality
such as queries (SELECT…FROM…WHERE), fast commits, backup and recovery, scalable
connectivity, row-level locking, read consistency, partitioned tables, parallel queries,
cluster database, export and import, and loader. Plus SQL and various programmatic
interfaces to Oracle; including PL/SQL, Java, Oracle Call Interface, Pro*C/C++, and
OO4O; have been enhanced with new extensions to support objects. The result is an
object-relational model, which offers the intuitiveness and economy of an object
interface while preserving the high concurrency and throughput of a relational
database.

1-2 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Key Features of the Object-Relational Model

Core Database Key Features

This section lists the key features and concepts of the object-relational model that are
related to the database. Figure 1–1 shows an object type and instances of the object.

Figure 1–1 An Object Type and Object Instances

Object Type person_typ

Attributes Methods
idno get_idno
first_name display_details
last_name
email
phone

Object Object

idno: 65 idno: 101

first_name: Verna first_name: John
last_name: Mills last_name: Smith
email: [email protected] email: [email protected]
phone: 1-800-555-4412 phone: 1-800-555-1212

Object Types
An object type is a kind of datatype. You can use it in the same ways that you use more
familiar datatypes such as NUMBER or VARCHAR2. For example, you can specify an
object type as the datatype of a column in a relational table, and you can declare
variables of an object type. You use a variable of an object type to contain a value of
that object type. A value of an object type is an instance of that type. An object instance
is also called an object. Example 1–1 shows how to create an object type named
person_typ. In the example, an object specification and object body are defined. For
information on the CREATE TYPE SQL statement, see Oracle Database SQL Reference.
For information on the CREATE TYPE BODY SQL statement, see Oracle Database SQL
Reference.

Example 1–1 Creating the person_typ Object

CREATE TYPE person_typ AS OBJECT (
idno NUMBER,
first_name VARCHAR2(20),
last_name VARCHAR2(25),
email VARCHAR2(25),
phone VARCHAR2(20),
MAP MEMBER FUNCTION get_idno RETURN NUMBER,
MEMBER PROCEDURE display_details ( SELF IN OUT NOCOPY person_typ ));
/

CREATE TYPE BODY person_typ AS

MAP MEMBER FUNCTION get_idno RETURN NUMBER IS
BEGIN
RETURN idno;
END;
MEMBER PROCEDURE display_details ( SELF IN OUT NOCOPY person_typ ) IS
BEGIN

Introduction to Oracle Objects 1-3

Key Features of the Object-Relational Model

-- use the PUT_LINE procedure of the DBMS_OUTPUT package to display details

DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(TO_CHAR(idno) || ' ' || first_name || ' ' || last_name);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(email || ' ' || phone);
END;
END;
/

Object types have some important differences from the more familiar datatypes that
are native to a relational database:
■ A set of object types does not come ready-made with the database. Instead, you
define the specific object types you want by extending built-in types with
user-defined ones as shown in Example 1–1.
■ Object types are composed of parts, called attributes and methods, illustrated in
Figure 1–2.
– Attributes hold the data about an object's features of interest. For example, a
student object type might have name, major, and graduation date
attributes. An attribute has a declared datatype which can in turn be
another object type. Taken together, the attributes of an object instance contain
that object's data.
– Methods are procedures or functions provided to enable applications to
perform useful operations on the attributes of the object type. Methods are an
optional element of an object type. They define the behavior of objects of that
type and determine what (if anything) that type of object can do.

Figure 1–2 Object Attributes and Methods

spec
attribute declarations
public interface
method specs

body
method bodies private implementation

Object types are less generic than native datatypes. In fact, this is one of their major
virtues. You can define object types to model the actual structure of the real-world
entities, such as customers and purchase orders, that application programs deal with.
This can make it easier and more intuitive to manage the data for these entities. In this
respect object types are like Java and C++ classes.
You can think of an object type as a blueprint or template which defines structure and
behavior. An instantiation of the object type creates an object built according to the
template. Object types are database schema objects, subject to the same kinds of
administrative control as other schema objects.
You can use object types to model the actual structure of real-world objects. Object
types enable you to capture the structural interrelationships of objects and their
attributes instead of flattening this structure into a two-dimensional, purely relational
schema of tables and columns. With object types you can store related pieces of data in
a unit along with the behaviors defined for that data. Application code can then
retrieve and manipulate these units as objects. See Chapter 6, "Managing Oracle
Objects".

1-4 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Key Features of the Object-Relational Model

Objects
When you create a variable of an object type, you create an instance of the type and the
result is an object. An object has the attributes and methods defined for its type.
Because an object instance is a concrete thing, you can assign values to its attributes
and call its methods.
You use the CREATE TYPE statement to define object types. In Example 1–1, the
CREATE TYPE statement define the object type person_typ.
The indented elements idno, name, and phone in the CREATE TYPE statements are
attributes. Each has a datatype declared for it. These are simplified examples and do
not show how to specify member methods.
Defining an object type does not allocate any storage. After they are defined, object
types can be used in SQL statements in most of the same places you can use types like
NUMBER or VARCHAR2.
For example, you might define a relational table to keep track of your contacts, as
shown in Example 1–2.

Example 1–2 Creating the contacts Table with an Object Type Column
CREATE TABLE contacts (
contact person_typ,
contact_date DATE );

INSERT INTO contacts VALUES (

person_typ (65, 'Verna', 'Mills', '[email protected]', '1-800-555-4412'),
'24 Jun 2003' );

The contacts table is a relational table with an object type as the datatype of one of
its columns. Objects that occupy columns of relational tables are called column objects.
See "Row Objects and Column Objects" on page 1-7.

Object Methods
Methods are functions or procedures that you can declare in an object type definition
to implement behavior that you want objects of that type to perform. For example, a
method is declared in Example 1–1 to allow comparisons between person_typ
objects.
The general kinds of methods that can be declared in a type definition are:
■ Member
■ Static
■ Constructor
A principal use of methods is to provide access to the data of an object. You can define
methods for operations that an application is likely to want to perform on the data so
that the application does not have to code these operations itself. To perform the
operation, an application calls the appropriate method on the appropriate object.
In Example 1–3, the SQL statement uses the get_idno() method to display the Id
number of persons in the contacts table:

Example 1–3 Using the get_idno Object Method

SELECT c.contact.get_idno() FROM contacts c;

Introduction to Oracle Objects 1-5

Key Features of the Object-Relational Model

You can also define static methods to compare object instances and to perform
operations that do not use any particular object's data but instead are global to an
object type.
A constructor method is implicitly defined for every object type, unless this default
constructor is over-written with a user-defined constructor. A constructor method is
called on a type to construct or create an object instance of the type. See "Object
Methods" on page 2-7.

Type Inheritance
Type inheritance adds to the usefulness of objects by enabling you to create type
hierarchies by defining successive levels of increasingly specialized subtypes that
derive from a common ancestor object type, which is called a supertype of the derived
types. Derived subtypes inherit the features of the parent object type but extend the
parent type definition. The specialized types can add new attributes or methods, or
redefine methods inherited from the parent. The resulting type hierarchy provides a
higher level of abstraction for managing the complexity of an application model.
For example, specialized types of persons, such as a student type or a part-time
student type with additional attributes or methods, might be derived from a general
person object type. See "Inheritance in SQL Object Types" on page 2-12.

Type Evolution
Using an ALTER TYPE statement, you can modify, or evolve, an existing object type to
make the following changes:
■ Add and drop attributes
■ Add and drop methods
■ Modify a numeric attribute to increase its length, precision, or scale
■ Modify a varying length character attribute to increase its length
■ Change a type's FINAL and INSTANTIABLE properties
Dependencies of a type to be altered are checked using essentially the same
validations applied for a CREATE TYPE statement. If a type or any of its dependent
types fails the type validations, the ALTER TYPE statement rolls back.
Metadata for all tables and columns that use an altered type are updated for the new
type definition so that data can be stored in them in the new format. Existing data can
be converted to the new format either all at once or piecemeal, as it is updated. In
either case, data is always presented in the new type definition even if it is still stored
in the format of the older one.

Object Tables
An object table is a special kind of table in which each row represents an object. In
Example 1–4 the statement creates an object table for person_typ objects.

Example 1–4 Creating the person_obj_table Object Table

CREATE TABLE person_obj_table OF person_typ;

You can view this table in two ways:

■ As a single-column table in which each row is a person_typ object, allowing you
to perform object-oriented operations

1-6 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Key Features of the Object-Relational Model

■ As a multi-column table in which each attribute of the object type person_typ;

such as idno, name, and phone; occupies a column, allowing you to perform
relational operations
Example 1–5 illustrates several operations on an object table.

Example 1–5 Operations on the person_obj_table Object Table

INSERT INTO person_obj_table VALUES (
person_typ(101, 'John', 'Smith', '[email protected]', '1-800-555-1212') );

SELECT VALUE(p) FROM person_obj_table p

WHERE p.last_name = 'Smith';

DECLARE
person person_typ;
BEGIN -- PL/SQL block for selecting a person and displaying details
SELECT VALUE(p) INTO person FROM person_obj_table p WHERE p.idno = 101;
person.display_details();
END;
/

The first SQL statement in Example 1–5 inserts a person_typ object into person_
obj_table, treating person_table as a multi-column table. The second SQL
statement selects from person_obj_table as a single-column table, using the
VALUE function to return rows as object instances. See "VALUE" on page 2-33 for
information on the VALUE function.
The PL/SQL block in Example 1–5 selects a specific person and executes a member
function of person_typ to display details about the specified person. For more
information on the use of PL/SQL with objects, see Oracle Database PL/SQL User's
Guide and Reference.
By default, every row object in an object table has an associated logical object identifier
(OID) that uniquely identifies it in an object table. In a distributed and replicated
environment, the system-generated unique identifier lets Oracle identify objects
unambiguously. See "Storage Considerations for Object Identifiers (OIDs)" on page 8-4
for information on Object Identifiers and using REFs to OIDs.

Row Objects and Column Objects

Objects that are stored in complete rows in object tables are called row objects. Objects
that are stored as columns of a table in a larger row, or are attributes of other objects,
are called column objects.

Object Views
An object view is a way to access relational data using object-relational features. It lets
you develop object-oriented applications without changing the underlying relational
schema.
Oracle allows the creation of an object abstraction over existing relational data through
the object view mechanism. You access objects that belong to an object view in the
same way that you access row objects in an object table. Oracle also supports
materialized view objects of user-defined types from data stored in relational schemas
and tables. By using object views, you can develop object-oriented applications
without having to modify existing relational database schemas.
Object views also let you exploit the polymorphism that a type hierarchy makes
possible. A polymorphic expression can take a value of the expression's declared type

Introduction to Oracle Objects 1-7

Key Features of the Object-Relational Model

or any of that type's subtypes. If you construct a hierarchy of object views that mirrors
some or all of the structure of a type hierarchy, you can query any view in the
hierarchy to access data at just the level of specialization you are interested in. If you
query an object view that has subviews, you can get back polymorphic data—rows for
both the type of the view and for its subtypes. See Chapter 5, "Applying an Object
Model to Relational Data".

References
A REF is a logical pointer to a row object that is constructed from the object identifier
(OID) of the referenced object and is an Oracle built-in datatype. REFs and collections
of REFs model associations among objects, particularly many-to-one relationships,
thus reducing the need for foreign keys. REFs provide an easy mechanism for
navigating between objects. You can use the dot notation to follow the pointers. Oracle
does joins for you when needed, and in some cases can avoid doing joins.
You can use a REF to examine or update the object it refers to. You can also use a REF
to obtain the object it refers to. You can change a REF so that it points to a different
object of the same object type hierarchy or assign it a null value.
Example 1–6 illustrates a simple use of a REF.

Example 1–6 Using a REF to the emp_person_typ Object

CREATE TYPE emp_person_typ AS OBJECT (
name VARCHAR2(30),
manager REF emp_person_typ );
/
CREATE TABLE emp_person_obj_table OF emp_person_typ;

INSERT INTO emp_person_obj_table VALUES (

emp_person_typ ('John Smith', NULL));

INSERT INTO emp_person_obj_table

SELECT emp_person_typ ('Bob Jones', REF(e))
FROM emp_person_obj_table e
WHERE e.name = 'John Smith';

See "Rules for REF Columns and Attributes" on page 2-5 and "Design Considerations
for REFs" on page 8-6.

Scoped REFs
In declaring a column type, collection element, or object type attribute to be a REF, you
can constrain it to contain only references to a specified object table. Such a REF is
called a scoped REF. Scoped REF types require less storage space and allow more
efficient access than unscoped REF types.
Example 1–7 shows REF column contact_ref scoped to person_obj_table
which is an object table of type person_typ.

Example 1–7 Creating the contacts_ref Table Using a Scoped REF

CREATE TABLE contacts_ref (
contact_ref REF person_typ SCOPE IS person_obj_table,
contact_date DATE );

To insert a row in the table, you could issue the following:

INSERT INTO contacts_ref
SELECT REF(p), '26 Jun 2003'

1-8 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Key Features of the Object-Relational Model

FROM person_obj_table p
WHERE p.idno = 101;

A REF can be scoped to an object table of the declared type (person_typ in the
example) or of any subtype of the declared type. If scoped to an object table of a
subtype, the REF column is effectively constrained to hold references only to instances
of the subtype (and its subtypes, if any) in the table. See "Inheritance in SQL Object
Types" on page 2-12.

Dangling REFs
It is possible for the object identified by a REF to become unavailable through either
deletion of the object or a revoking of privileges. Such a REF is called dangling. Oracle
SQL provides a predicate (called IS DANGLING) to allow testing REFs for this
condition.
Dangling REFs can be avoided by defining referential integrity constraints. See "Rules
for REF Columns and Attributes" on page 2-5.

Dereferencing REFs
Accessing the object referred to by a REF is called dereferencing the REF. Oracle
provides the DEREF operator to do this. Dereferencing a dangling REF returns a null
object, as shown in Example 1–8.

Example 1–8 Using DEREF to Dereference a REF

SELECT DEREF(c.contact_ref), c.contact_date FROM contacts_ref c;

Oracle also provides implicit dereferencing of REFs. For example, to access the
manager's name for an employee, you can use a SQL expression similar to the
following:
SELECT e.name, e.manager.name FROM emp_person_obj_table e
WHERE e.name = 'Bob Jones';

In the example, e.manager.name follows the pointer from the person's manager, and
retrieves the manager's name. Following the REF like this is allowed in SQL, but not in
PL/SQL.

Obtaining REFs
You can obtain a REF to a row object by selecting the object from its object table and
applying the REF operator. You can obtain a REF to the person with idno equal to 1 as
shown in Example 1–9.

Example 1–9 Obtaining a REF to a Row Object

DECLARE
person_ref REF person_typ;
BEGIN
SELECT REF(p) INTO person_ref
FROM person_obj_table p
WHERE p.idno = 101;
END;
/

The query must return exactly one row. See "Storage Size of REFs" on page 8-6.

Introduction to Oracle Objects 1-9

Key Features of the Object-Relational Model

Collections
For modeling multi-valued attributes and many to many relationships, Oracle
supports two collection datatypes: varrays and nested tables. Collection types can be
used anywhere other datatypes can be used. You can have object attributes of a
collection type in addition to columns of a collection type. For example, you might
give a purchase order object type a nested table attribute to hold the collection of line
items for a given purchase order.
You use the CREATE TYPE statement to define collection types. In Example 1–10, the
CREATE TYPE statements define the object types people_typ and dept_persons_
typ.

Example 1–10 Creating the people_typ Collection Datatype

CREATE TYPE people_typ AS TABLE OF person_typ;
/

CREATE TYPE dept_persons_typ AS OBJECT (

dept_no CHAR(5),
dept_name CHAR(20),
dept_mgr person_typ,
dept_emps people_typ);
/

In this simplified example, people_typ is a collection type, specifically a nested table

type. The dept_persons_typ object type has an attribute people_typ of this type.
Each row in the people_typ nested table is an object of type person_typ which was
defined in Example 1–1 on page 1-3. See "Creating Collection Datatypes" on page 3-1.

Language Binding Features

This section lists the key features of the object-relational model that are related to
languages and application programming interfaces (APIs).

SQL Object Extensions

To support the new object-related features, SQL extensions, including new DDL, have
been added to create, alter, or drop object types; to store object types in tables; and to
create, alter, or drop object views. There are DML and query extensions to support
object types, references, and collections. See"SQL" on page 4-1.

PL/SQL Object Extensions

PL/SQL is an Oracle database programming language that is tightly integrated with
SQL. With the addition of object types and other SQL types, PL/SQL has been
enhanced to operate on object types seamlessly. Thus, application developers can use
PL/SQL to implement logic and operations on user-defined types that execute in the
database server. See "PL/SQL" on page 4-2.

Java Support for Oracle Objects

Oracle Java VM is tightly integrated with the RDBMS and supports access to Oracle
Objects through object extensions to Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), which
provides dynamic SQL, and SQLJ, which provides static SQL. Thus, application
developers can use the Java to implement logic and operations on object types that
execute in the database server. With Oracle, you can now also create SQL types
mapped to existing Java classes to provide persistent storage for Java objects using

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 Key Features of the Object-Relational Model

SQLJ object types where all the methods are implemented in their corresponding Java
classes. See "Java Object Storage" on page 4-12.

See Also: Oracle Database JDBC Developer's Guide and Reference

External Procedures
Database functions, procedures, or member methods of an object type can be
implemented in PL/SQL, Java, or C as external procedures. External procedures are
best suited for tasks that are more quickly or easily done in a low-level language such
as C, which is more efficient at machine-precision calculation. External procedures are
always run in a safe mode outside the address space of the RDBMS server. Generic
external procedures can be written that declare one or more parameters to be of a
system-defined generic type. The generic type permits a procedure that uses it to work
with data of any built-in or user-defined type.

Object Type Translator/JPublisher

Object Type Translator (OTT) and Oracle JPublisher provide client-side mappings to
object type schemas by using schema information from the Oracle data dictionary to
generate header files containing Java classes and C structures and indicators. These
generated header files can be used in host-language applications for transparent access
to database objects.

Client-Side Cache
Oracle provides an object cache for efficient access to persistent objects stored in the
database. Copies of objects can be brought into the object cache. Once the data has
been cached in the client, the application can traverse through these at memory speed.
Any changes made to objects in the cache can be committed to the database by using
the object extensions to Oracle® Call Interface programmatic interfaces.

Oracle Call Interface and Oracle C++ Call Interface

Oracle Call Interface (OCI) and Oracle C++ Call Interface provide a comprehensive
application programming interface for application and tool developers seeking to use
the object capabilities of Oracle. Oracle Call Interface provides a run-time environment
with functions to connect to an Oracle server, and control transactions that access
objects in the server. It allows application developers to access and manipulate objects
and their attributes in the client-side object cache either navigationally, by traversing a
graph of inter-connected objects, or associatively by specifying the nature of the data
through declarative SQL DML. Oracle Call Interface also provides a number of
functions for accessing metadata information at run-time about object types defined in
the server. Such a set of functions facilitates dynamic access to the object metadata and
the actual object data stored in the database. See "Oracle Call Interface (OCI)" on
page 4-2 and "Oracle C++ Call Interface (OCCI)" on page 4-6.

Pro*C/C++ Object Extensions

The Oracle Pro*C™ precompiler provides an embedded SQL application
programming interface and offers a higher level of abstraction than Oracle Call
Interface. Like Oracle Call Interface, the Pro*C precompiler allows application
developers to use the Oracle client-side object cache and the Object Type Translator
Utility. Pro*C supports the use of C bind variables for Oracle object types.
Furthermore, Pro*C provides new simplified syntax to allocate and free objects of SQL
types and access them by either SQL DML, or through the navigational interface.
Thus, it provides application developers many benefits, including compile-time type
checking of (client-side) bind variables against the schema in the server, automatic

Introduction to Oracle Objects 1-11

Key Features of the Object-Relational Model

mapping of object data in an Oracle server to program bind variables in the client, and
simple ways to manage and manipulate database objects in the client process. See
"Oracle Call Interface (OCI)" on page 4-2.

OO4O Object Extensions

Oracle Objects For OLE (OO4O) is a set of COM Automation interfaces/objects for
connecting to Oracle database servers, executing queries and managing the results.
Automation interfaces in OO4O provide easy and efficient access to Oracle features
and can be used from virtually any programming or scripting language that supports
the Microsoft COM Automation technology. This includes Visual Basic, Visual C++,
VBA in Excel, VBScript and JavaScript in IIS Active Server Pages. See "Oracle Objects
For OLE (OO4O)" on page 4-7.

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 2
Basic Components of Oracle Objects

This chapter provides basic information about working with objects. It explains what
object types and methods are, and describes how to create and work with a hierarchy
of object types that are derived from a shared root type and are connected by
inheritance.
This chapter contains these topics:
■ SQL Object Types and References
■ Object Methods
■ Inheritance in SQL Object Types
■ Functions and Operators Useful with Objects

SQL Object Types and References

This section describes SQL object types and references, including:
■ Null Objects and Attributes
■ Character Length Semantics
■ Constraints for Object Tables
■ Indexes for Object Tables
■ Triggers for Object Tables
■ Rules for REF Columns and Attributes
■ Name Resolution
■ Restriction on Using User-Defined Types with a Remote Database
You can create a SQL object type with the CREATE TYPE statement. An example of
creating an object type is shown in Example 2–1 on page 2-2. For information on the
CREATE TYPE SQL statement, see Oracle Database SQL Reference. For information on
the CREATE TYPE BODY SQL statement, see Oracle Database SQL Reference.

Null Objects and Attributes

A table column, object attribute, collection, or collection element is NULL if it has been
initialized to NULL or has not been initialized at all. Usually, a NULL value is replaced
by an actual value later on.
An object whose value is NULL is called atomically null. An atomically null object is
different from one that simply happens to have null values for all its attributes. When
all the attributes of an object are null, these attributes can still be changed, and the

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-1

SQL Object Types and References

object's methods can be called. With an atomically null object, you can do neither of
these things. In Example 2–1, consider the contacts table which contains the
person_typ object type.

Example 2–1 Inserting NULLs for Objects in a Table

CREATE TYPE person_typ AS OBJECT (
idno NUMBER,
name VARCHAR2(30),
phone VARCHAR2(20),
MAP MEMBER FUNCTION get_idno RETURN NUMBER,
MEMBER PROCEDURE display_details ( SELF IN OUT NOCOPY person_typ ) );
/

CREATE TYPE BODY person_typ AS

MAP MEMBER FUNCTION get_idno RETURN NUMBER IS
BEGIN
RETURN idno;
END;
MEMBER PROCEDURE display_details ( SELF IN OUT NOCOPY person_typ ) IS
BEGIN
-- use the PUT_LINE procedure of the DBMS_OUTPUT package to display details
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(TO_CHAR(idno) || ' - ' || name || ' - ' || phone);
END;
END;
/
CREATE TABLE contacts (
contact person_typ,
contact_date DATE );

INSERT INTO contacts VALUES (

person_typ (NULL, NULL, NULL), '24 Jun 2003' );

INSERT INTO contacts VALUES (

NULL, '24 Jun 2003' );

The two INSERT statements give two different results. In both cases, Oracle allocates
space in contacts for a new row and sets its DATE column to the value given. But in
the first case, Oracle allocates space for an object in the contact column and sets each
of the object's attributes to NULL. In the second case, Oracle sets the person_typ field
itself to NULL and does not allocate space for an object.
In some cases, you can omit checks for null values. A table row or row object cannot be
null. A nested table of objects cannot contain an element whose value is NULL.
A nested table or array can be null, so you do need to handle that condition. A null
collection is different from an empty one, that is, a collection containing no elements.

Character Length Semantics

Lengths for character types CHAR and VARCHAR2 may be specified as a number of
characters, instead of bytes, in object attributes and collections even if some of the
characters consist of multiple bytes.
To specify character-denominated lengths for CHAR and VARCHAR2 attributes, you add
a qualifier char to the length specification.
Like CHAR and VARCHAR2, NCHAR and NVARCHAR2 may also be used as attribute types
in objects and collections. These types are always implicitly measured in terms of
characters, so no char qualifier is used.

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 SQL Object Types and References

For example, the following statement creates an object with both a character-length
VARCHAR2 attribute and an NCHAR attribute:

Example 2–2 Creating the employee_typ Object Using a char Qualifier

CREATE TYPE employee_typ AS OBJECT (
name VARCHAR2(30 char),
language NCHAR(10),
phone VARCHAR2(20) );
/

For CHAR and VARCHAR2 attributes whose length is specified without a char qualifier,
the default unit of measure characters or bytes is determined by whether the NLS_
LENGTH_SEMANTICS initialization parameter is set to CHAR or BYTE.

See Also: Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide for

information on character length semantics

Constraints for Object Tables

You can define constraints on an object table just as you can on other tables. You can
define constraints on the leaf-level scalar attributes of a column object, with the
exception of REFs that are not scoped.
Example 2–3 and Example 2–4 illustrate the possibilities. Example 2–3 places a
PRIMARY KEY constraint on the idno column of the object table person_extent.

Example 2–3 Creating the office_tab Object Table with a Constraint

CREATE TYPE location_typ AS OBJECT (
building_no NUMBER,
city VARCHAR2(40) );
/

CREATE TYPE office_typ AS OBJECT (

office_id VARCHAR(10),
office_loc location_typ,
occupant person_typ );
/

CREATE TABLE office_tab OF office_typ (

office_id PRIMARY KEY );

The department_mgrs table in Example 2–4 has a column whose type is the object
type location_typ defined in Example 2–3. The example defines constraints on
scalar attributes of the location_typ objects that appear in the dept_loc column of
the table.

Example 2–4 Creating the department_mgrs Table with Multiple Constraints

CREATE TABLE department_mgrs (
dept_no NUMBER PRIMARY KEY,
dept_name CHAR(20),
dept_mgr person_typ,
dept_loc location_typ,
CONSTRAINT dept_loc_cons1
UNIQUE (dept_loc.building_no, dept_loc.city),
CONSTRAINT dept_loc_cons2
CHECK (dept_loc.city IS NOT NULL) );

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-3

SQL Object Types and References

INSERT INTO department_mgrs VALUES

( 101, 'Physical Sciences',
person_typ(65,'Vrinda Mills', '1-800-555-4412'),
location_typ(300, 'Palo Alto'));

Indexes for Object Tables

You can define indexes on an object table or on the storage table for a nested table
column or attribute just as you can on other tables. For an example of an index on a
nested table, see Example 3–4 on page 3-4.
You can define indexes on leaf-level scalar attributes of column objects, as shown in
Example 2–5. You can only define indexes on REF attributes or columns if the REF is
scoped. Here, dept_addr is a column object, and city is a leaf-level scalar attribute
of dept_addr that we want to index.

Example 2–5 Creating an Index on an Object Type in a Table

CREATE TABLE department_loc (
dept_no NUMBER PRIMARY KEY,
dept_name CHAR(20),
dept_addr location_typ );

CREATE INDEX i_dept_addr1

ON department_loc (dept_addr.city);

INSERT INTO department_loc VALUES

( 101, 'Physical Sciences',
location_typ(300, 'Palo Alto'));
INSERT INTO department_loc VALUES
( 104, 'Life Sciences',
location_typ(400, 'Menlo Park'));
INSERT INTO department_loc VALUES
( 103, 'Biological Sciences',
location_typ(500, 'Redwood Shores'));

Wherever Oracle expects a column name in an index definition, you can also specify a
scalar attribute of an object column.

Triggers for Object Tables

You can define triggers on an object table just as you can on other tables. You cannot
define a trigger on the storage table for a nested table column or attribute. You cannot
modify LOB values in a trigger body. Otherwise, there are no special restrictions on
using object types with triggers.
Example 2–6 defines a trigger on the office_tab table defined in "Constraints for
Object Tables" on page 2-3.

Example 2–6 Creating a Trigger on Objects in a Table

CREATE TABLE movement (
idno NUMBER,
old_office location_typ,
new_office location_typ );

CREATE TRIGGER trigger1

BEFORE UPDATE
OF office_loc
ON office_tab

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 SQL Object Types and References

FOR EACH ROW

WHEN (new.office_loc.city = 'Redwood Shores')
BEGIN
IF :new.office_loc.building_no = 600 THEN
INSERT INTO movement (idno, old_office, new_office)
VALUES (:old.occupant.idno, :old.office_loc, :new.office_loc);
END IF;
END;
/

INSERT INTO movement VALUES

( 101, location_typ(300, 'Palo Alto'),
location_typ(400, 'Menlo Park'));

Rules for REF Columns and Attributes

In Oracle, a REF column or attribute can be unconstrained or constrained using a
SCOPE clause or a referential constraint clause. When a REF column is unconstrained,
it may store object references to row objects contained in any object table of the
corresponding object type.
Oracle does not ensure that the object references stored in such columns point to valid
and existing row objects. Therefore, REF columns may contain object references that do
not point to any existing row object. Such REF values are referred to as dangling
references.
A REF column may be constrained to be scoped to a specific object table. All the REF
values stored in a column with a SCOPE constraint point at row objects of the table
specified in the SCOPE clause. The REF values may, however, be dangling.
A REF column may be constrained with a REFERENTIAL constraint similar to the
specification for foreign keys. The rules for referential constraints apply to such
columns. That is, the object reference stored in these columns must point to a valid and
existing row object in the specified object table.
PRIMARY KEY constraints cannot be specified for REF columns. However, you can
specify NOT NULL constraints for such columns.

Name Resolution
Oracle SQL lets you omit qualifying table names in some relational operations. For
example, if dept_addr is a column in the department_loc table and old_office
is a column in the movement table, you can use the following:
SELECT * FROM department_loc WHERE EXISTS
(SELECT * FROM movement WHERE dept_addr = old_office);

Oracle determines which table each column belongs to.

Using the dot notation, you can qualify the column names with table names or table
aliases to make things more maintainable. For example:

Example 2–7 Using the Dot Notation for Name Resolution

SELECT * FROM department_loc WHERE EXISTS
(SELECT * FROM movement WHERE department_loc.dept_addr = movement.old_office);

SELECT * FROM department_loc d WHERE EXISTS

(SELECT * FROM movement m WHERE d.dept_addr = m.old_office);

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-5

SQL Object Types and References

In some cases, object-relational features require you to specify the table aliases.

When Table Aliases Are Required

Using unqualified names can lead to problems. If you add an assignment column to
depts and forget to change the query, Oracle automatically recompiles the query such
that the inner SELECT uses the assignment column from the depts table. This
situation is called inner capture.
To avoid inner capture and similar problems resolving references, Oracle requires you
to use a table alias to qualify any dot-notational reference to methods or attributes of
objects. Use of a table alias is optional when referencing top-level attributes of an
object table directly, without using the dot notation.
For example, the following statements define two tables that contain the person_typ
object type. person_obj_table is an object table for objects of type person_typ,
and contacts is a relational table that contains a column of an object type.
The following queries show some correct and incorrect ways to reference attribute
idno:
SELECT idno FROM person_obj_table; --Correct
SELECT contact.idno FROM contacts; --Illegal
SELECT contacts.contact.idno FROM contacts; --Illegal
SELECT p.contact.idno FROM contacts p; --Correct

■ In the first SELECT statement, idno is the name of a column of person_obj_

table. It references this top-level attribute directly, without using the dot
notation, so no table alias is required.
■ In the second SELECT statement, idno is the name of an attribute of the person_
typ object in the column named contact. This reference uses the dot notation
and so requires a table alias, as shown in the fourth SELECT statement.
■ The third SELECT uses the table name itself to qualify this the reference. This is
incorrect; a table alias is required.
You must qualify a reference to an object attribute or method with a table alias rather
than a table name even if the table name is itself qualified by a schema name.
For example, the following expression tries to refer to the HR schema, department_
loc table, dept_addr column, and city attribute of that column. But the expression
is incorrect because department_loc is a table name, not an alias.
HR.department_loc.dept_addr.city
The same requirement applies to attribute references that use REFs.
Table aliases should uniquely pick out the same table throughout a query and should
not be the same as schema names that could legally appear in the query.

Note: Oracle recommends that you define table aliases in all

UPDATE, DELETE, and SELECT statements and subqueries and use
them to qualify column references whether or not the columns
contain object types.

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 Object Methods

Restriction on Using User-Defined Types with a Remote Database

User-defined types (specifically, types declared with a SQL CREATE TYPE statement,
as opposed to types declared within a PL/SQL package) are currently useful only
within a single database. You cannot use a database link to do any of the following:
■ Connect to a remote database to select, insert, or update a user-defined type or an
object REF on a remote table
You can use the CREATE TYPE statement with the optional keyword OID to create
a user-specified object identifier (OID) that allows an object type to be used in
multiple databases. See the discussion on assigning an OID to an object type in the
Oracle Database Data Cartridge Developer's Guide.
■ Use database links within PL/SQL code to declare a local variable of a remote
user-defined type
■ Convey a user-defined type argument or return value in a PL/SQL remote
procedure call.

Object Methods
Methods are functions or procedures that you can declare in an object type definition
to implement behavior that you want objects of that type to perform. An application
calls the methods to invoke the behavior.
For example, you might declare a method get_sum() to get a purchase order object
to return the total cost of its line items. The following line of code calls such a method
for purchase order po and returns the amount into sum_line_items:
sum_line_items = po.get_sum();
In SQL, the parentheses are required for all method calls. Unlike with PL/SQL
functions and procedures, SQL requires parentheses for method calls that do not have
arguments.
Methods can be written in PL/SQL or virtually any other programming language.
Methods written in PL/SQL or Java are stored in the database. Methods written in
other languages, such as C, are stored externally.
The topics described in this section are:
■ Member Methods
■ Methods for Comparing Objects
■ Static Methods
■ Constructor Methods
■ External Implemented Methods

Member Methods
Member methods are the means by which an application gains access to an object
instance's data. You define a member method in the object type for each operation that
you want an object of that type to be able to perform. For example, the method get_
sum() that sums the total cost of a purchase order's line items operates on the data of
a particular purchase order and is a member method.
Member methods have a built-in parameter named SELF that denotes the object
instance on which the method is currently being invoked. Member methods can
reference the attributes and methods of SELF without a qualifier. This makes it simpler

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-7

Object Methods

to write member methods. In Example 2–8 the code shows a method declaration that
takes advantage of SELF to omit qualification of the attributes hgt, len, and wth.

Example 2–8 Creating a Member Method

CREATE TYPE solid_typ AS OBJECT (
len INTEGER,
wth INTEGER,
hgt INTEGER,
MEMBER FUNCTION surface RETURN INTEGER,
MEMBER FUNCTION volume RETURN INTEGER,
MEMBER PROCEDURE display (SELF IN OUT NOCOPY solid_typ) );
/

CREATE TYPE BODY solid_typ AS

MEMBER FUNCTION volume RETURN INTEGER IS
BEGIN
RETURN len * wth * hgt;
-- RETURN SELF.len * SELF.wth * SELF.hgt; -- equivalent to previous line
END;
MEMBER FUNCTION surface RETURN INTEGER IS
BEGIN -- not necessary to include SELF prefix in following line
RETURN 2 * (len * wth + len * hgt + wth * hgt);
END;
MEMBER PROCEDURE display (SELF IN OUT NOCOPY solid_typ) IS
BEGIN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Length: ' || len || ' - ' || 'Width: ' || wth
|| ' - ' || 'Height: ' || hgt);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Volume: ' || volume || ' - ' || 'Surface area: '
|| surface);
END;
END;
/

SELF does not need to be explicitly declared, although it can be. It is always the first
parameter passed to the method.
■ In member functions, if SELF is not declared, its parameter mode defaults to IN.
■ In member procedures, if SELF is not declared, its parameter mode defaults to IN
OUT. The default behavior does not include the NOCOPY compiler hint.
You can invoke a member method using the dot notation object_
variable.method(). This notation specifies the object on which to invoke the
method, then the method to call. Any parameters must be placed inside the required
parentheses. See also "Using SELF IN OUT NOCOPY with Member Procedures" on
page 8-21.

Methods for Comparing Objects

The values of a scalar datatype such as CHAR or REAL have a predefined order, which
allows them to be compared. But an object type, such as a person_typ, which can
have multiple attributes of various datatypes, has no predefined axis of comparison.
To be able to compare and order variables of an object type, you must specify a basis
for comparing them. Two special kinds of member methods can be defined for doing
this: map methods and order methods.

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 Object Methods

Map Methods
A map method is an optional kind of method that provides a basis for comparing
objects by mapping object instances to one of the scalar types DATE, NUMBER,
VARCHAR2 or to an ANSI SQL type such as CHARACTER or REAL. With a map method,
you can order any number of objects by calling each object's map method once to map
that object to a position on the axis used for the comparison, such as a number or date.
Example 2–1 on page 2-2 contains a simple map method.
From the standpoint of writing one, a map method is simply a parameter-less member
function that uses the MAP keyword and returns one of the datatypes just listed. What
makes a map method special is that, if an object type defines one, the method is called
automatically to evaluate such comparisons as obj_1 > obj_2 and comparisons
implied by the DISTINCT, GROUP BY, UNION, and ORDER BY clauses which require
sorting by rows.
Where obj_1 and obj_2 are two object variables that can be compared using a map
method map(), the comparison:
obj_1 > obj_2
is equivalent to:
obj_1.map() > obj_2.map()
And similarly for other relational operators besides the greater than (>) operator.
The following example defines a map method area() that provides a basis for
comparing rectangle objects by their area:

Example 2–9 Creating a Map Method

CREATE TYPE rectangle_typ AS OBJECT (
len NUMBER,
wid NUMBER,
MAP MEMBER FUNCTION area RETURN NUMBER);
/

CREATE TYPE BODY rectangle_typ AS

MAP MEMBER FUNCTION area RETURN NUMBER IS
BEGIN
RETURN len * wid;
END area;
END;
/

An object type can declare at most one map method or one order method. A subtype
can declare a map method only if its root supertype declares one. See "Equal and Not
Equal Comparisons" on page 3-14 for the use of map methods when comparing
collections that contain object types.

Order Methods
Order methods make direct object-to-object comparisons. Unlike map methods, they
cannot map any number of objects to an external axis. They simply tell you that the
current object is less than, equal to, or greater than the other object that it is being
compared to, with respect to the criterion used by the method.
An order method is a function with one declared parameter for another object of the
same type. The method must be written to return either a negative number, zero, or a
positive number. The return signifies that the object picked out by the SELF parameter
is respectively less than, equal to, or greater than the other parameter's object.

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-9

Object Methods

As with map methods, an order method, if one is defined, is called automatically

whenever two objects of that type need to be compared.
Order methods are useful where comparison semantics may be too complex to use a
map method. For example, to compare binary objects such as images, you might create
an order method to compare the images by their brightness or number of pixels.
An object type can declare at most one order method or one map method. Only a type
that is not derived from another type can declare an order method; a subtype cannot
define one.
Example 2–10 shows an order method that compares locations by building number:

Example 2–10 Creating an Order Method

CREATE TYPE location_typ AS OBJECT (
building_no NUMBER,
city VARCHAR2(40),
ORDER MEMBER FUNCTION match (l location_typ) RETURN INTEGER );
/
CREATE TYPE BODY location_typ AS
ORDER MEMBER FUNCTION match (l location_typ) RETURN INTEGER IS
BEGIN
IF building_no < l.building_no THEN
RETURN -1; -- any negative number will do
ELSIF building_no > l.building_no THEN
RETURN 1; -- any positive number will do
ELSE
RETURN 0;
END IF;
END;
END;
/

Guidelines for Comparison Methods

A map method maps object values into scalar values and can order multiple values by
their position on the scalar axis. An order method directly compares values for two
particular objects.
You can declare a map method or an order method but not both. If you declare a
method of either type, you can compare objects in SQL and procedural statements.
However, if you declare neither method, you can compare objects only in SQL
statements and only for equality or inequality. Two objects of the same type count as
equal only if the values of their corresponding attributes are equal.
When sorting or merging a large number of objects, use a map method. One call maps
all the objects into scalars, then sorts the scalars. An order method is less efficient
because it must be called repeatedly (it can compare only two objects at a time). See
"Performance of Object Comparisons" on page 8-5.

Comparison Methods in Type Hierarchies

In a type hierarchy, where definitions of specialized types are derived from definitions
of more general types, only the root type—the most basic type, from which all other
types are derived—can define an order method. If the root type does not define one, its
subtypes cannot define one either.
If the root type specifies a map method, any of its subtypes can define a map method
that overrides the map method of the root type. But if the root type does not specify a
map method, no subtype can specify one either.

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 Object Methods

So if the root type does not specify either a map or an order method, none of the
subtypes can specify either a map or order method. See "Inheritance in SQL Object
Types" on page 2-12 and "Inheriting, Overloading, and Overriding Methods" on
page 2-18.

Static Methods
Static methods are invoked on the object type, not its instances. You use a static
method for operations that are global to the type and do not need to reference the data
of a particular object instance. A static method has no SELF parameter.
You invoke a static method by using the dot notation to qualify the method call with
the name of the object type, such as:
type_name.method()
See "Static Methods" on page 8-20 for information on design considerations.

Constructor Methods
Every object type has a constructor method implicitly defined for it by the system. A
constructor method is a function that returns a new instance of the user-defined type
and sets up the values of its attributes. The system implicitly defines a constructor
function called the attribute value constructor for all object types that have attributes.
Consider the person_typ object type that is defined in Example 2–1 on page 2-2. The
name of the constructor method is simply the name of the object type, as shown in the
following:
person_typ (1, 'John Smith', '1-800-555-1212'),
A literal invocation of a constructor method is a call to the constructor method in
which any arguments are either literals, or further literal invocations of constructor
methods. For example:
CREATE TABLE people_tab OF person_typ;

INSERT INTO people_tab VALUES (

person_typ(101, 'John Smith', '1-800-555-1212') );

You can also define constructor functions of your own called user-defined constructors
to create and initialize objects of such types. Attribute value constructors are
convenient to use because they already exist, but user-defined constructors have some
important advantages with respect to type evolution. See "Advantages of
User-Defined Constructors" on page 7-15 for information on user-defined constructors
and their advantages. See "Constructor Methods for Collections" on page 3-1 for
information on user-defined constructors for collections.

External Implemented Methods

You can use PL/SQL to invoke external subprograms that have been written in other
languages. This provides access to the strengths and capabilities of those languages.

See Also: Oracle Database PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference for
information on external implemented methods

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-11

Inheritance in SQL Object Types

Inheritance in SQL Object Types

Object types enable you to model the real-world entities such as customers and
purchase orders that your application works with. But this is just the first step in
exploiting the capabilities of objects. With objects, you cannot only model an entity
such as a customer, you can also define different specialized types of customers in a
type hierarchy under the original type. You can then perform operations on a
hierarchy and have each type implement and execute the operation in a special way.
A type hierarchy is a sort of family tree of object types. It consists of a parent base type,
called a supertype, and one or more levels of child object types, called subtypes,
derived from the parent.
Subtypes in a hierarchy are connected to their supertypes by inheritance. This means
that subtypes automatically acquire the attributes and methods of their parent type. It
also means that subtypes automatically acquire any changes made to these attributes
or methods in the parent: any attributes or methods updated in a supertype are
updated in subtypes as well.
A subtype becomes a specialized version of the parent type by adding new attributes
and methods to the set inherited from the parent or by redefining methods it inherits.
Redefining an inherited methods gives a subtype its own way of executing the
method. Add to this that an object instance of a subtype can generally be substituted
for an object instance of any of its supertypes in code, and you have polymorphism.
Polymorphism is the ability of a slot for a value in code to contain a value of either a
certain declared type or any of a range of the declared type's subtypes. A method
called on whatever value occupies the slot may execute differently depending on the
value's type because the various types might implement the method differently.

Types and Subtypes

A subtype can be derived from a supertype either directly, or indirectly through
intervening levels of other subtypes. A subtype can directly derive only from a single
supertype: it cannot derive jointly from more than one. A supertype can have multiple
sibling subtypes, but a subtype can have at most one direct parent supertype. In other
words, Oracle supports only single inheritance, not multiple inheritance.
A subtype is derived from a supertype by defining a specialized variant of the
supertype. For example, from a person_typ object type you might derive the
specialized types student_typ and employee_typ. Each of these subtypes is still at
bottom a person_typ, but a special kind of person. What makes a subtype special
and distinguishes it from its parent supertype is some change made in the subtype to
the attributes or methods that the subtype received from its parent.

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 Inheritance in SQL Object Types

Figure 2–1 Subtypes

A
Supertype of all

B D
Subtype of A; Subtype of A;
supertype of C

C
Subtype of B

An object type's attributes and methods make the type what it is: they are its essential,
defining features. If a person_typ object type has the three attributes idno, name,
and phone and the method get_idno(), then any object type that is derived from
person_typ will have these same three attributes and a method get_idno(). A
subtype is a special case of its parent type, not a totally different kind of thing. As
such, it shares with its parent type the features that make the general type what it is.
You can specialize the attributes or methods of a subtype in these ways:
■ Add new attributes that its parent supertype does not have.
For example, you might specialize student_typ as a special kind of person_
typ by adding to its definition an attribute for major. A subtype cannot drop or
change the type of an attribute it inherited from its parent; it can only add new
attributes.
■ Add entirely new methods that the parent does not have.
■ Change the implementation of some of the methods a subtype inherits from its
parent so that the subtype's version executes different code from the parent's.
For example, a shape object type might define a method calculate_area().
Two subtypes of shape, rectilinear_shape, and circular_shape, might
each implement this method in a different way. See "Inheriting, Overloading, and
Overriding Methods" on page 2-18.
Attributes and methods that a subtype gets from its parent type are said to be
inherited. This means more than just that the attributes and methods are patterned on
the parent's when the subtype is defined. With object types, the inheritance link
remains live. Any changes made later on to the parent type's attributes or methods are
also inherited so that the changes are reflected in the subtype as well. Unless a subtype
reimplements an inherited method, it always contains the same core set of attributes
and methods that are in the parent type, plus any attributes and methods that it adds.
Remember, a child type is not a different type from its parent; it is a particular kind of
that type. If the general definition of person_typ ever changes, the definition of
student_typ changes also.
The inheritance relationship that holds between a supertype and its subtypes is the
source of both much of the power of objects and much of their complexity. It is a very
powerful feature to be able to change a method in a supertype and have the change
take effect in all the subtypes downstream just by recompiling. But this same
capability means that you have to think about such things as whether you want to
allow a type to be specialized or a method to be redefined. Similarly, it is a powerful

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-13

Inheritance in SQL Object Types

feature for a table or column to be able to contain any type in a hierarchy, but then you
must decide whether to allow this in a particular case, and you may need to constrain
DML statements and queries so that they pick out from the type hierarchy just the
range of types that you want. The following sections address these aspects of working
with objects.

FINAL and NOT FINAL Types and Methods

The definition of an object type determines whether subtypes can be derived from that
type. To permit subtypes, the object type must be defined as not final. This is done by
including the NOT FINAL keyword in its type declaration, as shown in Example 2–11.

Example 2–11 Creating the person_typ Object Type as NOT FINAL

CREATE TYPE person_typ AS OBJECT (
idno NUMBER,
name VARCHAR2(30),
phone VARCHAR2(20))
NOT FINAL;
/

The preceding statement declares person_typ to be a not final type such that
subtypes of person_typ can be defined. By default, an object type is declared as final
and subtypes cannot be derived from it.
You can change a final type to a not final type and vice versa with an ALTER TYPE
statement. For example, the following statement changes person_typ to a final type:
ALTER TYPE person_typ FINAL;

You can alter a type from NOT FINAL to FINAL only if the target type has no subtypes.
Methods can also be declared to be final or not final. If a method is declared to be final,
subtypes cannot override it by providing their own implementation. Unlike types,
methods are not final by default and must be explicitly declared to be final.
Example 2–12 creates a not final type containing a final member function.

Example 2–12 Creating an Object Type as NOT FINAL with a FINAL Member Function
CREATE TYPE person_typ AS OBJECT (
idno NUMBER,
name VARCHAR2(30),
phone VARCHAR2(20),
FINAL MAP MEMBER FUNCTION get_idno RETURN NUMBER)
NOT FINAL;
/

See "Redefining Methods" on page 2-19.

Creating Subtypes With Overriding Methods

You can create a subtype using a CREATE TYPE statement that specifies the immediate
parent of the subtype with an UNDER clause. Example 2–13 shows the creation of the
parent or supertype person_typ object; Example 2–14, Example 2–15, and
Example 2–16 show the definition of the subtypes.
Note the methods that are created in the supertype body of Example 2–13. In
Example 2–14, Example 2–15, and Example 2–16, the show() function of the parent
type is overridden to specifications for each subtype. At the same time, the static

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 Inheritance in SQL Object Types

show_super() function is designed so that it can be called as it is in the supertype

from every subtype under the person_typ parent object.

Example 2–13 Creating the Parent or Supertype person_typ Object

CREATE TYPE person_typ AS OBJECT (
idno NUMBER,
name VARCHAR2(30),
phone VARCHAR2(20),
MAP MEMBER FUNCTION get_idno RETURN NUMBER,
STATIC FUNCTION show_super (person_obj in person_typ) RETURN VARCHAR2,
MEMBER FUNCTION show RETURN VARCHAR2)
NOT FINAL;
/

CREATE TYPE BODY person_typ AS

MAP MEMBER FUNCTION get_idno RETURN NUMBER IS
BEGIN
RETURN idno;
END;

-- static function that can be called by subtypes

STATIC FUNCTION show_super (person_obj in person_typ) RETURN VARCHAR2 IS
BEGIN
RETURN 'Id: ' || TO_CHAR(person_obj.idno) || ', Name: ' || person_obj.name;
END;

-- function that can be overriden by subtypes

MEMBER FUNCTION show RETURN VARCHAR2 IS
BEGIN
RETURN person_typ.show_super ( SELF );
END;

END;
/

Example 2–14 creates student_typ as a subtype of person_typ. As a subtype of

person_typ, student_typ inherits all the attributes declared in or inherited by
person_typ and any methods inherited by person_typ or declared in person_
typ.
The statement that defines student_typ specializes person_typ by adding two
new attributes. In addition, the show() function is overridden to display the new
attribute major. New attributes declared in a subtype must have names that are
different from the names of any attributes or methods declared in any of its
supertypes, higher up in its type hierarchy.

Example 2–14 Creating a student_typ Subtype Using the UNDER Clause

CREATE TYPE student_typ UNDER person_typ (
dept_id NUMBER,
major VARCHAR2(30),
OVERRIDING MEMBER FUNCTION show RETURN VARCHAR2)
NOT FINAL;
/

CREATE TYPE BODY student_typ AS

OVERRIDING MEMBER FUNCTION show RETURN VARCHAR2 IS
BEGIN
RETURN person_typ.show_super ( SELF ) || ' -- Major: ' || major ;

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Inheritance in SQL Object Types

END;

END;
/

A type can have multiple child subtypes, and these can also have subtypes.
Example 2–15 creates another subtype employee_typ under person_typ.

Example 2–15 Creating an employee_typ Subtype Using the UNDER Clause

CREATE TYPE employee_typ UNDER person_typ (
emp_id NUMBER,
mgr VARCHAR2(30),
OVERRIDING MEMBER FUNCTION show RETURN VARCHAR2);
/

CREATE TYPE BODY employee_typ AS

OVERRIDING MEMBER FUNCTION show RETURN VARCHAR2 IS
BEGIN
RETURN person_typ.show_super ( SELF ) || ' -- Employee Id: '
|| TO_CHAR(emp_id) || ', Manager: ' || mgr ;
END;

END;
/

A subtype can be defined under another subtype. Again, the new subtype inherits all
the attributes and methods that its parent type has, both declared and inherited.
Example 2–16 defines a new subtype part_time_student_typ under student_
typ. The new subtype inherits all the attributes and methods of student_typ and
adds another attribute.

Example 2–16 Creating a part_time_student_typ Subtype Using the UNDER Clause

CREATE TYPE part_time_student_typ UNDER student_typ (
number_hours NUMBER,
OVERRIDING MEMBER FUNCTION show RETURN VARCHAR2);
/

CREATE TYPE BODY part_time_student_typ AS

OVERRIDING MEMBER FUNCTION show RETURN VARCHAR2 IS
BEGIN
RETURN person_typ.show_super ( SELF ) || ' -- Major: ' || major ||
', Hours: ' || TO_CHAR(number_hours);
END;

END;
/

You can create a table that contains the supertype and subtypes and populate the table
as shown with the person_obj_table in Example 2–17.

Example 2–17 Inserting Values into Substitutable Rows of an Object Table

CREATE TABLE person_obj_table OF person_typ;

INSERT INTO person_obj_table

VALUES (person_typ(12, 'Bob Jones', '111-555-1212'));

INSERT INTO person_obj_table

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VALUES (student_typ(51, 'Joe Lane', '1-800-555-1312', 12, 'HISTORY'));

INSERT INTO person_obj_table

VALUES (employee_typ(55, 'Jane Smith', '1-800-555-7765',
100, 'Jennifer Nelson'));

INSERT INTO person_obj_table

VALUES (part_time_student_typ(52, 'Kim Patel', '1-800-555-1232', 14,
'PHYSICS', 20));

You can call the show() function for the supertype and subtypes in the table with the
following:
SELECT p.show() FROM person_obj_table p;

With the table populated as illustrated in Example 2–17, the output is similar to:
Id: 12, Name: Bob Jones
Id: 51, Name: Joe Lane -- Major: HISTORY
Id: 55, Name: Jane Smith -- Employee Id: 100, Manager: Jennifer Nelson
Id: 52, Name: Kim Patel -- Major: PHYSICS, Hours: 20

Note the overridden show() function displays an output specific to the supertype or
subtype while the results of the static show_super() are constant.

NOT INSTANTIABLE Types and Methods

A type can be declared to be NOT INSTANTIABLE. If a type is not instantiable, there is
no constructor (default or user-defined) for it, and you cannot instantiate instances of
that type (objects, in other words). You might use this option with types that you
intend to use solely as supertypes of specialized subtypes that you do instantiate. The
following pseudocode provides an example.
CREATE TYPE address_typ AS OBJECT(...)
NOT INSTANTIABLE NOT FINAL;
CREATE TYPE USaddress_typ UNDER address_typ(...);
CREATE TYPE Intladdress_typ UNDER address_typ(...);

A method can also be declared to be not instantiable. Use this option when you want
to declare a method in a type without implementing the method there. A type that
contains a non-instantiable method must itself be declared not instantiable, as shown
in Example 2–18.

Example 2–18 Creating an Object Type that is NOT INSTANTIABLE

CREATE TYPE person_typ AS OBJECT (
idno NUMBER,
name VARCHAR2(30),
phone VARCHAR2(20),
NOT INSTANTIABLE MEMBER FUNCTION get_idno RETURN NUMBER)
NOT INSTANTIABLE NOT FINAL;
/

A non-instantiable method serves as a placeholder. You might define a

non-instantiable method when you expect every subtype to override the method in a
different way. In such a case, there is no point in defining the method in the supertype.

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Inheritance in SQL Object Types

If a subtype does not provide an implementation for every inherited non-instantiable

method, the subtype itself, like the supertype, must be declared not instantiable. A
non-instantiable subtype can be defined under an instantiable supertype.
You can alter an instantiable type to a non-instantiable type and vice versa with an
ALTER TYPE statement. In the following example, the ALTER TYPE statement makes
person_typ instantiable:

Example 2–19 Altering an Object Type to INSTANTIABLE

CREATE TYPE person_typ AS OBJECT (
idno NUMBER,
name VARCHAR2(30),
phone VARCHAR2(20))
NOT INSTANTIABLE NOT FINAL;
/
ALTER TYPE person_typ INSTANTIABLE;

You can alter an instantiable type to a non-instantiable type only if the type has no
columns, views, tables, or instances that reference that type, either directly, or
indirectly through another type or subtype.
You cannot declare a non-instantiable type to be FINAL, which would be pointless
anyway.

Inheriting, Overloading, and Overriding Methods

A subtype automatically inherits all methods (both member and static methods)
declared in or inherited by its supertype.
A subtype can redefine methods it inherits, and it can also add new methods. It can
even add new methods that have the same names as methods it inherits, such that the
subtype ends up containing more than one method with the same name.
Giving a type multiple methods with the same name is called method overloading.
Redefining an inherited method to customize its behavior in a subtype is either
overriding, in the case of member methods, or hiding, in the case of static methods.
See the examples in "Creating Subtypes With Overriding Methods" on page 2-14 and
Example 7–7 on page 7-16.

Overloading Methods
Overloading is useful when you want to provide a variety of ways of doing
something. For example, a shape object might overload a draw() method with
another draw() method that adds a text label to the drawing and contains an
argument for the label's text.
When a type has several methods with the same name, the compiler uses the methods'
signatures to tell them apart. A method's signature is a sort of structural profile. It
consists of the method's name and the number, types, and order of the method's
formal parameters, including the implicit self parameter. Methods that have the
same name, but different signatures are called overloads when they exist in the same
user-defined type.
In the following pseudocode, Subtype MySubType_typ creates an overload of
draw():
CREATE TYPE MyType_typ AS OBJECT (...,
MEMBER PROCEDURE draw(x NUMBER), ...) NOT FINAL;

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CREATE TYPE MySubType_typ UNDER MyType_typ (...,

MEMBER PROCEDURE draw(x VARCHAR2(20)),
STATIC FUNCTION bar(...)...
...);

MySubType_typ contains two versions of draw(). One is an inherited version with a

NUMBER parameter and the other has a VARCHAR2 parameter.

Redefining Methods
Overriding and hiding redefine an inherited method to make it do something different
in the subtype. For example, a subtype circular_shape derived from a shape
supertype might override a member method calculate_area() to customize it
specifically for calculating the area of a circle. For examples of overriding methods, see
"Creating Subtypes With Overriding Methods" on page 2-14.
Redefining a method is called overriding when the method that is redefined is a
member method; redefining is called hiding when the redefined method is a static
method. Overriding and hiding are similar in that, in either case, the version of the
method redefined in the subtype eclipses an inherited version of the same name and
signature such that the new version is executed instead of the inherited one whenever
an instance of the subtype invokes the method. If the subtype itself has subtypes, these
inherit the redefined method instead of the original version.
However, with overriding, the system relies on type information contained in the
member method's implicit self argument to dynamically choose the correct version of
the method to execute. With hiding, the correct version can be identified at compile
time, and dynamic dispatch is not necessary. See "Dynamic Method Dispatch" on
page 2-20.
It is possible that a supertype may contain overloads of a method that is redefined in a
subtype. Overloads of a method all have the same name, so the compiler uses the
signature of the subtype's method to identify the particular version in the supertype
that is superseded. This means that, to override or hide a method, you must preserve
its signature.
A subtype that overrides a member method must signal the override with the
OVERRIDING keyword in the type definition. No such special keyword is required
when a subtype hides a static method.
For example, in the following pseudocode, the subtype signals that it is overriding
method Print():
CREATE TYPE MyType_typ AS OBJECT (...,
MEMBER PROCEDURE Print(),
FINAL MEMBER FUNCTION function_mytype(x NUMBER)...
) NOT FINAL;

CREATE TYPE MySubType_typ UNDER MyType_typ (...,

OVERRIDING MEMBER PROCEDURE Print(),
...);

As with new methods, you supply the declaration for a method that hides or overrides
in a CREATE TYPE BODY statement.

Restrictions on Overriding Methods

The following are restrictions on overriding methods:
■ You can override only methods that are not declared to be final in the supertype.

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-19

Inheritance in SQL Object Types

■ Order methods may appear only in the root type of a type hierarchy: they may not
be redefined (overridden) in subtypes.
■ A static method in a subtype may not redefine a member method in the supertype.
■ A member method in a subtype may not redefine a static method in the supertype.
■ If a method being overridden provides default values for any parameters, then the
overriding method must provide the same default values for the same parameters.
■ When implementing methods using PL/SQL, you cannot call a supertype object
method with the super keyword or an equivalent method in derived objects that
have overriding methods. However, you can call a static supertype method as a
workaround. See the examples in "Creating Subtypes With Overriding Methods"
on page 2-14 for the definition of the supertype and subtype functions.

Dynamic Method Dispatch

As a result of method overriding, a type hierarchy can define multiple
implementations of the same method. For example, in a hierarchy of the types
ellipse_typ, circle_typ, sphere_typ, each type might define a method
calculate_area() differently.

Figure 2–2 Hierarchy of Types

ellipse_typ Base type

Subtype of
circle_typ ellipse_type

Subtype of
sphere_typ circle_type

When such a method is invoked, the type of the object instance that invokes it is used
to determine which implementation of the method to use. The call is then dispatched
to that implementation for execution. This process of selecting a method
implementation is called virtual or dynamic method dispatch because it is done at run
time, not at compile time.
A method call is dispatched to the nearest implementation, working back up the
inheritance hierarchy from the current or specified type. If the call invokes a member
method of an object instance, the type of that instance is the current type, and the
implementation defined or inherited by that type is used. If the call invokes a static
method of a type, the implementation defined or inherited by that specified type is
used.
For example, if c1 is an object instance of circle_typ, c1.proc() looks first for an
implementation of proc() defined in circle_typ. If none is found, it looks up the
supertype chain for an implementation in ellipse_typ. The fact that sphere_typ
also defines an implementation is irrelevant because the type hierarchy is searched
only upwards, toward the top. Subtypes of the current type are not searched.
Similarly, a call to a static method circle_typ.bar() looks first in circle_typ
and then, if necessary, in the supertype(s) of circle_typ. The subtype sphere_typ
is not searched.

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See Also: Oracle Database PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference for
information on how subprograms calls are resolved and the
dynamic dispatch feature

Substituting Types in a Type Hierarchy

In a type hierarchy, the subtypes are variant kinds of the root, base type. For example,
a student_typ type and an employee_typ are kinds of a person_typ. The base
type includes these other types.
When you work with types in a type hierarchy, sometimes you want to work at the
most general level and, for example, select or update all persons. But sometimes you
want to select or update only students, or only persons who are not students.
The (polymorphic) ability to select all persons and get back not only objects whose
declared type is person_typ but also objects whose declared subtype is student_
typ or employee_typ is called substitutability. A supertype is substitutable if one of
its subtypes can substitute or stand in for it in a slot (a variable, column, and so forth)
whose declared type is the supertype.
In general, types are substitutable. Object attributes, collection elements and REFs are
substitutable. An attribute defined as a REF, type, or collection of type person_typ
can hold a REF to, an instance of, or instances of an instance of person_typ or an
instance of any subtype of person_typ.
This is what you would expect, given that a subtype is, after all, just a specialized kind
of any of its supertypes. Formally, though, a subtype is a type in its own right: it is not
the same type as its supertype. A column that holds all persons, including all persons
who are students and all persons who are employees, actually holds data of multiple
types.
Substitutability comes into play in attributes, columns, and rows (namely, of an object
view or object table) declared to be an object type, a REF to an object type, or a
collection type.
In principle, object attributes, collection elements and REFs are always substitutable:
there is no syntax at the level of the type definition to constrain their substitutability to
some subtype. You can, however, turn off or constrain substitutability at the storage
level, for specific tables and columns. See "Turning Off Substitutability in a New Table"
on page 2-24 and "Constraining Substitutability" on page 2-25.

Column and Row Substitutability

Object type columns are substitutable, and so are object-type rows in object tables and
views. In other words, a column or row defined to be of type t can contain instances of
t and any of its subtypes.
For example, consider the person_typ type hierarchy introduced in "Creating
Subtypes With Overriding Methods" on page 2-14. An object table of person_typ can
contain rows of all three types. You insert an instance of a given type using the
constructor for that type in the VALUES clause of the INSERT statement as shown in
Example 2–17 on page 2-16.
Similarly, in a relational table or view, a substitutable column of type person_typ can
contain instances of all three types. The following example inserts a person, a student,
and a part-time student in the person_typ column contact:

Example 2–20 Inserting Values into Substitutable Columns of a Table

CREATE TABLE contacts (

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-21

Inheritance in SQL Object Types

contact person_typ,
contact_date DATE );

INSERT INTO contacts

VALUES (person_typ (12, 'Bob Jones', '111-555-1212'), '24 Jun 2003' );

INSERT INTO contacts

VALUES (student_typ(51, 'Joe Lane', '1-800-555-1312', 12, 'HISTORY'),
'24 Jun 2003' );

INSERT INTO contacts

VALUES (part_time_student_typ(52, 'Kim Patel', '1-800-555-1232', 14,
'PHYSICS', 20), '24 Jun 2003' );

A newly created subtype can be stored in any substitutable tables and columns of its
supertype, including tables and columns that existed before the subtype was created.
Attributes in general can be accessed using the dot notation. Attributes of a subtype of
a row or column's declared type can be accessed with the TREAT function. For
example:
SELECT TREAT(contact AS student_typ).major FROM contacts;

See "TREAT" on page 2-32.

Using OBJECT_VALUE and OBJECT_ID with Substitutable Rows

The OBJECT_VALUE and OBJECT_ID pseudocolumns allow you to access and identify
the value and OID of a substitutable row in an object table as shown in Example 2–21.

Example 2–21 Using OBJECT_VALUE and OBJECT_ID

CREATE TABLE person_obj_table OF person_typ;

INSERT INTO person_obj_table

VALUES (person_typ(20, 'Bob Jones', '111-555-1212'));

SELECT p.object_id, p.object_value FROM person_obj_table p;

Subtypes Having Supertype Attributes

A subtype can have an attribute that is a supertype. For example:

Example 2–22 Creating a Subtype with a Supertype Attribute

CREATE TYPE student_typ UNDER person_typ (
dept_id NUMBER,
major VARCHAR2(30),
advisor person_typ);
/

However, columns of such types are not substitutable. Similarly, a subtype ST can
have a collection attribute whose element type is one of ST's supertypes, but, again,
columns of such types are not substitutable. For example, if student_typ had a
nested table or varray of person_typ, the student_typ column would not be
substitutable.
You can, however, define substitutable columns of subtypes that have REF attributes
that reference supertypes. For example, the composite_category_typ subtype
shown in Example 2–21 contains the subcategory_ref_list nested table. This

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table contains subcategory_ref_list_typ which are REFs to category_typ.

The subtype was created as follows:
CREATE TYPE subcategory_ref_list_typ
AS TABLE OF REF category_typ;
/

CREATE TYPE composite_category_typ

UNDER category_typ
(
subcategory_ref_list subcategory_ref_list_typ
...
See "Turning Off Substitutability in a New Table" on page 2-24.

REF Columns and Attributes

REF columns and attributes are substitutable in both views and tables. For example, in
either a view or a table, a column declared to be REF person_typ can hold
references to instances of person_typ or any of its subtypes.

Collection Elements
Collection elements are substitutable in both views and tables. For example, a nested
table of person_typ can contain object instances of person_typ or any of its
subtypes.

Creating Subtypes After Creating Substitutable Columns

If you create a subtype, any table that already has substitutable columns of the
supertype is automatically enabled to store the new subtype as well. This means that
your options for creating subtypes are affected by the existence of such tables. If such a
table exists, you can only create subtypes that are substitutable, that is, subtypes that
Oracle can enable that table to store.
The following example shows an attempt to create a subtype student_typ under
person_typ.

Example 2–23 Creating a Subtype After Creating Substitutable Columns

CREATE TYPE person_typ AS OBJECT (
idno NUMBER,
name VARCHAR2(30),
phone VARCHAR2(20))
NOT FINAL;
/

CREATE TYPE employee_typ UNDER person_typ (

emp_id NUMBER,
mgr VARCHAR2(30));
/

CREATE TABLE person_obj_table (p person_typ);

The following statement fails because student_typ has a supertype attribute, and
table person_obj_table has a substitutable column p of the supertype.
CREATE TYPE student_typ UNDER person_typ ( -- incorrect CREATE subtype
advisor person_typ);
/

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-23

Inheritance in SQL Object Types

The following attempt succeeds. This version of the student_typ subtype is

substitutable. Oracle automatically enables table person_obj_table to store
instances of this new type.
CREATE TYPE student_typ UNDER person_typ (
dept_id NUMBER,
major VARCHAR2(30));
/
INSERT INTO person_obj_table
VALUES (student_typ(51, 'Joe Lane', '1-800-555-1312', 12, 'HISTORY'));

Dropping Subtypes After Creating Substitutable Columns

You can drop a subtype with the VALIDATE option only if no instances of the subtype
are stored in any substitutable column of the supertype.
For example, the following statement fails because an instance of student_typ is
stored in substitutable column p of table person_obj_table:
DROP TYPE student_typ VALIDATE -- incorrect DROP TYPE ;

To drop the type, first delete any of its instances in substitutable columns of the
supertype:
DELETE FROM person_obj_table WHERE p IS OF (student_typ);

DROP TYPE student_typ VALIDATE;

Turning Off Substitutability in a New Table

When creating a table, you can turn off all substitutability on a column or attribute,
including embedded attributes and collections nested to any level, with the clause NOT
SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL LEVELS.
In the following example, the clause confines column office of a relational table to
storing only office_typ instances and disallows any subtype instances:

Example 2–24 Turning off Substitutability When Creating a Table

CREATE TYPE office_typ AS OBJECT (
office_id VARCHAR(10),
location location_typ,
occupant person_typ )
NOT FINAL;
/

CREATE TABLE dept_office (

dept_no NUMBER,
office office_typ)
COLUMN office NOT SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL LEVELS;

With object tables, the clause can be applied to the table as a whole, like this:
CREATE TABLE office_tab OF office_typ
NOT SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL LEVELS;

Alternatively, the clause can also be applied to turn off substitutability in a particular
column that is, for a particular attribute of the object type of the table:
CREATE TABLE office_tab OF office_typ
COLUMN occupant NOT SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL LEVELS;

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 Inheritance in SQL Object Types

You can specify that the element type of a collection is not substitutable using syntax
like the following:
CREATE TABLE people_tab (
people_column people_typ )
NESTED TABLE people_column
NOT SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL LEVELS STORE AS people_column_nt;

There is no mechanism to turn off substitutability for REF columns.

Constraining Substitutability
You can impose a constraint that limits the range of subtypes permitted in an object
column or attribute to a particular subtype in the declared type's hierarchy. You do this
using an IS OF type constraint.
For example, the following statement creates a table of office_typ in which
occupants are constrained to just those persons who are employees:

Example 2–25 Constraining Substitutability When Creating a Table

CREATE TABLE office_tab OF office_typ
COLUMN occupant IS OF (ONLY employee_typ);

Although the type office_typ allows authors to be of type person_typ, the

column declaration imposes a constraint to store only instances of employee_typ.
You can only use the IS OF type operator to constrain row and column objects to a
single subtype (not several), and you must use the ONLY keyword, as in the preceding
example.
You can use either IS OF type or NOT SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL LEVELS to constrain
an object column, but you cannot use both.

Modifying Substitutability
In an existing table, you can change an object column from SUBSTITUTABLE to NOT
SUBSTITUTABLE (or from NOT SUBSTITUTABLE to SUBSTITUTABLE) by using an
ALTER TABLE statement. To do so, you specify the clause [NOT] SUBSTITUTABLE AT
ALL LEVELS for the particular column.
You can modify substitutability only for a specific column; you cannot modify
substitutability for an object table as a whole.
The following statement makes column office substitutable:

Example 2–26 Modifying Substitutability in a Table

ALTER TABLE dept_office
MODIFY COLUMN office SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL LEVELS;

The following statement makes the column not substitutable. Notice that it also uses
the FORCE keyword. This keyword causes any hidden columns containing typeid
information or data for subtype attributes to be dropped:
ALTER TABLE dept_office
MODIFY COLUMN office NOT SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL LEVELS FORCE;

If the FORCE keyword is not used when a column is made not substitutable, the
column and all attributes of the type must be FINAL or the ALTER TABLE statement
will fail.

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-25

Inheritance in SQL Object Types

A VARRAY column can be modified from SUBSTITUTABLE to NOT SUBSTITUTABLE

only if the element type of the varray is final itself and has no embedded types (in its
attributes or in their attributes, and so on) that are not final.
See "Hidden Columns for Substitutable Columns and Tables" on page 7-2 for more
information about hidden columns for typeids and subtype attributes.

Restrictions on Modifying Substitutability

You can change the substitutability of only one column at a time with an ALTER
TABLE statement. To change substitutability for multiple columns, you must issue
multiple statements.
In an object table, you can modify substitutability for a column only if substitutability
was not explicitly set at the table level, for the entire table, when the table was created.
For example, the following attempt to modify substitutability for column address
succeeds because substitutability has not been explicitly turned on or off at the table
level in the CREATE TABLE statement:
CREATE TABLE office_tab OF office_typ;

ALTER TABLE office_tab

MODIFY COLUMN occupant NOT SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL LEVELS FORCE;

However, in the following example, substitutability is explicitly set at the table level,
so the attempt to modify the setting for column address fails:
CREATE TABLE office_tab OF office_typ
NOT SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL LEVELS;

/* Following SQL statement generates an error: */

ALTER TABLE office_tab
MODIFY COLUMN occupant SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL LEVELS FORCE -- incorrect ALTER;

A column whose substitutability is already constrained by an IS OF type operator

cannot have its substitutability modified with a [NOT] SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL
LEVELS clause. See "Constraining Substitutability" on page 2-25 for information about
IS OF type.

Assignments Across Types

The assignment rules described in this section apply to INSERT/UPDATE statements,
the RETURNING clause, function parameters, and PL/SQL variables.

Objects and REFs to Objects

Substitutability is the ability of a subtype to stand in for one of its supertypes. An
attempt to perform a substitution in the other direction, to substitute a supertype for a
subtype, raises an error at compile time.
An assignment of a source of type source_typ to a target of type target_typ must
be of one of the following two patterns:
■ Case 1: source_typ and target_typ are the same type
■ Case 2: source_typ is a subtype of target_typ (widening)
Case 2 illustrates widening. Widening is an assignment in which the declared type of
the source is more specific than the declared type of the target. For example, assigning
an employee instance to a variable of person type.

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 Inheritance in SQL Object Types

Intuitively, the idea here is that you are regarding an employee as a person. An
employee is a more narrowly defined, specialized kind of person, so you can put an
employee in a slot meant for a person if you do not mind ignoring whatever extra
specialization makes that person an employee. All employees are persons, so a
widening assignment always works.
To illustrate widening, suppose that you have the following table:
TABLE T(pers_col person_typ, emp_col employee_typ,
stu_col student_typ)

The following assignments show widening. The assignments are valid unless
perscol has been defined to be not substitutable.
UPDATE T set pers_col = emp_col;
The following is a PL/SQL example:
DECLARE
var1 person_typ;
var2 employee_typ;
BEGIN
var2 := employee_typ(55, 'Jane Smith', '1-800-555-7765', 100, 'Jennifer
Nelson');
var1 := var2;
END;
/

Besides widening, there is also narrowing. Narrowing is the reverse of widening. It

involves regarding a more general, less specialized type of thing, such as a person, as a
more narrowly defined type of thing, such as an employee. Not all persons are
employees, so a particular assignment like this works only if the person in question
actually happens to be an employee.
To do a narrowing assignment, you must use the TREAT function to test that the source
instance of the more general declared type is in fact an instance of the more specialized
target type and can therefore be operated on as such. The TREAT function does a
runtime check to confirm this and returns NULL if the source value the person in
question is not of the target type or one of its subtypes.
For example, the following UPDATE statement sets values of person_typ in column
perscol into column empcol of employee_typ. For each value in perscol, the
assignment succeeds only if that person is also an employee. If person George is not an
employee, TREAT returns NULL, and the assignment returns NULL.
UPDATE T set emp_col = TREAT(pers_col AS employee_typ);
The following statement attempts to do a narrowing assignment without explicitly
changing the declared type of the source value. The statement will return an error:
UPDATE T set emp_col = pers_col;
See "TREAT" on page 2-32.

Collection Assignments
In assignments of expressions of a collection type, the source and target must be of the
same declared type. Neither widening nor narrowing is permitted. However, a
subtype value can be assigned to a supertype collection. For example, suppose we
have the following collection types:
CREATE TYPE person_set AS TABLE OF person_typ;
/

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-27

Functions and Operators Useful with Objects

CREATE TYPE student_set AS TABLE OF student_typ;

/

Expressions of these different collection types cannot be assigned to each other, but a
collection element of student_typ can be assigned to a collection of PersonSet
type:
DECLARE
var1 person_set;
var2 student_set;
elem1 person_typ;
elem2 student_typ;
BEGIN
-- var1 := var2; /* ILLEGAL - collections not of same type */
var1 := person_set (elem1, elem2); /* LEGAL : Element is of subtype */
END;
/

Comparisons of Objects, REF Variables, and Collections

This section discusses the comparison operators used in SQL conditions.

See Also: Oracle Database SQL Reference for information about

using SQL conditions

Comparing Object Instances

Two object instances can be compared if, and only if, they are both of the same
declared type, or one is a subtype of the other.
Map methods and order methods provide the mechanism for comparing objects. You
optionally define one or the other of these in an object type to specify the basis on
which you want objects of that type to be compared. If a method of either sort is
defined, it is called automatically whenever objects of that type or one of its subtypes
need to be compared.
If a type does not define either a map method or an order method, object variables of
that type can be compared only in SQL statements and only for equality or inequality.
Two objects of the same type count as equal only if the values of their corresponding
attributes are equal. See "Methods for Comparing Objects" on page 2-8.

Comparing REF Variables

Two REF variables can be compared if, and only if, the targets that they reference are
both of the same declared type, or one is a subtype of the other.

Functions and Operators Useful with Objects

Several functions and operators are particularly useful for working with objects and
references to objects:
■ CAST
■ CURSOR
■ DEREF
■ IS OF type

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 Functions and Operators Useful with Objects

■ REF
■ SYS_TYPEID
■ TABLE()
■ TREAT
■ VALUE
Examples are given throughout this book.
In PL/SQL the VALUE, REF and DEREF functions can appear only in a SQL statement.
For information about SQL functions, see Oracle Database SQL Reference.

CAST
CAST converts one built-in datatype or collection-typed value into another built-in
datatype or collection-typed value. For example:

Example 2–27 Using the CAST Function

CREATE TYPE person_list_typ AS TABLE OF person_typ;
/

SELECT CAST(COLLECT(contact) AS person_list_typ)

FROM contacts;

For more information about the SQL CAST function, see Oracle Database SQL Reference.

CURSOR
A CURSOR expression returns a nested cursor. This form of expression is equivalent to
the PL/SQL REF CURSOR and can be passed as a REF CURSOR argument to a function.
For more information about the SQL CURSOR expression, see Oracle Database SQL
Reference.

DEREF
The DEREF function in a SQL statement returns the object instance corresponding to a
REF. The object instance returned by DEREF may be of the declared type of the REF or
any of its subtypes.
For example, the following statement returns person_typ objects from the table
contact_ref.

Example 2–28 Using the DEREF Function

SELECT DEREF(c.contact_ref), c.contact_date
FROM contacts_ref c;

See "Dereferencing REFs" on page 1-9. For more information about the SQL DEREF
function, see Oracle Database SQL Reference.

IS OF type
The IS OF type predicate tests object instances for the level of specialization of their
type.

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-29

Functions and Operators Useful with Objects

For example, the following query retrieves all student instances (including any
subtypes of students) stored in the person_obj_table table.

Example 2–29 Using the IS OF type Operator to Query Value of a Subtype

SELECT VALUE(p)
FROM person_obj_table p
WHERE VALUE(p) IS OF (student_typ);

For any object that is not of a specified subtype, or a subtype of a specified subtype, IS
OF returns FALSE. Subtypes of a specified subtype are just more specialized versions
of the specified subtype. If you want to exclude such subtypes, you can use the ONLY
keyword. This keyword causes IS OF to return FALSE for all types except the specified
types.
In the following example, the statement tests objects in object table person_obj_
table, which contains persons, employees, and students, and returns REFs just to
objects of the two specified person subtypes employee_typ, student_typ, and
their subtypes, if any:
SELECT REF(p)
FROM person_obj_table p
WHERE VALUE(p) IS OF (employee_typ, student_typ);

Here is a similar example in PL/SQL. The code does something if the person is an
employee or student:
DECLARE
var person_typ;
BEGIN
var := employee_typ(55, 'Jane Smith', '1-800-555-7765', 100, 'Jennifer Nelson');
IF var IS OF (employee_typ, student_typ) THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Var is an employee_typ or student_typ object.');
ELSE
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Var is not an employee_typ or student_typ object.');
END IF;
END;
/

The following statement returns only students whose most specific or specialized type
is student_typ. If the table or view contains any objects of a subtype of student_
typ, such as part_time_student_typ, these are excluded. The example uses the
TREAT function to convert objects that are students to student_typ from the
declared type of the view, person_typ:
SELECT TREAT(VALUE(p) AS student_typ)
FROM person_obj_table p
WHERE VALUE(p) IS OF(ONLY student_typ);

To test the type of the object that a REF points to, you can use the DEREF function to
dereference the REF before testing with the IS OF type predicate.
For example, if contact_ref is declared to be REF person_typ, you can get just the
rows for students as follows:
SELECT *
FROM contacts_ref
WHERE DEREF(contact_ref) IS OF (student_typ);

For more information about the SQL IS OF type condition, see Oracle Database SQL
Reference.

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 Functions and Operators Useful with Objects

REF
The REF function in a SQL statement takes as an argument a correlation name for an
object table or view and returns a reference (a REF) to an object instance from that table
or view. The REF function may return references to objects of the declared type of the
table, view, or any of its subtypes. For example, the following statement returns the
references to all persons, including references to students and employees, whose idno
attribute is 12:

Example 2–30 Using the REF Function

SELECT REF(p)
FROM person_obj_table p
WHERE p.idno = 12;

For more information about the SQL REF function, see Oracle Database SQL Reference.

SYS_TYPEID
The SYS_TYPEID function can be used in a query to return the typeid of the most
specific type of the object instance passed to the function as an argument.
The most specific type of an object instance is the type to which the instance belongs
that is farthest removed from the root type. For example, if Tim is a part-time student,
he is also a student and a person, but his most specific type is part-time student.
The function returns the typeids from the hidden type discriminant column that is
associated with every substitutable column. The function returns a null typeid for a
final, root type.
The syntax of the function is:
SYS_TYPEID(object_type_value)
Function SYS_TYPEID may be used only with arguments of an object type. Its
primary purpose is to make it possible to build an index on a hidden type discriminant
column.
All types that do belong to a type hierarchy are assigned a non-null typeid that is
unique within the type hierarchy. Types that do not belong to a type hierarchy have a
null typeid.
Every type except a final root type belongs to a type hierarchy. A final root type has no
types related to it by inheritance:
■ It cannot have subtypes derived from it because it is final
■ It is not itself derived from some other type because it is a root type, so it does not
have any supertypes.
See "Hidden Columns for Substitutable Columns and Tables" on page 7-2 for more
information about type discriminant columns.
For an example of SYS_TYPEID, consider the substitutable object table person_obj_
table, of person_typ. person_typ is the root type of a hierarchy that has
student_typ as a subtype and part_time_student_typ as a subtype of
student_typ. See Example 2–17 on page 2-16.
The following query uses SYS_TYPEID. It gets the name attribute and typeid of the
object instances in the person_obj_table table. Each of the instances is of a
different type:

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-31

Functions and Operators Useful with Objects

Example 2–31 Using the SYS_TYPEID Function

SELECT name, SYS_TYPEID(VALUE(p)) typeid FROM person_obj_table p;

See "Hidden Columns for Substitutable Columns and Tables" on page 7-2 for
information about the type discriminant and other hidden columns. For more
information about the SQL SYS TYPEID function, see Oracle Database SQL Reference.

TABLE()
Table functions are functions that produce a collection of rows, a nested table or a
varray, that can be queried like a physical database table or assigned to a PL/SQL
collection variable. You can use a table function like the name of a database table, in
the FROM clause of a query, or like a column name in the SELECT list of a query.
A table function can take a collection of rows as input. An input collection parameter
can be either a collection type, such as a VARRAY or a PL/SQL table, or a REF CURSOR.
Use PIPELINED to instruct Oracle to return the results of a table function iteratively. A
table function returns a nested table or varray collection type. You query table
functions by using the TABLE keyword before the function name in the FROM clause of
the query.
For information on TABLE() functions, see Oracle Database Data Cartridge Developer's
Guide and Oracle Database PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference.

TREAT
The TREAT function does a runtime check to confirm that an expression can be
operated on as if it were of a different specified type in the hierarchy normally, a
subtype of the expression s declared type. In other words, the function attempts to
treat a supertype instance as a subtype instance to treat a person as a student, for
example. Whether this can be done in a given case depends on whether the person in
question actually is a student (or student subtype, such as a part-time student). If the
person is a student, then the person is returned as a student, with the additional
attributes and methods that a student may have. If the person happens not to be a
student, TREAT returns NULL in SQL.
The two main uses of TREAT are:
■ In narrowing assignments, to modify the type of an expression so that the
expression can be assigned to a variable of a more specialized type in the
hierarchy: in other words, to set a supertype value into a subtype.
■ To access attributes or methods of a subtype of the declared type of a row or
column
A substitutable object table or column of type T has a hidden column for every
attribute of every subtype of T. These hidden columns are not listed by a DESCRIBE
statement, but they contain subtype attribute data. TREAT enables you to access these
columns.
The following example shows TREAT used in an assignment where a column of person
type is set into a column of employee type. For each row in perscol, TREAT returns
an employee type or NULL, depending on whether the given person happens to be an
employee.
UPDATE T set empcol = TREAT(perscol AS employee_typ);

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In the next example, TREAT returns all (and only) student_typ instances from
person_obj_table of type person_typ, a supertype of student_typ. The
statement uses TREAT to modify the type of p from person_typ to student_typ.

Example 2–32 Using the TREAT Function to Return a Specific Subtype in a Query
SELECT TREAT(VALUE(p) AS student_typ)
FROM person_obj_table p;

For each p, the TREAT modification succeeds only if the most specific or specialized
type of the value of p is student_typ or one of its subtypes. If p is a person who is
not a student, or if p is NULL, TREAT returns NULL in SQL or, in PL/SQL, raises an
exception.
You can also use TREAT to modify the declared type of a REF expression. For example:
SELECT TREAT(REF(p) AS REF student_typ)
FROM person_obj_table p;

The previous example returns REFs to all student_typ instances. In SQL it returns
NULL REFs for all person instances that are not students, and in PL/SQL it raises an
exception.
Perhaps the most important use of TREAT is to access attributes or methods of a
subtype of a row or column's declared type. The following query retrieves the major
attribute of all persons, students and part-time students, who have this attribute. NULL
is returned for persons who are not students:

Example 2–33 Using the TREAT Function to Access Attributes of a Specific Subtype
SELECT name, TREAT(VALUE(p) AS student_typ).major major
FROM person_obj_table p;

The following query will not work because major is an attribute of student_typ but
not of person_typ, the declared type of table persons:
SELECT name, VALUE(p).major major FROM person_obj_table p -- incorrect;

The following is a PL/SQL example:

DECLARE
var person_typ;
BEGIN
var := employee_typ(55, 'Jane Smith', '1-800-555-7765', 100, 'Jennifer Nelson');
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(TREAT(var AS employee_typ).mgr);
END;
/

See "Assignments Across Types" on page 2-26 for information on using TREAT in
assignments. For more information about the SQL TREAT function, see Oracle Database
SQL Reference.

VALUE
In a SQL statement, the VALUE function takes as its argument a correlation variable
(table alias) for an object table or object view and returns object instances
corresponding to rows of the table or view. The VALUE function may return instances
of the declared type of the row or any of its subtypes. InExample 2–34 the query
returns all persons, including students and employees, from table person_obj_
table of person_typ.

Basic Components of Oracle Objects 2-33

Functions and Operators Useful with Objects

Example 2–34 Using the VALUE Function

SELECT VALUE(p) FROM person_obj_table p;

To retrieve only part time students, that is, instances whose most specific type is
part_time_student_typ, use the ONLY keyword to confine the selection:
SELECT VALUE(p) FROM person_obj_table p
WHERE VALUE(p) IS OF (ONLY part_time_student_typ);

In the following example, VALUE is used to update a object instance in an object table:
UPDATE person_obj_table p
SET VALUE(p) = person_typ(12, 'Bob Jones', '1-800-555-1243')
WHERE p.idno = 12;

See also Example 3–21, "Using VALUE to Update a Nested Table" on page 3-13. For
more information about the SQL VALUE function, see Oracle Database SQL Reference.

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 3
Support for Collection Datatypes

This chapter provides basic information about working with varrays and nested table
collection datatypes. It explains how to create and manage collection datatypes.
This chapter contains these topics:
■ Creating Collection Datatypes
■ Operations on Collection Datatypes

Creating Collection Datatypes

Oracle supports the varray and nested table collection datatypes.
■ A varray is an ordered collection of elements
■ A nested table can have any number of elements
If you need to store only a fixed number of items, or to loop through the elements in
order, or you will often want to retrieve and manipulate the entire collection as a
value, then use a varray.
If you need to run efficient queries on a collection, handle arbitrary numbers of
elements, or perform mass insert, update, or delete operations, then use a nested table.
See "Design Considerations for Collections" on page 8-8.

Creating an Instance of a VARRAY or Nested Table

You create an instance of a collection type in the same way that you create an instance
of any other object type, namely, by calling the type's constructor method. The name of
a type's constructor method is simply the name of the type. You specify the elements
of the collection as a comma-delimited list of arguments to the method.
Calling a constructor method with an empty list creates an empty collection of that
type. Note that an empty collection is an actual collection that happens to be empty; it
is not the same as a null collection. See "Design Considerations for Nested Tables" on
page 8-10 for more information on using nested tables.

Constructor Methods for Collections

Example 3–1 shows how a literal invocation of the constructor method is used in a
SQL statement to insert values into a nested table type people_typ.

Example 3–1 Using the Constructor Method to Insert Values into a Nested Table
CREATE TYPE people_typ AS TABLE OF person_typ;
/

Support for Collection Datatypes 3-1

Creating Collection Datatypes

CREATE TABLE people_tab (

group_no NUMBER,
people_column people_typ )
NESTED TABLE people_column STORE AS people_column_nt;

INSERT INTO people_tab VALUES (

100,
people_typ( person_typ(1, 'John Smith', '1-800-555-1212'),
person_typ(2, 'Diane Smith', NULL)));

When you declare a table column to be of an object type or collection type, you can
include a DEFAULT clause. This provides a value to use in cases where you do not
explicitly specify a value for the column. The DEFAULT clause must contain a literal
invocation of the constructor method for that object or collection.
Example 3–2 shows how to use literal invocations of constructor methods to specify
defaults for person_typ and people_typ:

Example 3–2 Creating the department_persons Table Using the DEFAULT Clause
CREATE TABLE department_persons (
dept_no NUMBER PRIMARY KEY,
dept_name CHAR(20),
dept_mgr person_typ DEFAULT person_typ(10,'John Doe',NULL),
dept_emps people_typ DEFAULT people_typ() )
NESTED TABLE dept_emps STORE AS dept_emps_tab;

INSERT INTO department_persons VALUES

( 101, 'Physical Sciences', person_typ(65,'Vrinda Mills', '1-800-555-4412'),
people_typ( person_typ(1, 'John Smith', '1-800-555-1212'),
person_typ(2, 'Diane Smith', NULL) ) );
INSERT INTO department_persons VALUES
( 104, 'Life Sciences', person_typ(70,'James Hall', '1-800-555-4621'),
people_typ() );

Note that the term people_typ() is a literal invocation of the constructor method for
an empty people_typ table.

Varrays
A varray is an ordered set of data elements. All elements of a given varray are of the
same datatype or a subtype of the declared one. Each element has an index, which is a
number corresponding to the element's position in the array. The index number is used
to access a specific element.
When you define a varray, you specify the maximum number of elements it can
contain, although you can change this number later. The number of elements in an
array is the size of the array. Oracle allows arrays to be of variable size, which is why
they are called varrays.
The following statement creates an array type email_list_arr that has no more
than ten elements, each of datatype VARCHAR2(80).
CREATE TYPE email_list_arr AS VARRAY(10) OF VARCHAR2(80);
/

In Example 3–3, a VARRAY type is created that is an array of an object type. The
phone_varray_typ VARRAY type is used as a datatype for a column in the dept_
phone_list table. The INSERT statements show how to insert values into phone_
varray_typ in the table.

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Example 3–3 Creating and Populating a VARRAY Datatype

CREATE TYPE phone_typ AS OBJECT (
country_code VARCHAR2(2),
area_code VARCHAR2(3),
ph_number VARCHAR2(7));
/
CREATE TYPE phone_varray_typ AS VARRAY(5) OF phone_typ;
/
CREATE TABLE dept_phone_list (
dept_no NUMBER(5),
phone_list phone_varray_typ);

INSERT INTO dept_phone_list VALUES (

100,
phone_varray_typ( phone_typ ('01', '650', '5061111'),
phone_typ ('01', '650', '5062222'),
phone_typ ('01', '650', '5062525')));

Creating an array type, as with a SQL object type, does not allocate space. It defines a
datatype, which you can use as:
■ The datatype of a column of a relational table.
■ An object type attribute.
■ The type of a PL/SQL variable, parameter, or function return value.
A varray is normally stored in line, that is, in the same tablespace as the other data in
its row. If it is sufficiently large, Oracle stores it as a BLOB. See "Storage Considerations
for Varrays" on page 8-9.
You can create a VARRAY type of XMLType or of a LOB type for procedural purposes,
such as in PL/SQL or in view queries. However, database storage of a varray of those
types is not supported. This means that you cannot create an object table or an object
type column of a varray type of XMLType or of a LOB type.

See Also: Oracle Database SQL Reference for information and

examples on the STORE AS LOB clause of the CREATE TABLE
statement

Nested Tables
A nested table is an unordered set of data elements, all of the same datatype. No
maximum is specified in the definition of the table and the order of the elements is not
preserved. You select, insert, delete, and update in a nested table just as you do with
ordinary tables using the TABLE expression.
Elements of a nested table are actually stored in a separate storage table that contains a
column that identifies the parent table row or object to which each element belongs. A
nested table has a single column, and the type of that column is a built-in type or an
object type. If the column in a nested table is an object type, the table can also be
viewed as a multi-column table, with a column for each attribute of the object type.
In Example 3–4 on page 3-4, the table type used for the nested tables is declared with
the CREATE TYPE ... IS TABLE OF statement. A table type definition does not allocate
space. It defines a type, which you can use as:
■ The datatype of a column of a relational table
■ An object type attribute
■ A PL/SQL variable, parameter, or function return type

Support for Collection Datatypes 3-3

Creating Collection Datatypes

When a column in a relational table is of nested table type, Oracle stores the nested
table data for all rows of the relational table in the same storage table. Similarly, with
an object table of a type that has a nested table attribute, Oracle stores nested table
data for all object instances in a single storage table associated with the object table.
See Figure 8–2, "Nested Table Storage" on page 8-11.
In Example 3–4, the NESTED TABLE clause specifies the storage name for the nested
table. The storage name is used when creating an index on a nested table. The example
uses person_typ defined in Example 2–1 on page 2-2 and people_typ defined in
Example 3–1 on page 3-1.

Example 3–4 Creating and Populating Simple Nested Tables

CREATE TABLE students (
graduation DATE,
math_majors people_typ,
chem_majors people_typ,
physics_majors people_typ)
NESTED TABLE math_majors STORE AS math_majors_nt
NESTED TABLE chem_majors STORE AS chem_majors_nt
NESTED TABLE physics_majors STORE AS physics_majors_nt;

CREATE INDEX math_idno_idx ON math_majors_nt(idno);

CREATE INDEX chem_idno_idx ON chem_majors_nt(idno);
CREATE INDEX physics_idno_idx ON physics_majors_nt(idno);

INSERT INTO students (graduation) VALUES ('01-JUN-03');

UPDATE students
SET math_majors =
people_typ (person_typ(12, 'Bob Jones', '111-555-1212'),
person_typ(31, 'Sarah Chen', '111-555-2212'),
person_typ(45, 'Chris Woods', '111-555-1213')),
chem_majors =
people_typ (person_typ(51, 'Joe Lane', '111-555-1312'),
person_typ(31, 'Sarah Chen', '111-555-2212'),
person_typ(52, 'Kim Patel', '111-555-1232')),
physics_majors =
people_typ (person_typ(12, 'Bob Jones', '111-555-1212'),
person_typ(45, 'Chris Woods', '111-555-1213'))
WHERE graduation = '01-JUN-03';

A convenient way to access the elements of a nested table individually is to use a

nested cursor or the TABLE function. See "Querying Collections" on page 3-10.

Specifying a Tablespace When Storing a Nested Table

A nested table can be stored in a different tablespace than its parent table. In
Example 3–5, the nested table is stored in the system tablespace:

Example 3–5 Specifying a Different Tablespace for Storing a Nested Table

CREATE TABLE people_tab (
people_column people_typ )
NESTED TABLE people_column STORE AS people_column_nt (TABLESPACE system);

If the TABLESPACE clause is not specified, then the storage table of the nested table is
created in the tablespace where the parent table is created. For multilevel nested tables,
Oracle creates the child table in the same tablespace as its immediate preceding parent
table.

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The user can issue ALTER TABLE MOVE statement to move a table to a different
tablespace. If the user issues ALTER TABLE MOVE statement on a table with nested
table columns, it only moves parent table, no action is taken on the nested table's
storage tables. If the user wants to move a nested table s storage table to a different
tablespace, issue ALTER TABLE MOVE on the storage table. For example:
ALTER TABLE people_tab MOVE TABLESPACE system;
ALTER TABLE people_column_nt MOVE TABLESPACE example;

Now the people_tab table is in system tablespace and nested table is stored in
the example tablespace.

Varray Storage
Multilevel varrays are stored in one of two ways, depending on whether the varray is
a varray of varrays or a varray of nested tables.
■ In a varray of varrays, the entire varray is stored inline in the row unless it is larger
than approximately 4000 bytes or LOB storage is explicitly specified.
■ In a varray of nested tables, the entire varray is stored in a LOB, with only the LOB
locator stored in the row. There is no storage table associated with nested table
elements of a varray. The entire nested table collection is stored inside the varray.
You can explicitly specify LOB storage for varrays. The following example does this for
the varray elements of a nested table. As Example 3–6 also shows, you can use the
COLUMN_VALUE keyword with varrays as well as nested tables.

Example 3–6 Specifying LOB Storage for a VARRAY Elements of a Nested Table
CREATE TYPE email_list_arr AS VARRAY(10) OF VARCHAR2(80);
/

CREATE TYPE email_list_typ AS TABLE OF email_list_arr;

/

CREATE TABLE dept_email_list (

dept_no NUMBER,
email_addrs email_list_typ)
NESTED TABLE email_addrs STORE AS email_addrs_nt
(VARRAY COLUMN_VALUE STORE AS LOB dept_emails_lob);

Example 3–7 shows explicit LOB storage specified for a varray of varray type.

Example 3–7 Specifying LOB Storage for a VARRAY Type

CREATE TYPE email_list_typ2 AS OBJECT (
section_no NUMBER,
emails email_list_arr);
/

CREATE TYPE email_varray_typ AS VARRAY(5) OF email_list_typ2;

/

CREATE TABLE dept_email_list2 (

dept_no NUMBER,
email_addrs email_varray_typ)
VARRAY email_addrs STORE AS LOB dept_emails_lob2;

Support for Collection Datatypes 3-5

Creating Collection Datatypes

See "Storage Considerations for Varrays" on page 8-9. See also Oracle Database
Application Developer's Guide - Large Objects.

Increasing the Size and Precision of VARRAYs and Nested Tables

When the element type of a VARRAY type is a variable character or RAW type or a
numeric type, you can increase the size of the variable character or RAW type or
increase the precision of the numeric type. A new type version is generated for the
VARRAY type. The same changes can be applied to nested table types.
Options like INVALIDATE and CASCADE are provided to either invalidate all
dependent objects or propagate the change to its type and table dependents.
Example 3–8 is illustrates the use ALTER TYPE to increase the size of a VARRAY and a
nested table element type.

Example 3–8 Increasing the Size of an Element Type in a VARRAY and Nested Table
CREATE TYPE email_list_arr AS VARRAY(10) OF VARCHAR2(80);
/
ALTER TYPE email_list_arr MODIFY ELEMENT TYPE VARCHAR2(100) CASCADE;

CREATE TYPE email_list_tab AS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(30);

/
ALTER TYPE email_list_tab MODIFY ELEMENT TYPE VARCHAR2(40) CASCADE;

Increasing VARRAY Limit Size

The ALTER TYPE ... MODIFY LIMIT syntax allows increasing the number of elements
of a VARRAY type. If the number of elements of the VARRAY type is increased, a new
type version is generated for the VARRAY type and this is maintained as part of the
history of the type changes.
Options like INVALIDATE and CASCADE are provided to either invalidate all
dependent objects or propagate the change to its type and table dependents.

Example 3–9 Increasing the VARRAY Limit Size

CREATE TYPE email_list_arr AS VARRAY(10) OF VARCHAR2(80);
/
CREATE TYPE email_list_typ AS OBJECT (
section_no NUMBER,
emails email_list_arr);
/

CREATE TYPE email_varray_typ AS VARRAY(5) OF email_list_typ;

/

ALTER TYPE email_varray_typ MODIFY LIMIT 100 INVALIDATE;

When a VARRAY type is altered, changes are propagated to the dependent tables. See
"Propagating VARRAY Size Change" on page 8-10.

Creating a Varray Containing LOB References

In Example 3–10, email_addrs of type email_list_typ already exists in table
dept_email_list as shown in the SQL examples in "Varray Storage" on page 3-5.

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To create a varray of LOB references, first define a VARRAY type of type REF email_
list_typ2. Next define a column of the array type in dept_email_list3.

Example 3–10 Creating a VARRY Containing LOB References

CREATE TYPE ref_email_varray_typ AS VARRAY(5) OF REF email_list_typ;
/

CREATE TABLE dept_email_list3 (

dept_no NUMBER,
email_addrs ref_email_varray_typ)
VARRAY email_addrs STORE AS LOB dept_emails_lob3;

Multilevel Collection Types

Multilevel collection types are collection types whose elements are themselves directly
or indirectly another collection type. Possible multilevel collection types are:
■ Nested table of nested table type
■ Nested table of varray type
■ Varray of nested table type
■ Varray of varray type
■ Nested table or varray of a user-defined type that has an attribute that is a nested
table or varray type
Like ordinary, single-level collection types, multilevel collection types can be used as
columns in a relational table or with object attributes in an object table.

Nested Table Storage Tables for Multilevel Collection Types

A nested table type column or object table attribute requires a storage table where
rows for all nested tables in the column are stored. With a multilevel nested table
collection of nested tables, the inner set of nested tables also requires a storage table
just as the outer set does. You specify one by appending a second nested-table storage
clause.
Example 3–11 creates a multilevel collection type that is a nested table of nested tables.
The example models a system of corporate regions in which each region has a nested
table collection of the countries, and each country has a nested table collection of its
locations. This example is based on the regions, countries, and locations tables
of the Oracle HR sample schema.
In Example 3–11, the SQL statements create a table region_tab that contains a
column countries whose type is a multilevel collection. This multilevel collection is
a nested table of an object type that has a nested table attribute locations. Separate
nested table clauses are provided for the outer countries nested table and for the
inner locations one.

Example 3–11 Multilevel Nested Table Storage

CREATE TYPE location_typ AS OBJECT (
location_id NUMBER(4),
street_address VARCHAR2(40),
postal_code VARCHAR2(12),
city VARCHAR2(30),
state_province VARCHAR2(25));
/

Support for Collection Datatypes 3-7

Creating Collection Datatypes

CREATE TYPE nt_location_typ AS TABLE OF location_typ;

/

CREATE TYPE country_typ AS OBJECT (

country_id CHAR(2),
country_name VARCHAR2(40),
locations nt_location_typ);
/

CREATE TYPE nt_country_typ AS TABLE OF country_typ;

/

CREATE TABLE region_tab (

region_id NUMBER,
region_name VARCHAR2(25),
countries nt_country_typ)
NESTED TABLE countries STORE AS nt_countries_tab
(NESTED TABLE locations STORE AS nt_locations_tab);

In Example 3–11 you can refer to the inner locations nested table by name because
this nested table is a named attribute of an object. However, if the inner nested table is
not an attribute, it has no name. The keyword COLUMN_VALUE is provided for this
case; you use it in place of a name for an inner nested table as shown in Example 3–12.

Example 3–12 Multilevel Nested Table Storage Using the COLUMN_VALUE Keyword
CREATE TYPE inner_table AS TABLE OF NUMBER;
/
CREATE TYPE outer_table AS TABLE OF inner_table;
/
CREATE TABLE tab1 (
col1 NUMBER,
col2 outer_table)
NESTED TABLE col2 STORE AS col2_ntab
(NESTED TABLE COLUMN_VALUE STORE AS cv_ntab);

Physical attributes for the storage tables can be specified in the nested table clause, as
shown in Example 3–13.

Example 3–13 Specifying Physical Attributes for Nested Table Storage

CREATE TABLE region_tab (
region_id NUMBER,
region_name VARCHAR2(25),
countries nt_country_typ)
NESTED TABLE countries STORE AS nt_countries_tab (
(PRIMARY KEY (NESTED_TABLE_ID, country_id))
ORGANIZATION INDEX COMPRESS
NESTED TABLE locations STORE AS nt_locations_tab);

Every nested table storage table contains a column, referenceable by NESTED_TABLE_

ID, that keys rows in the storage table to the associated row in the parent table. A
parent table that is itself a nested table has two system-supplied ID columns: one,
referenceable by NESTED_TABLE_ID, that keys its rows back to rows in its own parent
table, and one hidden column referenced by the NESTED_TABLE_ID column in its
nested table children.
In Example 3–13, nested table countries is made an index-organized table (IOT) by
adding the ORGANIZATION INDEX clause and assigning the nested table a primary

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 Creating Collection Datatypes

key in which the first column is NESTED_TABLE_ID. This column contains the ID of
the row in the parent table with which a storage table row is associated. Specifying a
primary key with NESTED_TABLE_ID as the first column and index-organizing the
table cause Oracle to physically cluster all the nested table rows that belong to the
same parent row, for more efficient access.
Each nested table needs its own table storage clause, so you must have as many nested
table storage clauses as you have levels of nested tables in a collection. See "Nested
Table Storage" on page 8-11.

Assignment and Comparison of Multilevel Collections

As with single-level collections, both the source and the target must be of the same
declared data type in assignments of multilevel collections.
Only items whose datatypes are nested table collection types, including multilevel
collection types, can be compared. See "Comparisons of Collections" on page 3-14.

Constructors for Multilevel Collections

Like single-level collection types, multilevel collection types are created by calling the
respective type's constructor method. Like the constructor methods for other object
types, a constructor for a multilevel collection type is a system-defined function that
has the same name as the type and returns a new instance of it—in this case, a new
multilevel collection. Constructor parameters have the names and types of the object
type's attributes.
Example 3–14 shows the constructor call for the multilevel collection type nt_
country_typ. This type is a nested table of countries, each of which contains a nested
table of locations as an attribute. The constructor for the outer nested table calls the
country_typ constructor for each country to be created; each country constructor
calls the constructor for the locations nested table type to create its nested table of
locations; and the locations nested table type constructor calls the location_typ
constructor for each location instance to be created.

Example 3–14 Using Constructors for Multilevel Collections

INSERT INTO region_tab
VALUES(1, 'Europe', nt_country_typ(
country_typ( 'IT', 'Italy', nt_location_typ (
location_typ(1000, '1297 Via Cola di Rie','00989','Roma', ''),
location_typ(1100, '93091 Calle della Testa','10934','Venice','') )
),
country_typ( 'CH', 'Switzerland', nt_location_typ (
location_typ(2900, '20 Rue des Corps-Saints', '1730', 'Geneva', 'Geneve'),
location_typ(3000, 'Murtenstrasse 921', '3095', 'Bern', 'BE') )
),
country_typ( 'UK', 'United Kingdom', nt_location_typ (
location_typ(2400, '8204 Arthur St', '', 'London', 'London'),
location_typ(2500, 'Magdalen Centre, The Oxford Science Park', 'OX9 9ZB',
'Oxford', 'Oxford'),
location_typ(2600, '9702 Chester Road', '09629850293', 'Stretford',
'Manchester') )
)
)
);

Support for Collection Datatypes 3-9

Operations on Collection Datatypes

Operations on Collection Datatypes

This section describes the operations on collection datatypes.

Querying Collections
There are two general ways to query a table that contains a column or attribute of a
collection type. One way returns the collections nested in the result rows that contain
them. The other way distributes or unnests collections such that each collection
element appears on a row by itself.

Nesting Results of Collection Queries

The following queries use the department_persons table shown in Example 3–2 on
page 3-2. The column dept_emps is a nested table collection of person_typ type.
The dept_emps collection column appears in the SELECT list like an ordinary, scalar
column. Querying a collection column in the SELECT list like this nests the elements of
the collection in the result row with which the collection is associated.
In Example 3–15 the query retrieves the nested collection of employees.

Example 3–15 Nesting Results of Collection Queries

SELECT d.dept_emps
FROM department_persons d;

DEPT_EMPS(IDNO, NAME, PHONE)

-------------------------------------------------------------
PEOPLE_TYP(PERSON_TYP(1, 'John Smith', '1-800-555-1212'),
PERSON_TYP(2, 'Diane Smith', '1-800-555-1243'))

The results are also nested if an object-type column in the SELECT list contains a
collection attribute, even if that collection is not explicitly listed in the SELECT list
itself. For example, the query SELECT * FROM department_persons would produce
a nested result.

Unnesting Results of Collection Queries

Not all tools or applications are able to deal with results in a nested format. To view
Oracle collection data using tools that require a conventional format, you must unnest,
or flatten, the collection attribute of a row into one or more relational rows. You can do
this by using a TABLE expression with the collection. A TABLE expression enables you
to query a collection in the FROM clause like a table. In effect, you join the nested table
with the row that contains the nested table.
The TABLE expression can be used to query any collection value expression, including
transient values such as variables and parameters.
As in Example 3–15, the query in Example 3–16 retrieves the collection of employees,
but the collection is unnested.

Example 3–16 Unnesting Results of Collection Queries

SELECT e.*
FROM department_persons d, TABLE(d.dept_emps) e;

IDNO NAME PHONE

---------- ------------------------------ ---------------
1 John Smith 1-800-555-1212

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2 Diane Smith 1-800-555-1243

As shown in Example 3–16, a TABLE expression can have its own table alias. In the
example, a table alias for the TABLE expression appears in the SELECT list to select
columns returned by the TABLE expression.
The TABLE expression uses another table alias to specify the table that contains the
collection column that the TABLE expression references. The expression
TABLE(d.dept_emps) specifies the department_persons table as containing the
dept_emps collection column. A TABLE expression can use the table alias of any table
appearing to the left of it in a FROM clause to reference a column of that table. This way
of referencing collection columns is called left correlation.
In the example, the department_persons table is listed in the FROM clause solely to
provide a table alias for the TABLE expression to use. No columns from the
department_persons table other than the column referenced by the TABLE
expression appear in the result
The following example produces rows only for departments that have employees.
SELECT d.dept_no, e.*
FROM department_persons d, TABLE(d.dept_emps) e;

To get rows for departments that have no employees, you can use outer-join syntax:
SELECT d.dept_no, e.*
FROM department_persons d, TABLE(d.dept_emps) (+) e;

The (+) indicates that the dependent join between department_persons and
e.dept_emps should be NULL-augmented. That is, there will be rows of
department_persons in the output for which e.dept_emps is NULL or empty,
with NULL values for columns corresponding to e.dept_emps.

Unnesting Queries Containing Table Expression Subqueries

The examples in "Unnesting Results of Collection Queries" on page 3-10 show a TABLE
expression that contains the name of a collection. Alternatively, a TABLE expression
can contain a subquery of a collection.
Example 3–17 returns the collection of employees whose department number is 101.

Example 3–17 Using a Table Expression Containing a Subquery of a Collection

SELECT *
FROM TABLE(SELECT d.dept_emps
FROM department_persons d
WHERE d.dept_no = 101);

There are these restrictions on using a subquery in a TABLE expression:

■ The subquery must return a collection type
■ The SELECT list of the subquery must contain exactly one item
■ The subquery must return only a single collection; it cannot return collections for
multiple rows. For example, the subquery SELECT dept_emps FROM
department_persons succeeds in a TABLE expression only if table
department_persons contains just a single row. If the table contains more than
one row, the subquery produces an error.
Example 3–18 shows a TABLE expression used in the FROM clause of a SELECT
embedded in a CURSOR expression.

Support for Collection Datatypes 3-11

Operations on Collection Datatypes

Example 3–18 Using a Table Expression in a CURSOR Expression

,
SELECT d.dept_no, CURSOR(SELECT * FROM TABLE(d.dept_emps))
FROM department_persons d
WHERE d.dept_no = 101;

Unnesting Queries with Multilevel Collections

Unnesting queries can be used with multilevel collections, too, for both varrays and
nested tables. Example 3–19 shows an unnesting query on a multilevel nested table
collection of nested tables. From a table region_tab in which each region has a
nested table of countries and each country has a nested table of locations, the query
returns the names of all regions, countries, and locations.

Example 3–19 Unnesting Queries with Multilevel Collections Using the TABLE Function
,
SELECT r.region_name, c.country_name, l.location_id
FROM region_tab r, TABLE(r.countries) c, TABLE(c.locations) l;

-- the following query is optimized to run against the locations table

SELECT l.location_id, l.city
FROM region_tab r, TABLE(r.countries) c, TABLE(c.locations) l;

Because no columns of the base table region_tab appear in the second SELECT list,
the query is optimized to run directly against the locations storage table.
Outer-join syntax can also be used with queries of multilevel collections. See "Viewing
Object Data in Relational Form with Unnesting Queries" on page 8-8.

Performing DML Operations on Collections

Oracle supports the following DML operations on nested table columns:
■ Inserts and updates that provide a new value for the entire collection
■ Piecewise Updates
■ Inserting new elements into the collection
■ Deleting elements from the collection
■ Updating elements of the collection.
Oracle does not support piecewise updates on VARRAY columns. However, VARRAY
columns can be inserted into or updated as an atomic unit.
For piecewise updates of nested table columns, the DML statement identifies the
nested table value to be operated on by using the TABLE expression.
The DML statements in Example 3–20 demonstrate piecewise operations on nested
table columns.

Example 3–20 Piecewise Operations on Collections

INSERT INTO TABLE(SELECT d.dept_emps
FROM department_persons d
WHERE d.dept_no = 101)
VALUES (5, 'Kevin Taylor', '1-800-555-6212');

UPDATE TABLE(SELECT d.dept_emps

FROM department_persons d

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WHERE d.dept_no = 101) e

SET VALUE(e) = person_typ(5, 'Kevin Taylor', '1-800-555-6233')
WHERE e.idno = 5;

DELETE FROM TABLE(SELECT d.dept_emps

FROM department_persons d
WHERE d.dept_no = 101) e
WHERE e.idno = 5;

Example 3–21 shows VALUE used to return object instance rows for updating:

Example 3–21 Using VALUE to Update a Nested Table

UPDATE TABLE(SELECT d.dept_emps FROM department_persons d
WHERE d.dept_no = 101) p
SET VALUE(p) = person_typ(2, 'Diane Smith', '1-800-555-1243')
WHERE p.idno = 2;

Performing DML on Multilevel Collections

For multilevel nested table collections, DML can be done atomically, on the collection
as a whole, or piecewise, on selected elements. For multilevel varray collections, DML
operations can be done only atomically.

Collections as Atomic Data Items The section "Constructors for Multilevel Collections" on
page 3-9 shows an example of inserting an entire multilevel collection with an INSERT
statement. Multilevel collections can also be updated atomically with an UPDATE
statement. For example, suppose v_country is a variable declared to be of the
countries nested table type nt_country_typ. Example 3–22 updates region_tab
by setting the countries collection as a unit to the value of v_country.

Example 3–22 Using UPDATE to Insert an Entire Multilevel Collection

INSERT INTO region_tab (region_id, region_name) VALUES(2, 'Americas');

DECLARE
v_country nt_country_typ;
BEGIN
v_country := nt_country_typ( country_typ(
'US', 'United States of America', nt_location_typ (
location_typ( 1500,'2011 Interiors Blvd','99236','San Francisco','California'),
location_typ(1600,'2007 Zagora St','50090','South Brunswick','New Jersey'))));
UPDATE region_tab r
SET r.countries = v_country WHERE r.region_id = 2;
END;
/

Piecewise Operations on Nested Tables Piecewise DML is possible only on nested tables,
not on varrays.
Example 3–23 shows a piecewise insert operation on the countries nested table of
nested tables. The example inserts a new country, complete with its own nested table
of location_typ:

Example 3–23 Piecewise INSERT on a Multilevel Collection

INSERT INTO TABLE( SELECT countries FROM region_tab r WHERE r.region_id = 2)
VALUES ( 'CA', 'Canada', nt_location_typ(
location_typ(1800, '147 Spadina Ave', 'M5V 2L7', 'Toronto', 'Ontario')));

Support for Collection Datatypes 3-13

Operations on Collection Datatypes

Example 3–24 performs a piecewise insert into an inner nested table to add a location
for a country. Like the preceding, this example uses a TABLE expression containing a
subquery that selects the inner nested table to specify the target for the insert.

Example 3–24 Piecewise INSERT into an Inner Nested Table

INSERT INTO TABLE( SELECT c.locations
FROM TABLE( SELECT r.countries FROM region_tab r WHERE r.region_id = 2) c
WHERE c.country_id = 'US')
VALUES (1700, '2004 Lakeview Rd', '98199', 'Seattle', 'Washington');

SELECT r.region_name, c.country_name, l.location_id

FROM region_tab r, TABLE(r.countries) c, TABLE(c.locations) l;

Comparisons of Collections
The conditions listed in this section allow comparisons of nested tables. There is no
mechanism for comparing varrays. The SQL examples in this section use the nested
tables created in Example 3–4 on page 3-4.

Equal and Not Equal Comparisons

The equal (=) and not equal (<>) conditions determine whether the input nested tables
are identical or not, returning the result as a Boolean value.
Two nested tables are equal if they have the same named type, have the same
cardinality, and their elements are equal. Elements are equal depending on whether
they are equal by the elements own equality definitions, except for object types which
require a map method.

Example 3–25 Using an Equality Comparison with Nested Tables

SELECT p.name
FROM students, TABLE(physics_majors) p
WHERE math_majors = physics_majors;

In Example 3–25, the nested tables contain person_typ objects which have an
associated map method. See Example 2–1 on page 2-2.

In Comparisons
The IN condition checks whether a nested table is in a list of nested tables, returning
the result as a Boolean value. NULL is returned if the nested table is a null nested
table.

Example 3–26 Using an IN Comparison with Nested Tables

SELECT p.idno, p.name
FROM students, TABLE(physics_majors) p
WHERE physics_majors IN (math_majors, chem_majors);

Subset of Multiset Comparison

The SUBMULTISET [OF] condition checks whether a nested table is a subset of a
another nested table, returning the result as a Boolean value. The OF keyword is
optional and does not change the functionality of SUBMULTISET.

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 Operations on Collection Datatypes

This operator is implemented only for nested tables because this is a multiset function
only.

Example 3–27 Testing the SUBMULTISET OF Condition on a Nested Table

SELECT p.idno, p.name
FROM students, TABLE(physics_majors) p
WHERE physics_majors SUBMULTISET OF math_majors;

Member of a Nested Table Comparison

The MEMBER [OF] or NOT MEMBER [OF] condition tests whether an element is a
member of a nested table, returning the result as a Boolean value. The OF keyword is
optional and has no effect on the output.

Example 3–28 Using MEMBER OF on a Nested Table

SELECT graduation
FROM students
WHERE person_typ(12, 'Bob Jones', '1-800-555-1212') MEMBER OF math_majors;

In Example 3–28, person_typ (12, 'Bob Jones', '1-800-555-1212') is an

element of the same type as the elements of the nested table math_majors.

Empty Comparison
The IS [NOT] EMPTY condition checks whether a given nested table is empty or not
empty, regardless of whether any of the elements are NULL. If a NULL is given for the
nested table, the result is NULL. The result is returned as a Boolean value.

Example 3–29 Using IS NOT on a Nested Table

SELECT p.idno, p.name
FROM students, TABLE(physics_majors) p
WHERE physics_majors IS NOT EMPTY;

Set Comparison
The IS [NOT] A SET condition checks whether a given nested table is composed of
unique elements, returning a Boolean value.

Example 3–30 Using IS A SET on a Nested Table

SELECT p.idno, p.name
FROM students, TABLE(physics_majors) p
WHERE physics_majors IS A SET;

Multisets Operations
This section describes multiset operations with nested tables. For a description of
additional operations, see "Comparisons of Objects, REF Variables, and Collections" on
page 2-28. The SQL examples in this section use the nested tables created in
Example 3–4 on page 3-4.
For more information about using operators with nested tables, see Oracle Database
SQL Reference.

Support for Collection Datatypes 3-15

Operations on Collection Datatypes

CARDINALITY
The CARDINALITY function returns the number of elements in a varray or nested
table. The return type is NUMBER. If the varray or nested table is a null collection, NULL
is returned.

Example 3–31 Determining the CARDINALITY of a Nested Table

SELECT CARDINALITY(math_majors)
FROM students;

For more information about the CARDINALITY function, see Oracle Database SQL
Reference.

COLLECT
The COLLECT function is an aggregate function which would create a multiset from a
set of elements. The function would take a column of the element type as input and
create a multiset from rows selected. To get the results of this function you must use it
within a CAST function to specify the output type of COLLECT. See "CAST" on
page 2-29 for an example of the COLLECT function.
For more information about the COLLECT function, see Oracle Database SQL Reference.

MULTISET EXCEPT
The MULTISET EXCEPT operator inputs two nested tables and returns a nested table
whose elements are in the first nested table but not in the second nested table. The
input nested tables and the output nested table are all type name equivalent.
The ALL or DISTINCT options can be used with the operator. The default is ALL.
■ With the ALL option, for ntab1 MULTISET EXCEPT ALL ntab2, all elements in
ntab1 other than those in ntab2 would be part of the result. If a particular
element occurs m times in ntab1 and n times in ntab2, the result will have (m - n)
occurrences of the element if m is greater than n otherwise 0 occurrences of the
element.
■ With the DISTINCT option, any element that is present in ntab1 which is also
present in ntab2 would be eliminated, irrespective of the number of occurrences.

Example 3–32 Using the MULTISET EXCEPT Operation on Nested Tables

SELECT math_majors MULTISET EXCEPT physics_majors
FROM students
WHERE graduation = '01-JUN-03';

For more information about the MULTISET EXCEPT operator, see Oracle Database SQL
Reference.

MULTISET INTERSECTION
The MULTISET INTERSECT operator returns a nested table whose values are common
in the two input nested tables. The input nested tables and the output nested table are
all type name equivalent.
There are two options associated with the operator: ALL or DISTINCT. The default is
ALL. With the ALL option, if a particular value occurs m times in ntab1 and n times in
ntab2, the result would contain the element MIN(m, n) times. With the DISTINCT
option the duplicates from the result would be eliminated, including duplicates of
NULL values if they exist.

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 Operations on Collection Datatypes

Example 3–33 Using the MULTISET INTERSECT Operation on Nested Tables

SELECT math_majors MULTISET INTERSECT physics_majors
FROM students
WHERE graduation = '01-JUN-03';

For more information about the MULTISET INTERSECT operator, see Oracle Database
SQL Reference.

MULTISET UNION
The MULTISET UNION operator returns a nested table whose values are those of the
two input nested tables. The input nested tables and the output nested table are all
type name equivalent.
There are two options associated with the operator: ALL or DISTINCT. The default is
ALL. With the ALL option, all elements that are in ntab1 and ntab2 would be part of
the result, including all copies of NULLs. If a particular element occurs m times in
ntab1 and n times in ntab2, the result would contain the element (m + n) times. With
the DISTINCT option the duplicates from the result are eliminated, including
duplicates of NULL values if they exist.

Example 3–34 Using the MULTISET UNION Operation on Nested Tables

SELECT math_majors MULTISET UNION DISTINCT physics_majors
FROM students
WHERE graduation = '01-JUN-03';

PEOPLE_TYP(PERSON_TYP(12, 'Bob Jones', '1-800-555-1212'),

PERSON_TYP(31, 'Sarah Chen', '1-800-555-2212'),
PERSON_TYP(45, 'Chris Woods', '1-800-555-1213'))

SELECT math_majors MULTISET UNION ALL physics_majors

FROM students
WHERE graduation = '01-JUN-03';

PEOPLE_TYP(PERSON_TYP(12, 'Bob Jones', '1-800-555-1212'),

PERSON_TYP(31, 'Sarah Chen', '1-800-555-2212'),
PERSON_TYP(45, 'Chris Woods', '1-800-555-1213'),
PERSON_TYP(12, 'Bob Jones', '1-800-555-1212'),
PERSON_TYP(45, 'Chris Woods', '1-800-555-1213'))

For more information about the MULTISET UNION operator, see Oracle Database SQL
Reference.

POWERMULTISET
The POWERMULTISET function generates all non-empty submultisets from a given
multiset. The input to the POWERMULTISET function could be any expression which
evaluates to a multiset. The limit on the cardinality of the multiset argument is 32.

Example 3–35 Using the POWERMULTISET Operation on Multiset

SELECT * FROM TABLE(POWERMULTISET( people_typ (
person_typ(12, 'Bob Jones', '1-800-555-1212'),
person_typ(31, 'Sarah Chen', '1-800-555-2212'),
person_typ(45, 'Chris Woods', '1-800-555-1213'))));

For more information about the POWERMULTISET function, see Oracle Database SQL
Reference.

Support for Collection Datatypes 3-17

Operations on Collection Datatypes

POWERMULTISET_BY_CARDINALITY
The POWERMULTISET_BY_CARDINALITY function returns all non-empty
submultisets of a nested table of the specified cardinality. The output would be rows of
nested tables.
POWERMULTISET_BY_CARDINALITY(x, l) is equivalent to
TABLE(POWERMULTISET(x)) p where CARDINALITY(value(p)) = l, where x is a
multiset and l is the specified cardinality.
The first input parameter to the POWERMULTISET_BY_CARDINALITY could be any
expression which evaluates to a nested table. The length parameter should be a
positive integer, otherwise an error will be returned. The limit on the cardinality of the
nested table argument is 32.

Example 3–36 Using the POWERMULTISET_BY_CARDINALITY Function

SELECT * FROM TABLE(POWERMULTISET_BY_CARDINALITY( people_typ (
person_typ(12, 'Bob Jones', '1-800-555-1212'),
person_typ(31, 'Sarah Chen', '1-800-555-2212'),
person_typ(45, 'Chris Woods', '1-800-555-1213')),2));

For more information about the POWERMULTISET_BY_CARDINALITY function, see

Oracle Database SQL Reference.

SET
The SET function converts a nested table into a set by eliminating duplicates, and
returns a nested table whose elements are DISTINCT from one another. The nested
table returned is of the same named type as the input nested table.

Example 3–37 Using the SET Function on a Nested Table

SELECT SET(physics_majors)
FROM students
WHERE graduation = '01-JUN-03';

For more information about the SET function, see Oracle Database SQL Reference.

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 4
Object Support in Oracle Programming
Environments

In an Oracle database, you can create object types with SQL data definition language
(DDL) commands, and you can manipulate objects with SQL data manipulation
language (DML) commands. Object support is built into Oracle application
programming environments.
This chapter discusses the following topics:
■ SQL
■ PL/SQL
■ Oracle Call Interface (OCI)
■ Pro*C/C++
■ Oracle C++ Call Interface (OCCI)
■ Oracle Objects For OLE (OO4O)
■ Java: JDBC, Oracle SQLJ, JPublisher, and SQLJ Object Types
■ XML

SQL
Oracle SQL DDL provides the following support for object types:
■ Defining object types, nested tables, and arrays
■ Specifying privileges
■ Specifying table columns of object types
■ Creating object tables
Oracle SQL DML provides the following support for object types:
■ Querying and updating objects and collections
■ Manipulating REFs

See Also: For a complete description of Oracle SQL syntax, see

Oracle Database SQL Reference

Object Support in Oracle Programming Environments 4-1

PL/SQL

PL/SQL
Object types and subtypes can be used in PL/SQL procedures and functions in most
places where built-in types can appear.
The parameters and variables of PL/SQL functions and procedures can be of object
types.
You can implement the methods associated with object types in PL/SQL. These
methods (functions and procedures) reside on the server as part of a user's schema.

See Also: For a complete description of PL/SQL, see the Oracle

Database PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference

Oracle Call Interface (OCI)

OCI is a set of C library functions that applications can use to manipulate data and
schemas in an Oracle database. OCI supports both traditional 3GL and object-oriented
techniques for database access, as explained in the following sections.
An important component of OCI is a set of calls to manage a workspace called the
object cache. The object cache is a memory block on the client side that allows
programs to store entire objects and to navigate among them without additional round
trips to the server.
The object cache is completely under the control and management of the application
programs using it. The Oracle server has no access to it. The application programs
using it must maintain data coherency with the server and protect the workspace
against simultaneous conflicting access.
OCI provides functions to
■ Access objects on the server using SQL.
■ Access, manipulate and manage objects in the object cache by traversing pointers
or REFs.
■ Convert Oracle dates, strings and numbers to C data types.
■ Manage the size of the object cache's memory.
OCI improves concurrency by allowing individual objects to be locked. It improves
performance by supporting complex object retrieval.
OCI developers can use the object type translator to generate the C datatypes
corresponding to a Oracle object types.

See Also: Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide for more

information about using objects with OCI

Associative Access in OCI Programs

Traditionally, 3GL programs manipulate data stored in a relational database by
executing SQL statements and PL/SQL procedures. Data is usually manipulated on
the server without incurring the cost of transporting the data to the client(s). OCI
supports this associative access to objects by providing an API for executing SQL
statements that manipulate object data. Specifically, OCI enables you to:
■ Execute SQL statements that manipulate object data and object type schema
information

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 Oracle Call Interface (OCI)

■ Pass object instances, object references (REFs), and collections as input variables in
SQL statements
■ Return object instances, REFs, and collections as output of SQL statement fetches
■ Describe the properties of SQL statements that return object instances, REFs, and
collections
■ Describe and execute PL/SQL procedures or functions with object parameters or
results
■ Synchronize object and relational functionality through enhanced commit and
rollback functions
See "Associative Access in Pro*C/C++" on page 4-5.

Navigational Access in OCI Programs

In the object-oriented programming paradigm, applications model their real-world
entities as a set of inter-related objects that form graphs of objects. The relationships
between objects are implemented as references. An application processes objects by
starting at some initial set of objects, using the references in these initial objects to
traverse the remaining objects, and performing computations on each object. OCI
provides an API for this style of access to objects, known as navigational access.
Specifically, OCI enables you to:
■ Cache objects in memory on the client machine
■ De-reference an object reference and pin the corresponding object in the object
cache. The pinned object is transparently mapped in the host language
representation.
■ Notify the cache when the pinned object is no longer needed
■ Fetch a graph of related objects from the database into the client cache in one call
■ Lock objects
■ Create, update, and delete objects in the cache
■ Flush changes made to objects in the client cache to the database
See "Navigational Access in Pro*C/C++" on page 4-5.

Object Cache
To support high-performance navigational access of objects, OCI runtime provides an
object cache for caching objects in memory. The object cache supports references
(REFs) to database objects in the object cache, the database objects can be identified
(that is, pinned) through their references. Applications do not need to allocate or free
memory when database objects are loaded into the cache, because the object cache
provides transparent and efficient memory management for database objects.
Also, when database objects are loaded into the cache, they are transparently mapped
into the host language representation. For example, in the C programming language,
the database object is mapped to its corresponding C structure. The object cache
maintains the association between the object copy in the cache and the corresponding
database object. Upon transaction commit, changes made to the object copy in the
cache are propagated automatically to the database.
The object cache maintains a fast look-up table for mapping REFs to objects. When an
application de-references a REF and the corresponding object is not yet cached in the
object cache, the object cache automatically sends a request to the server to fetch the

Object Support in Oracle Programming Environments 4-3

Oracle Call Interface (OCI)

object from the database and load it into the object cache. Subsequent de-references of
the same REF are faster because they become local cache access and do not incur
network round-trips. To notify the object cache that an application is accessing an
object in the cache, the application pins the object; when it is finished with the object, it
unpins it. The object cache maintains a pin count for each object in the cache. The
count is incremented upon a pin call and decremented upon an unpin call. When the
pin count goes to zero, it means the object is no longer needed by the application. The
object cache uses a least-recently used (LRU) algorithm to manage the size of the
cache. When the cache reaches the maximum size, the LRU algorithm frees candidate
objects with a pin count of zero.

Building an OCI Program That Manipulates Objects

When you build an OCI program that manipulates objects, you must complete the
following general steps:
1. Define the object types that correspond to the application objects.
2. Execute the SQL DDL statements to populate the database with the necessary
object types.
3. Represent the object types in the host language format.
For example, to manipulate instances of the object types in a C program, you must
represent these types in the C host language format. You can do this by
representing the object types as C structs. You can use a tool provided by Oracle
called the Object Type Translator (OTT) to generate the C mapping of the object
types. The OTT puts the equivalent C structs in header (*.h) files. You include
these *.h files in the *.c files containing the C functions that implement the
application.
4. Construct the application executable by compiling and linking the application's *.c
files with the OCI library.

See Also: Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide for tips and
techniques for using OCI program effectively with objects

Defining User-Defined Constructors in C

When defining a user-defined constructor in C, you must specify SELF (and you may
optionally specify SELF TDO) in the PARAMETERS clause. On entering the C function,
the attributes of the C structure that the object maps to are all initialized to NULL. The
value returned by the function is mapped to an instance of the user-defined type.
Example 4–1 shows how to define a user-defined constructor in C.

Example 4–1 Defining a User-Defined Constructor in C

CREATE LIBRARY person_lib TRUSTED AS STATIC
/

CREATE TYPE person AS OBJECT

( name VARCHAR2(30),
CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION person(SELF IN OUT NOCOPY person, name VARCHAR2)
RETURN SELF AS RESULT);
/

CREATE TYPE BODY person IS

CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION person(SELF IN OUT NOCOPY person, name VARCHAR2)
RETURN SELF AS RESULT
IS EXTERNAL NAME "cons_person_typ" LIBRARY person_lib WITH CONTEXT

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 Pro*C/C++

PARAMETERS(context, SELF, name OCIString, name INDICATOR sb4);

END;
/

The SELF parameter is mapped like an IN parameter, so in the case of a NOT FINAL
type, it is mapped to (dvoid *), not (dvoid **).
The return value's TDO must match the TDO of SELF and is therefore implicit. The
return value can never be null, so the return indicator is implicit as well.

Pro*C/C++
The Oracle Pro*C/C++ precompiler allows programmers to use user-defined
datatypes in C and C++ programs.
Pro*C developers can use the Object Type Translator to map Oracle object types and
collections into C datatypes to be used in the Pro*C application.
Pro*C provides compile time type checking of object types and collections and
automatic type conversion from database types to C datatypes.
Pro*C includes an EXEC SQL syntax to create and destroy objects and offers two ways
to access objects in the server:
■ SQL statements and PL/SQL functions or procedures embedded in Pro*C
programs.
■ An interface to the object cache (described under "Oracle Call Interface (OCI)" on
page 4-2), where objects can be accessed by traversing pointers, then modified and
updated on the server.

See Also: For a complete description of the Pro*C precompiler,

see Pro*C/C++ Programmer's Guide.

Associative Access in Pro*C/C++

For background information on associative access, see "Associative Access in OCI
Programs" on page 4-2.
Pro*C/C++ offers the following capabilities for associative access to objects:
■ Support for transient copies of objects allocated in the object cache
■ Support for transient copies of objects referenced as input host variables in
embedded SQL INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements, or in the WHERE clause
of a SELECT statement
■ Support for transient copies of objects referenced as output host variables in
embedded SQL SELECT and FETCH statements
■ Support for ANSI dynamic SQL statements that reference object types through the
DESCRIBE statement, to get the object's type and schema information

Navigational Access in Pro*C/C++

For background information on navigational access, see "Navigational Access in OCI
Programs" on page 4-3.
Pro*C/C++ offers the following capabilities to support a more object-oriented interface
to objects:

Object Support in Oracle Programming Environments 4-5

Oracle C++ Call Interface (OCCI)

■ Support for de-referencing, pinning, and optionally locking an object in the object
cache using an embedded SQL OBJECT DEREF statement
■ Allowing a Pro*C/C++ user to inform the object cache when an object has been
updated or deleted, or when it is no longer needed, using embedded SQL OBJECT
UPDATE, OBJECT DELETE, and OBJECT RELEASE statements
■ Support for creating new referenceable objects in the object cache using an
embedded SQL OBJECT CREATE statement
■ Support for flushing changes made in the object cache to the server with an
embedded SQL OBJECT FLUSH statement

Converting Between Oracle Types and C Types

The C representation for objects that is generated by the Oracle Type Translator (OTT)
uses OCI types whose internal details are hidden, such as OCIString and
OCINumber for scalar attributes. Collection types and object references are similarly
represented using OCITable, OCIArray, and OCIRef types. While using these
opaque types insulates you from changes to their internal formats, using such types in
a C or C++ application is cumbersome. Pro*C/C++ provides the following ease-of-use
enhancements to simplify use of OCI types in C and C++ applications:
■ Object attributes can be retrieved and implicitly converted to C types with the
embedded SQL OBJECT GET statement.
■ Object attributes can be set and converted from C types with the embedded SQL
OBJECT SET statement.
■ Collections can be mapped to a host array with the embedded SQL COLLECTION
GET statement. Furthermore, if the collection is comprised of scalar types, then the
OCI types can be implicitly converted to a compatible C type.
■ Host arrays can be used to update the elements of a collection with the embedded
SQL COLLECTION SET statement. As with the COLLECTION GET statement, if the
collection is comprised of scalar types, C types are implicitly converted to OCI
types.

Oracle Type Translator (OTT)

The Oracle type translator (OTT) is a program that automatically generates C language
structure declarations corresponding to object types. OTT makes it easier to use the
Pro*C precompiler and the OCI server access package.

See Also: For complete information about OTT, see Oracle Call
Interface Programmer's Guide and Pro*C/C++ Programmer's Guide.

Oracle C++ Call Interface (OCCI)

The Oracle C++ Call Interface (OCCI) is a C++ API that enables you to use the
object-oriented features, native classes, and methods of the C++ programing language
to access the Oracle database.
The OCCI interface is modeled on the JDBC interface and, like the JDBC interface, is
easy to use. OCCI itself is built on top of OCI and provides the power and
performance of OCI using an object-oriented paradigm.
OCI is a C API to the Oracle database. It supports the entire Oracle feature set and
provides efficient access to both relational and object data, but it can be challenging to
use—particularly if you want to work with complex, object datatypes. Object types are

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 Oracle Objects For OLE (OO4O)

not natively supported in C, and simulating them in C is not easy. OCCI addresses this
by providing a simpler, object-oriented interface to the functionality of OCI. It does
this by defining a set of wrappers for OCI. By working with these higher-level
abstractions, developers can avail themselves of the underlying power of OCI to
manipulate objects in the server through an object-oriented interface that is
significantly easier to program.
The Oracle C++ Call Interface, OCCI, can be roughly divided into three sets of
functionalities, namely:
■ Associative relational access
■ Associative object access
■ Navigational access

OCCI Associative Relational and Object Interfaces

The associative relational API and object classes provide SQL access to the database.
Through these interfaces, SQL is executed on the server to create, manipulate, and
fetch object or relational data. Applications can access any datatype on the server,
including the following:
■ Large objects
■ Objects/Structured types
■ Arrays
■ References

The OCCI Navigational Interface

The navigational interface is a C++ interface that lets you seamlessly access and
modify object-relational data in the form of C++ objects without using SQL. The C++
objects are transparently accessed and stored in the database as needed.
With the OCCI navigational interface, you can retrieve an object and navigate through
references from that object to other objects. Server objects are materialized as C++ class
instances in the application cache.
An application can use OCCI object navigational calls to perform the following
functions on the server's objects:
■ Create, access, lock, delete, and flush objects
■ Get references to the objects and navigate through them

See Also: Oracle C++ Call Interface Programmer's Guide for a

complete account of how to build applications with the Oracle C++
API

Oracle Objects For OLE (OO4O)

Oracle Objects for OLE (OO4O) provides full support for accessing and manipulating
instances of REFs, value instances, variable-length arrays (VARRAYs), and nested tables
in an Oracle database server.
On Windows systems, you can use Oracle Objects for OLE (OO4O) to write
object-oriented database programs in Visual Basic or other environments that support
the COM protocol, such as Excel, ActiveX, and Active Server Pages.

Object Support in Oracle Programming Environments 4-7

Oracle Objects For OLE (OO4O)

See Also: The "OO4O Automation Server Reference" section of

the Oracle Objects for OLE online help or Oracle Objects for OLE
Developer's Guide online documentation for detailed information
and examples on using OO4O with Oracle objects

Figure 4–1 illustrates the containment hierarchy for value instances of all types in
OO4O.

Figure 4–1 Supported Oracle Datatypes

OraObject OraAttribute

OraField OraRef OraAttribute

OraParameter OraCollection Element Values

OraBLOB

OraCLOB

OraBFILE

Value of all other scalar types

Instances of these types can be fetched from the database or passed as input or output
variables to SQL statements and PL/SQL blocks, including stored procedures and
functions. All instances are mapped to COM Automation Interfaces that provide
methods for dynamic attribute access and manipulation. These interfaces may be
obtained from:
■ The value property of an OraField object in a dynaset
■ The value property of an OraParameter object used as an input or an output
parameter in SQL Statements or PL/SQL blocks
■ An attribute of an object (REF)
■ An element in a collection (varray or a nested table)

Representing Objects in Visual Basic (OraObject)

The OraObject interface is a representation of an Oracle embedded object or a value
instance. It contains a collection interface (OraAttributes) for accessing and
manipulating (updating and inserting) individual attributes of a value instance.
Individual attributes of an OraAttributes collection interface can be accessed by
using a subscript or the name of the attribute.
The following Visual Basic example illustrates how to access attributes of the Address
object in the person_tab table:
Dim Address OraObject
Set Person =
OraDatabase.CreateDynaset("select * from person_tab", 0&)
Set Address = Person.Fields("Addr").Value
Msgbox Address.Zip

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 Java: JDBC, Oracle SQLJ, JPublisher, and SQLJ Object Types

Msgbox.Address.City

Representing REFs in Visual Basic (OraRef)

The OraRef interface represents an Oracle object reference (REF) as well as
referenceable objects in client applications. The object attributes are accessed in the
same manner as attributes of an object represented by the OraObject interface.
OraRef is derived from an OraObject interface by means of the containment
mechanism in COM. REF objects are updated and deleted independent of the context
they originated from, such as dynasets. The OraRef interface also encapsulates the
functionality for navigating through graphs of objects utilizing the Complex Object
Retrieval Capability (COR) in OCI.

See Also: Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide for tips and
techniques for using OCI program effectively with objects

Representing VARRAYs and Nested Tables in Visual Basic (OraCollection)

The OraCollection interface provides methods for accessing and manipulating
Oracle collection types, namely variable-length arrays (VARRAYs) and nested tables in
OO4O. Elements contained in a collection are accessed by subscripts.
The following Visual Basic example illustrates how to access attributes of the
EnameList object from the department table:
Dim EnameList OraCollection
Set Person =
OraDatabase.CreateDynaset("select * from department", 0&)
Set EnameList = Department.Fields("Enames").Value
'The following loop accesses all elements of
'the EnameList VArray
For I=1 to I=EnameList.Size
Msgbox EnameList(I)
Next I

Java: JDBC, Oracle SQLJ, JPublisher, and SQLJ Object Types

Java has emerged as a powerful, modern object-oriented language that provides
developers with a simple, efficient, portable, and safe application development
platform. Oracle provides two ways to integrate Oracle object features with Java: JDBC
and Oracle SQLJ. These interfaces enable you both to access SQL data from Java and to
provide persistent database storage for Java objects.
For an example of using Java APIs with Oracle objects, see the Oracle by Example
Series available on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) Web site:
http://otn.oracle.com/products/oracle9i/htdocs/9iobe/OBE9i-Publi
c/obe-dev/html/objects/objects.htm
You can use the followings steps to navigate to the Oracle objects module in the Oracle
by Example Series.
■ Go to http://www.oracle.com/technology/
■ Select Oracle Database under Products from the menu on the left side of the page
■ Select Oracle9i Database Release 1 under Previous Releases on the right side of
the page
■ Under Technical Information, select Oracle9i by Example Series

Object Support in Oracle Programming Environments 4-9

Java: JDBC, Oracle SQLJ, JPublisher, and SQLJ Object Types

■ Select Build Application Components from the menu on the left side of the page
■ Select the Using Objects to Build an Online Product Catalog example
You can also search for Using Objects to Build an Online Product Catalog on the
OTN Web site at http://www.oracle.com/technology/.

JDBC Access to Oracle Object Data

JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) is a set of Java interfaces to the Oracle server.
Oracle provides tight integration between objects and JDBC. You can map SQL types
to Java classes with considerable flexibility.
Oracle JDBC:
■ Allows access to objects and collection types (defined in the database) in Java
programs through dynamic SQL.
■ Translates types defined in the database into Java classes through default or
customizable mappings.
Version 2.0 of the JDBC specification supports object-relational constructs such as
user-defined (object) types. JDBC materializes Oracle objects as instances of particular
Java classes. Using JDBC to access Oracle objects involves creating the Java classes for
the Oracle objects and populating these classes. You can either:
■ Let JDBC materialize the object as a STRUCT. In this case, JDBC creates the classes
for the attributes and populates them for you.
■ Manually specify the mappings between Oracle objects and Java classes; that is,
customize your Java classes for object data. The driver then populates the
customized Java classes that you specify, which imposes a set of constraints on the
Java classes. To satisfy these constraints, you can choose to define your classes
according to either the SQLData interface or the ORAData interface.

See Also: For complete information about JDBC, see the Oracle
Database JDBC Developer's Guide and Reference.

SQLJ Access to Oracle Object Data

SQLJ provides access to server objects using SQL statements embedded in the Java
code:
■ You can use user-defined types in Java programs.
■ You can use JPublisher to map Oracle object and collection types into Java classes
to be used in the application.
■ The object types and collections in the SQL statements are checked at compile
time.

See Also: For complete information about SQLJ, see the Oracle
Database Java Developer's Guide.

Choosing a Data Mapping Strategy

Oracle SQLJ supports either strongly typed or weakly typed Java representations of
object types, reference types (REFs), and collection types (varrays and nested tables) to
be used in iterators or host expressions.
Strongly typed representations use a custom Java class that corresponds to a particular
object type, REF type, or collection type and must implement the interface

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 Java: JDBC, Oracle SQLJ, JPublisher, and SQLJ Object Types

oracle.sql.ORAData. The Oracle JPublisher utility can automatically generate such

custom Java classes.
Weakly typed representations use the class oracle.sql.STRUCT (for objects),
oracle.sql.REF (for references), or oracle.sql.ARRAY (for collections).

Using JPublisher to Create Java Classes for JDBC and SQLJ Programs
Oracle lets you map Oracle object types, reference types, and collection types to Java
classes and preserve all the benefits of strong typing. You can:
■ Use JPublisher to automatically generate custom Java classes and use those classes
without any change.
■ Subclass the classes produced by JPublisher to create your own specialized Java
classes.
■ Manually code custom Java classes without using JPublisher if the classes meet the
requirements stated in the Oracle Database JPublisher User's Guide.
We recommend that you use JPublisher and subclass when the generated classes do
not do everything you need.

What JPublisher Produces for a User-Defined Object Type

When you run JPublisher for a user-defined object type, it automatically creates the
following:
■ A custom object class to act as a type definition to correspond to your Oracle object
type
This class includes getter and setter methods for each attribute. The method names
are of the form getXxx() and setXxx() for attribute xxx.
Also, you can optionally instruct JPublisher to generate wrapper methods in your
class that invoke the associated Oracle object methods executing in the server.
■ A related custom reference class for object references to your Oracle object type
This class includes a getValue() method that returns an instance of your custom
object class, and a setValue() method that updates an object value in the
database, taking as input an instance of the custom object class.
When you run JPublisher for a user-defined collection type, it automatically creates the
following:
■ A custom collection class to act as a type definition to correspond to your Oracle
collection type
This class includes overloaded getArray() and setArray() methods to
retrieve or update a collection as a whole, a getElement() method and
setElement() method to retrieve or update individual elements of a collection,
and additional utility methods.
JPublisher-produced custom Java classes in any of these categories implement the
ORAData interface and the getFactory() method.

See Also: The Oracle Database JPublisher User's Guide for more
information about using JPublisher.

Object Support in Oracle Programming Environments 4-11

Java: JDBC, Oracle SQLJ, JPublisher, and SQLJ Object Types

Java Object Storage

JPublisher enables you to construct Java classes that map to existing SQL types. You
can then access the SQL types from a Java application using JDBC.
You can also go in the other direction. That is, you can create SQL types that map to
existing Java classes. This capability enables you to provide persistent storage for Java
objects. Such SQL types are called SQL types of Language Java, or SQLJ object types.
They can be used as the type of an object, an attribute, a column, or a row in an object
table. You can navigationally access objects of such types—Java objects—through
either object references or foreign keys, and you can query and manipulate such
objects from SQL.
You create SQLJ types with a CREATE TYPE statement as you do other user-defined
SQL types. For SQLJ types, two special elements are added to the CREATE TYPE
statement:
■ An EXTERNAL NAME phrase, used to identify the Java counterpart for each SQLJ
attribute and method and the Java class corresponding to the SQLJ type itself
■ A USING clause, to specify how the SQLJ type is to be represented to the server.
The USING clause specifies the interface used to retrieve a SQLJ type and the kind
of storage.
For example:

Example 4–2 Mapping SQL Types to Java Classes

CREATE TYPE full_address AS OBJECT (a NUMBER);
/

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE person_t AS OBJECT

EXTERNAL NAME 'Person' LANGUAGE JAVA
USING SQLData (
ss_no NUMBER (9) EXTERNAL NAME 'socialSecurityNo',
name varchar(100) EXTERNAL NAME 'name',
address full_address EXTERNAL NAME 'addrs',
birth_date date EXTERNAL NAME 'birthDate',
MEMBER FUNCTION age RETURN NUMBER EXTERNAL NAME 'age () return int',
MEMBER FUNCTION addressf RETURN full_address
EXTERNAL NAME 'get_address () return long_address',
STATIC function createf RETURN person_t EXTERNAL NAME 'create ()
return Person',
STATIC function createf (name VARCHAR2, addrs full_address, bDate DATE)
RETURN person_t EXTERNAL NAME 'create (java.lang.String, Long_address,
oracle.sql.date) return Person',
ORDER member FUNCTION compare (in_person person_t) RETURN NUMBER
EXTERNAL NAME 'isSame (Person) return int')
/

SQLJ types use the corresponding Java class as the body of the type; you do not
specify a type body in SQL to contain implementations of the type's methods as you
do with ordinary object types.

Representing SQLJ Types to the Server

How a SQLJ type is represented to the server and stored depends on the interfaces
implemented by the corresponding Java class. Currently, Oracle supports a
representation of SQLJ types only for Java classes that implement a SQLData or
ORAData interface. These are represented to the server and are accessible through

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 Java: JDBC, Oracle SQLJ, JPublisher, and SQLJ Object Types

SQL. A representation for Java classes that implement the java.io.Serializable

interface is not currently supported.
In a SQL representation, the attributes of the type are stored in columns like attributes
of ordinary object types. With this representation, all attributes are public because
objects are accessed and manipulated through SQL statements, but you can use
triggers and constraints to ensure the consistency of the object data.
For a SQL representation, the USING clause must specify either SQLData or ORAData,
and the corresponding Java class must implement one of those interfaces. The
EXTERNAL NAME clause for attributes is optional.

Creating SQLJ Object Types

The SQL statements to create SQLJ types and specify their mappings to Java are placed
in a file called a deployment descriptor. Related SQL constraints and privileges are
also specified in this file. The types are created when the file is executed.
Below is an overview of the process of creating SQL versions of Java types/classes:
1. Design the Java types.
2. Generate the Java classes.
3. Create the SQLJ object type statements.
4. Construct the JAR file. This is a single file that contains all the classes needed.
5. Using the loadjava utility, install the Java classes defined in the JAR file.
6. Execute the statements to create the SQLJ object types.

Additional Notes About Mapping

The following are additional notes to consider when mapping of Java classes to SQL
types:
■ You can map a SQLJ static function to a user-defined constructor in the Java class.
The return value of this function is of the user-defined type in which the function
is locally defined.
■ Java static variables are mapped to SQLJ static methods that return the value of the
corresponding static variable identified by EXTERNAL NAME. The EXTERNAL NAME
clause for an attribute is optional with a SQLData or ORAData representation.
■ Every attribute in a SQLJ type of a SQL representation must map to a Java field,
but not every Java field must be mapped to a corresponding SQLJ attribute: you
can omit Java fields from the mapping.
■ You can omit classes: you can map a SQLJ type to a non-root class in a Java class
hierarchy without also mapping SQLJ types to the root class and intervening
superclasses. Doing this enables you to hide the superclasses while still including
attributes and methods inherited from them.
However, you must preserve the structural correspondence between nodes in a
class hierarchy and their counterparts in a SQLJ type hierarchy. In other words, for
two Java classes j_A and j_B that are related through inheritance and are mapped
to two SQL types s_A and s_B, respectively, there must be exactly one
corresponding node on the inheritance path from s_A to s_B for each node on the
inheritance path from j_A to j_B.
■ You can map a Java class to multiple SQLJ types as long as you do not violate the
restriction in the preceding paragraph. In other words, no two SQLJ types mapped
to the same Java class can have a common supertype ancestor.

Object Support in Oracle Programming Environments 4-13

Java: JDBC, Oracle SQLJ, JPublisher, and SQLJ Object Types

■ If all Java classes are not mapped to SQLJ types, it is possible that an attribute of a
SQLJ object type might be set to an object of an unmapped Java class. Specifically,
to a class occurring above or below the class to which the attribute is mapped in an
inheritance hierarchy. If the object's class is a superclass of the attribute's
type/class, an error is raised. If it is a subclass of the attribute's type/class, the
object is mapped to the most specific type in its hierarchy for which a SQL
mapping exists

See Also: The Oracle Database JPublisher User's Guide for

JPublisher examples of object mapping

Evolving SQLJ Types

The ALTER TYPE statement enables you to evolve a type by, for example, adding or
dropping attributes or methods.
When a SQLJ type is evolved, an additional validation is performed to check the
mapping between the class and the type. If the class and the evolved type match, the
type is marked valid. Otherwise, the type is marked as pending validation.
Being marked as pending validation is not the same as being marked invalid. A type
that is pending validation can still be manipulated with ALTER TYPE and GRANT
statements, for example.
If a type that has a SQL representation is marked as pending evaluation, you can still
access tables of that type using any DML or SELECT statement that does not require a
method invocation.
You cannot, however, execute DML or SELECT statements on tables of a type that has
a serializable representation and has been marked as pending validation. Data of a
serializable type can be accessed only navigationally, through method invocations.
These are not possible with a type that is pending validation. However, you can still
re-evolve the type until it passes validation.
See "Type Evolution" on page 7-5.

Constraints
For SQLJ types having a SQL representation, the same constraints can be defined as for
ordinary object types.
Constraints are defined on tables, not on types, and are defined at the column level.
The following constraints are supported for SQLJ types having a SQL representation:
■ Unique constraints
■ Primary Key
■ Check constraints
■ NOT NULL constraints on attributes
■ Referential constraints
The IS OF TYPE constraint on column substitutability is supported, too, for SQLJ
types having a SQL representation. See "Constraining Substitutability" on page 2-25.

Querying SQLJ Objects

SQLJ types can be queried just like ordinary SQL object types. Methods called in a
SELECT statement must not attempt to change attribute values.

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 XML

Inserting Java Objects

Inserting a row in a table containing a column of a SQLJ type requires a call to the
type's constructor function to create a Java object of that type.
The implicit, system-generated constructor can be used, or a static function can be
defined that maps to a user-defined constructor in the Java class.

Updating SQLJ Objects

SQLJ objects can be updated either by using an UPDATE statement to modify the value
of one or more attributes, or by invoking a method that updates the attributes and
returns SELF—that is, returns the object itself with the changes made.
For example, suppose that raise() is a member function that increments the salary
field/attribute by a specified amount and returns SELF. The following statement gives
every employee in the object table employee_objtab a raise of 1000:
UPDATE employee_objtab SET c=c.raise(1000);
A column of a SQLJ type can be set to NULL or to another column using the same
syntax as for ordinary object types. For example, the following statement assigns
column d to column c:
UPDATE employee_reltab SET c=d;

Defining User-Defined Constructors in Java

When you implement a user-defined constructor in Java, the string supplied as the
implementing routine must correspond to a static function. For the return type of the
function, specify the Java type mapped to the SQL type.
Example 4–3 is an example of a type declaration that involves a user-defined
constructor implemented in Java.

Example 4–3 Defining a User-Defined Constructor in Java

CREATE TYPE person1_typ AS OBJECT
EXTERNAL NAME 'pkg1.J_Person' LANGUAGE JAVA
USING SQLData(
name VARCHAR2(30),
age NUMBER,
CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION person1_typ(SELF IN OUT NOCOPY person1_typ, name VARCHAR2,
age NUMBER) RETURN SELF AS RESULT
AS LANGUAGE JAVA
NAME 'pkg1.J_Person.J_Person(java.lang.String, int) return J_Person')
/

XML
XMLType views wrap existing relational and object-relational data in XML formats.
These views are similar to object views. Each row of an XMLType view corresponds to
an XMLType instance. The object identifier for uniquely identifying each row in the
view can be created using an expression such as extract() on the XMLType value.

See Also: Oracle XML DB Developer's Guide for information and

examples on using XML with Oracle objects

Object Support in Oracle Programming Environments 4-15

XML

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 5
Applying an Object Model to Relational Data

This chapter shows how to write object-oriented applications without changing the
underlying structure of your relational data.
The chapter contains these topics:
■ Why Use Object Views
■ Defining Object Views
■ Using Object Views in Applications
■ Nesting Objects in Object Views
■ Identifying Null Objects in Object Views
■ Using Nested Tables and Varrays in Object Views
■ Specifying Object Identifiers for Object Views
■ Creating References to View Objects
■ Modelling Inverse Relationships with Object Views
■ Updating Object Views
■ Applying the Object Model to Remote Tables
■ Defining Complex Relationships in Object Views
■ Object View Hierarchies

Why Use Object Views

Just as a view is a virtual table, an object view is a virtual object table. Each row in the
view is an object: you can call its methods, access its attributes using the dot notation,
and create a REF that points to it.
Object views are useful in prototyping or transitioning to object-oriented applications
because the data in the view can be taken from relational tables and accessed as if the
table were defined as an object table. You can run object-oriented applications without
converting existing tables to a different physical structure.
Object views can be used like relational views to present only the data that you want
users to see. For example, you might create an object view that presents selected data
from an employee table but omits sensitive data about salaries.
Using object views can lead to better performance. Relational data that make up a row
of an object view traverse the network as a unit, potentially saving many round trips.

Applying an Object Model to Relational Data 5-1

Defining Object Views

You can fetch relational data into the client-side object cache and map it into C
structures or C++ or Java classes, so 3GL applications can manipulate it just like native
classes. You can also use object-oriented features like complex object retrieval with
relational data.
■ By synthesizing objects from relational data, you can query the data in new ways.
You can view data from multiple tables by using object de-referencing instead of
writing complex joins with multiple tables.
■ Because the objects in the view are processed within the server, not on the client,
this can result in significantly fewer SQL statements and much less network traffic.
■ The object data from object views can be pinned and used in the client side object
cache. When you retrieve these synthesized objects in the object cache by means of
specialized object-retrieval mechanisms, you reduce network traffic.
■ You gain great flexibility when you create an object model within a view in that
you can continue to develop the model. If you need to alter an object type, you can
simply replace the invalidated views with a new definition.
■ Using objects in views does not place any restrictions on the characteristics of the
underlying storage mechanisms. By the same token, you are not limited by the
restrictions of current technology. For example, you can synthesize objects from
relational tables which are parallelized and partitioned.
■ You can create different complex data models from the same underlying data.

See Also:
■ Oracle Database SQL Reference for a complete description of SQL
syntax and usage.
■ Oracle Database PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference for a
complete discussion of PL/SQL capabilities
■ Oracle Database Java Developer's Guide for a complete discussion
of Java.
■ Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide for a complete
discussion of those facilities.

Defining Object Views

The procedure for defining an object view is:
1. Define an object type, where each attribute of the type corresponds to an existing
column in a relational table.
2. Write a query that specifies how to extract the data from relational tables. Specify
the columns in the same order as the attributes in the object type.
3. Specify a unique value, based on attributes of the underlying data, to serve as an
object identifier, which enables you to create pointers (REFs) to the objects in the
view. You can often use an existing primary key.
If you want to be able to update an object view, you may have to take another step, if
the attributes of the object type do not correspond exactly to columns in existing
tables:
Write an INSTEAD OF trigger procedure for Oracle to execute whenever an application
program tries to update data in the object view. See "Updating Object Views" on
page 5-9.

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 Nesting Objects in Object Views

After these steps, you can use an object view just like an object table.
For example, the following SQL statements define an object view, where each row in
the view is an object of type employee_t:

Example 5–1 Creating an Object View

CREATE TABLE emp_table (
empnum NUMBER (5),
ename VARCHAR2 (20),
salary NUMBER (9,2),
job VARCHAR2 (20));

CREATE TYPE employee_t AS OBJECT (

empno NUMBER (5),
ename VARCHAR2 (20),
salary NUMBER (9,2),
job VARCHAR2 (20));
/

CREATE VIEW emp_view1 OF employee_t

WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER (empno) AS
SELECT e.empnum, e.ename, e.salary, e.job
FROM emp_table e
WHERE job = 'Developer';

To access the data from the empnum column of the relational table, you would access
the empno attribute of the object type.

Using Object Views in Applications

Data in the rows of an object view may come from more than one table, but the object
still traverses the network in one operation. The instance appears in the client side
object cache as a C or C++ structure or as a PL/SQL object variable. You can
manipulate it like any other native structure.
You can refer to object views in SQL statements in the same way you refer to an object
table. For example, object views can appear in a SELECT list, in an UPDATE-SET
clause, or in a WHERE clause.
You can also define object views on object views.
You can access object view data on the client side using the same OCI calls you use for
objects from object tables. For example, you can use OCIObjectPin() for pinning a
REF and OCIObjectFlush() for flushing an object to the server. When you update
or flush to the server an object in an object view, Oracle updates the object view.

See Also: See Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide for more
information about OCI calls.

Nesting Objects in Object Views

An object type can have other object types nested in it as attributes.
If the object type on which an object view is based has an attribute that itself is an
object type, then you must provide column objects for this attribute as part of the
process of creating the object view. If column objects of the attribute type already exist
in a relational table, you can simply select them; otherwise, you must synthesize the
object instances from underlying relational data just as you synthesize the principal

Applying an Object Model to Relational Data 5-3

Identifying Null Objects in Object Views

object instances of the view. You synthesize, or create, these objects by calling the
respective object type's constructor method to create the object instances, and you
populate their attributes with data from relational columns that you specify in the
constructor.
For example, consider the department table dept in Example 5–2. You might want to
create an object view where the addresses are objects inside the department objects.
That would allow you to define reusable methods for address objects, and use them
for all kinds of addresses.
First, create the types for the address and department objects, then create the view
containing the department number, name and address. The address objects are
constructed from columns of the relational table.

Example 5–2 Creating a View with Nested Object Types

CREATE TABLE dept (
deptno NUMBER PRIMARY KEY,
deptname VARCHAR2(20),
deptstreet VARCHAR2(20),
deptcity VARCHAR2(10),
deptstate CHAR(2),
deptzip VARCHAR2(10));

CREATE TYPE address_t AS OBJECT (

street VARCHAR2(20),
city VARCHAR2(10),
state CHAR(2),
zip VARCHAR2(10));
/
CREATE TYPE dept_t AS OBJECT (
deptno NUMBER,
deptname VARCHAR2(20),
address address_t );
/

CREATE VIEW dept_view OF dept_t WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER (deptno) AS

SELECT d.deptno, d.deptname,
address_t(d.deptstreet,d.deptcity,d.deptstate,d.deptzip) AS
deptaddr
FROM dept d;

Identifying Null Objects in Object Views

Because the constructor for an object never returns a null, none of the address objects
in the preceding view can ever be null, even if the city, street, and so on columns in the
relational table are all null. The relational table has no column that specifies whether
the department address is null. If we define a convention so that a null deptstreet
column indicates that the whole address is null, then we can capture the logic using
the DECODE function, or some other function, to return either a null or the constructed
object:

Example 5–3 Identifying Null Objects in an Object View

CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW dept_view AS
SELECT d.deptno, d.deptname,
DECODE(d.deptstreet, NULL, NULL,
address_t(d.deptstreet, d.deptcity, d.deptstate, d.deptzip)) AS deptaddr
FROM dept d;

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 Using Nested Tables and Varrays in Object Views

Using such a technique makes it impossible to directly update the department address
through the view, because it does not correspond directly to a column in the relational
table. Instead, we would define an INSTEAD OF trigger over the view to handle
updates to this column.

Using Nested Tables and Varrays in Object Views

Collections, both nested tables and VARRAYs, can be columns in views. You can select
these collections from underlying collection columns or you can synthesize them using
subqueries. The CAST-MULTISET operator provides a way of synthesizing such
collections.

Single-Level Collections in Object Views

Using Example 5–2 as our starting point, we represent each employee in an emp
relational table that has the following structure in Example 5–4. Using this relational
table, we can construct a dept_view with the department number, name, address and
a collection of employees belonging to the department.
First, define a nested table type for the employee type employee_t. Next, define a
department type having a department number, name, address, and a nested table of
employees. Finally, define the object view dept_view.

Example 5–4 Creating a View with a Single-Level Collection

CREATE TABLE emp (
empno NUMBER PRIMARY KEY,
empname VARCHAR2(20),
salary NUMBER,
job VARCHAR2 (20),
deptno NUMBER REFERENCES dept(deptno));

CREATE TYPE employee_list_t AS TABLE OF employee_t;

/
CREATE TYPE dept_t AS OBJECT (
deptno NUMBER,
deptname VARCHAR2(20),
address address_t,
emp_list employee_list_t);
/
CREATE VIEW dept_view OF dept_t WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER (deptno) AS
SELECT d.deptno, d.deptname,
address_t(d.deptstreet,d.deptcity,d.deptstate,d.deptzip) AS deptaddr,
CAST( MULTISET (
SELECT e.empno, e.empname, e.salary, e.job
FROM emp e
WHERE e.deptno = d.deptno)
AS employee_list_t)
AS emp_list
FROM dept d;

The SELECT subquery inside the CAST-MULTISET block selects the list of employees
that belong to the current department. The MULTISET keyword indicates that this is a
list as opposed to a singleton value. The CAST operator casts the result set into the
appropriate type, in this case to the employee_list_t nested table type.

Applying an Object Model to Relational Data 5-5

Using Nested Tables and Varrays in Object Views

A query on this view could give us the list of departments, with each department row
containing the department number, name, the address object and a collection of
employees belonging to the department.

Multilevel Collections in Object Views

Multilevel collections and single-level collections are created and used in object views
in the same way. The only difference is that, for a multilevel collection, you must create
an additional level of collections.
Example 5–5 builds an object view containing a multilevel collection. The view is
based on flat relational tables that contain no collections. As a preliminary to building
the object view, the example creates the object and collection types it uses. An object
type (for example, emp_t) is defined to correspond to each relational table, with
attributes whose types correspond to the types of the respective table columns. In
addition, the employee type has a nested table (attribute) of projects, and the
department type has a nested table (attribute) of employees. The latter nested table is a
multilevel collection. The CAST-MULTISET operator is used in the CREATE VIEW
statement to build the collections.

Example 5–5 Creating a View with Multilevel Collections

CREATE TABLE depts
( deptno NUMBER,
deptname VARCHAR2(20));

CREATE TABLE emps

( ename VARCHAR2(20),
salary NUMBER,
deptname VARCHAR2(20));

CREATE TABLE projects

( projname VARCHAR2(20),
mgr VARCHAR2(20));

CREATE TYPE project_t AS OBJECT

( projname VARCHAR2(20),
mgr VARCHAR2(20));
/
CREATE TYPE nt_project_t AS TABLE OF project_t;
/
CREATE TYPE emp_t AS OBJECT
( ename VARCHAR2(20),
salary NUMBER,
deptname VARCHAR2(20),
projects nt_project_t );
/
CREATE TYPE nt_emp_t AS TABLE OF emp_t;
/
CREATE TYPE depts_t AS OBJECT
( deptno NUMBER,
deptname VARCHAR2(20),
emps nt_emp_t );
/
CREATE VIEW v_depts OF depts_t WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER (deptno) AS
SELECT d.deptno, d.deptname,
CAST(MULTISET(SELECT e.ename, e.salary, e.deptname,
CAST(MULTISET(SELECT p.projname, p.mgr
FROM projects p

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 Creating References to View Objects

WHERE p.mgr = e.ename)

AS nt_project_t)
FROM emps e
WHERE e.deptname = d.deptname)
AS nt_emp_t)
FROM depts d;

Specifying Object Identifiers for Object Views

You can construct pointers (REFs) to the row objects in an object view. Because the
view data is not stored persistently, you must specify a set of distinct values to be used
as object identifiers. The notion of object identifiers allows the objects in object views
to be referenced and pinned in the object cache.
If the view is based on an object table or an object view, then there is already an object
identifier associated with each row and you can reuse them. Either omit the WITH
OBJECT IDENTIFIER clause, or specify WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER DEFAULT.
However, if the row object is synthesized from relational data, you must choose some
other set of values.
Oracle lets you specify object identifiers based on the primary key. The set of unique
keys that identify the row object is turned into an identifier for the object. These values
must be unique within the rows selected out of the view, because duplicates would
lead to problems during navigation through object references.
The object view created with the WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER clause has an object
identifier derived from the primary key. If the WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER DEFAULT
clause is specified, the object identifier is either system generated or primary key
based, depending on the underlying table or view definition.
For example, note the definition of the object type dept_t and the object view dept_
view described in "Single-Level Collections in Object Views" on page 5-5.
Because the underlying relational table has deptno as the primary key, each
department row has a unique department number. In the view, the deptno column
becomes the deptno attribute of the object type. Once we know that deptno is
unique within the view objects, we can specify it as the object identifier.
See "Storage Considerations for Object Identifiers (OIDs)" on page 8-4.

Creating References to View Objects

In the example we have been developing, each object selected out of the dept_view
view has a unique object identifier derived from the department number value. In the
relational case, the foreign key deptno in the emp employee table matches the deptno
primary key value in the dept department table. We used the primary key value for
creating the object identifier in the dept_view. This allows us to use the foreign key
value in the emp_view in creating a reference to the primary key value in dept_view.
We accomplish this by using MAKE_REF operator to synthesize a primary key object
reference. This takes the view or table name to which the reference points and a list of
foreign key values to create the object identifier portion of the reference that will match
with a particular object in the referenced view.
In order to create an emp_view view which has the employee's number, name, salary
and a reference to the department in which she works, we need first to create the
employee type emp_t and then the view based on that type as shown in Example 5–6.

Applying an Object Model to Relational Data 5-7

Modelling Inverse Relationships with Object Views

Example 5–6 Creating a Reference to Objects in a View

CREATE TYPE emp_t AS OBJECT (
empno NUMBER,
ename VARCHAR2(20),
salary NUMBER,
deptref REF dept_t);
/
CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW emp_view OF emp_t WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER(empno)
AS SELECT e.empno, e.empname, e.salary,
MAKE_REF(dept_view, e.deptno)
FROM emp e;

The deptref column in the view holds the department reference. The following
simple query retrieves all employees whose department is located in the city of San
Francisco:
SELECT e.empno, e.salary, e.deptref.deptno
FROM emp_view e
WHERE e.deptref.address.city = 'San Francisco';

Note that we could also have used the REF modifier to get the reference to the dept_
view objects:
CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW emp_view OF emp_t WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER(empno)
AS SELECT e.empno, e.empname, e.salary, REF(d)
FROM emp e, dept_view d
WHERE e.deptno = d.deptno;

In this case we join the dept_view and the emp table on the deptno key. The
advantage of using MAKE_REF operator instead of the REF modifier is that in using the
former, we can create circular references. For example, we can create employee view to
have a reference to the department in which she works, and the department view can
have a list of references to the employees who work in that department.
Note that if the object view has a primary key based object identifier, the reference to
such a view is primary key based. On the other hand, a reference to a view with
system generated object identifier will be a system generated object reference. This
difference is only relevant when you create object instances in the OCI object cache and
need to get the reference to the newly created objects. This is explained in a later
section.
As with synthesized objects, we can also select persistently stored references as view
columns and use them seamlessly in queries. However, the object references to view
objects cannot be stored persistently.

Modelling Inverse Relationships with Object Views

Views with objects can be used to model inverse relationships.

One-to-One Relationships
One-to-one relationships can be modeled with inverse object references. For example,
let us say that each employee has a particular computer on her desk, and that the
computer belongs to that employee only. A relational model would capture this using
foreign keys either from the computer table to the employee table, or in the reverse
direction. Using views, we can model the objects so that we have an object reference
from the employee to the computer object and also have a reference from the computer
object to the employee.

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One-to-Many and Many-to-One Relationships

One-to-many relationships (or many-to-many relationships) can be modeled either by
using object references or by embedding the objects. One-to-many relationship can be
modeled by having a collection of objects or object references. The many-to-one side of
the relationship can be modeled using object references.
Consider the department-employee case. In the underlying relational model, we have
the foreign key in the employee table. Using collections in views, we can model the
relationship between departments and employees. The department view can have a
collection of employees, and the employee view can have a reference to the
department (or inline the department values). This gives us both the forward relation
(from employee to department) and the inverse relation (department to list of
employees). The department view can also have a collection of references to employee
objects instead of embedding the employee objects.

Updating Object Views

You can update, insert, and delete data in an object view using the same SQL DML
you use for object tables. Oracle updates the base tables of the object view if there is no
ambiguity.
A view is not directly updatable if its view query contains joins, set operators,
aggregate functions, or GROUP BY or DISTINCT clauses. Also, individual columns of
a view are not directly updatable if they are based on pseudocolumns or expression in
the view query.
If a view is not directly updatable, you can still update it indirectly using INSTEAD OF
triggers. To do so, you define an INSTEAD OF trigger for each kind of DML statement
you want to execute on the view. In the INSTEAD OF trigger, you code the operations
that must take place on the underlying tables of the view to accomplish the desired
change in the view. Then, when you issue a DML statement for which you have
defined an INSTEAD OF trigger, Oracle transparently runs the associated trigger. See
"Using INSTEAD OF Triggers to Control Mutating and Validation" on page 5-10 for an
example of an INSTEAD OF trigger.
Something you want to be careful of: In an object view hierarchy, UPDATE and DELETE
statements operate polymorphically just as SELECT statements do: the set of rows
picked out by an UPDATE or DELETE statement on a view implicitly includes
qualifying rows in any subviews of the specified view as well. See "Object View
Hierarchies" on page 5-14 for a discussion of object view hierarchy and examples
defining Student_v and Employee_v.
For example, the following statement, which deletes all persons from Person_v, also
deletes all students from Student_v and all employees from the Employee_v view.
DELETE FROM Person_v;
To exclude subviews and restrict the affected rows just to those in the view actually
specified, use the ONLY keyword. For example, the following statement updates only
persons and not employees or students.
UPDATE ONLY(Person_v) SET address = ...

Updating Nested Table Columns in Views

A nested table can be modified by inserting new elements and updating or deleting
existing elements. Nested table columns that are virtual or synthesized, as in a view,
are not usually updatable. To overcome this, Oracle allows INSTEAD OF triggers to be
created on these columns.

Applying an Object Model to Relational Data 5-9

Applying the Object Model to Remote Tables

The INSTEAD OF trigger defined on a nested table column (of a view) is fired when the
column is modified. Note that if the entire collection is replaced (by an update of the
parent row), the INSTEAD OF trigger on the nested table column is not fired.

Using INSTEAD OF Triggers to Control Mutating and Validation

INSTEAD OF triggers provide a way of updating complex views that otherwise could
not be updated. They can also be used to enforce constraints, check privileges and
validate the DML. Using these triggers, you can control mutation of the objects created
though an object view that might be caused by inserting, updating and deleting.
For instance, suppose we wanted to enforce the condition that the number of
employees in a department cannot exceed 10. To enforce this, we can write an
INSTEAD OF trigger for the employee view. The trigger is not needed for doing the
DML because the view can be updated, but we need it to enforce the constraint.
We implement the trigger by means of the SQL statements in Example 5–7.

Example 5–7 Creating INSTEAD OF Triggers on a View

CREATE TRIGGER emp_instr INSTEAD OF INSERT on emp_view
FOR EACH ROW
DECLARE
dept_var dept_t;
emp_count integer;
BEGIN
-- Enforce the constraint
-- First get the department number from the reference
UTL_REF.SELECT_OBJECT(:NEW.deptref, dept_var);

SELECT COUNT(*) INTO emp_count

FROM emp
WHERE deptno = dept_var.deptno;
IF emp_count < 9 THEN
-- Do the insert
INSERT INTO emp (empno, empname, salary, deptno)
VALUES (:NEW.empno, :NEW.ename, :NEW.salary, dept_var.deptno);
END IF;
END;
/

Applying the Object Model to Remote Tables

Although you cannot directly access remote tables as object tables, object views let you
access remote tables as if they were object tables.
Consider a company with two branches; one in Washington D.C. and another in
Chicago. Each site has an employee table. The headquarters in Washington has a
department table with the list of all the departments. To get a total view of the entire
organization, we can create views over the individual remote tables and then a overall
view of the organization.
In Example 5–8, we begin by creating an object view for each employee table. Then we
can create the global view.

Example 5–8 Creating an Object View to Access Remote Tables

CREATE VIEW emp_washington_view (eno, ename, salary, job)
AS SELECT e.empno, e.empname, e.salary, e.job
FROM emp@washington e;

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CREATE VIEW emp_chicago_view (eno, ename, salary, job)

AS SELECT e.empno, e.empname, e.salary, e.job
FROM emp@chicago e;

CREATE VIEW orgnzn_view OF dept_t WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER (deptno)

AS SELECT d.deptno, d.deptname,
address_t(d.deptstreet,d.deptcity,d.deptstate,d.deptzip) AS deptaddr,
CAST( MULTISET (
SELECT e.eno, e.ename, e.salary, e.job
FROM emp_washington_view e)
AS employee_list_t) AS emp_list
FROM dept d
WHERE d.deptcity = 'Washington'
UNION ALL
SELECT d.deptno, d.deptname,
address_t(d.deptstreet,d.deptcity,d.deptstate,d.deptzip) AS deptaddr,
CAST( MULTISET (
SELECT e.eno, e.ename, e.salary, e.job
FROM emp_chicago_view e)
AS employee_list_t) AS emp_list
FROM dept d
WHERE d.deptcity = 'Chicago';

This view has the list of all employees for each department. We use UNION ALL
because we cannot have two employees working in more than one department.

Defining Complex Relationships in Object Views

You can define circular references in object views using the MAKE_REF operator:
view_A can refer to view_B which in turn can refer to view_A. This allows an object
view to synthesize a complex structure such as a graph from relational data.
For example, in the case of the department and employee, the department object
currently includes a list of employees. To conserve space, we may want to put
references to the employee objects inside the department object, instead of
materializing all the employees within the department object. We can construct (pin)
the references to employee objects, and later follow the references using the dot
notation to extract employee information.
Because the employee object already has a reference to the department in which the
employee works, an object view over this model contains circular references between
the department view and the employee view.
You can create circular references between object views in two different ways:
■ Method 1: Re-create First View After Creating Second View
1. Create view A without any reference to view B.
2. Create view B, which includes a reference to view A.
3. Replace view A with a new definition that includes the reference to view B.
■ Method 2: Create First View Using FORCE Keyword
1. Create view A with the reference to view B using the FORCE keyword.
2. Create view B with reference to view A. When view A is used, it is validated
and re-compiled.

Applying an Object Model to Relational Data 5-11

Defining Complex Relationships in Object Views

Method 2 has fewer steps, but the FORCE keyword may hide errors in the view
creation. You need to query the USER_ERRORS catalog view to see if there were any
errors during the view creation. Use this method only if you are sure that there are no
errors in the view creation statement.
Also, if errors prevent the views from being recompiled upon use, you must recompile
them manually using the ALTER VIEW COMPILE command.
We will see the implementation for both the methods.

Tables and Types to Demonstrate Circular View References

First, we set up some relational tables and associated object types. Although the tables
contain some objects, they are not object tables. To access the data objects, we will
create object views later.
The emp table stores the employee information:
CREATE TABLE emp
( empno NUMBER PRIMARY KEY,
empname VARCHAR2(20),
salary NUMBER,
deptno NUMBER );

The emp_t type contains a reference to the department. We need a dummy department
type so that the emp_t type creation succeeds.
CREATE TYPE dept_t;
/

The employee type includes a reference to the department:

CREATE TYPE emp_t AS OBJECT
( eno NUMBER,
ename VARCHAR2(20),
salary NUMBER,
deptref REF dept_t );
/

We represent the list of references to employees as a nested table:

CREATE TYPE employee_list_ref_t AS TABLE OF REF emp_t;
/

The department table is a typical relational table:

CREATE TABLE dept
( deptno NUMBER PRIMARY KEY,
deptname VARCHAR2(20),
deptstreet VARCHAR2(20),
deptcity VARCHAR2(10),
deptstate CHAR(2),
deptzip VARCHAR2(10) );

To create object views, we need object types that map to columns from the relational
tables:
CREATE TYPE address_t AS OBJECT
( street VARCHAR2(20),
city VARCHAR2(10),
state CHAR(2),
zip VARCHAR2(10));

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We earlier created an incomplete type; now we fill in its definition:

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE dept_t AS OBJECT
( dno NUMBER,
dname VARCHAR2(20),
deptaddr address_t,
empreflist employee_list_ref_t);
/

Creating Object Views with Circular References

Now that we have the underlying relational table definitions, we create the object
views on top of them.

Method 1: Re-create First View After Creating Second View

We first create the employee view with a null in the deptref column. Later, we will
turn that column into a reference.
CREATE VIEW emp_view OF emp_t WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER(eno)
AS SELECT e.empno, e.empname, e.salary, NULL
FROM emp e;

Next, we create the department view, which includes references to the employee
objects.
CREATE VIEW dept_view OF dept_t WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER(dno)
AS SELECT d.deptno, d.deptname,
address_t(d.deptstreet,d.deptcity,d.deptstate,d.deptzip),
CAST( MULTISET (
SELECT MAKE_REF(emp_view, e.empno)
FROM emp e
WHERE e.deptno = d.deptno)
AS employee_list_ref_t)
FROM dept d;

We create a list of references to employee objects, instead of including the entire

employee object. We now re-create the employee view with the reference to the
department view.
CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW emp_view OF emp_t WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER(eno)
AS SELECT e.empno, e.empname, e.salary,
MAKE_REF(dept_view, e.deptno)
FROM emp e;

This creates the views.

Method 2: Create First View Using FORCE Keyword

If we are sure that the view creation statement has no syntax errors, we can use the
FORCE keyword to force the creation of the first view without the other view being
present.
First, we create an employee view that includes a reference to the department view,
which does not exist at this point. This view cannot be queried until the department
view is created properly.
CREATE OR REPLACE FORCE VIEW emp_view OF emp_t WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER(eno)
AS SELECT e.empno, e.empname, e.salary,
MAKE_REF(dept_view, e.deptno)

Applying an Object Model to Relational Data 5-13

Object View Hierarchies

FROM emp e;

Next, we create a department view that includes references to the employee objects.
We do not have to use the FORCE keyword here, because emp_view already exists.
CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW dept_view OF dept_t WITH OBJECT IDENTIFIER(dno)
AS SELECT d.deptno, d.deptname,
address_t(d.deptstreet,d.deptcity,d.deptstate,d.deptzip),
CAST( MULTISET (
SELECT MAKE_REF(emp_view, e.empno)
FROM emp e
WHERE e.deptno = d.deptno)
AS employee_list_ref_t)
FROM dept d;

This allows us to query the department view, getting the employee object by
de-referencing the employee reference from the nested table empreflist:
SELECT DEREF(e.COLUMN_VALUE)
FROM TABLE( SELECT e.empreflist FROM dept_view e WHERE e.dno = 100) e;

COLUMN_VALUE is a special name that represents the scalar value in a scalar nested
table. In this case, COLUMN_VALUE denotes the reference to the employee objects in the
nested table empreflist.
We can also access only the employee number of all those employees whose name
begins with John.
SELECT e.COLUMN_VALUE.eno
FROM TABLE(SELECT e.empreflist FROM dept_view e WHERE e.dno = 100) e
WHERE e.COLUMN_VALUE.ename like 'John%';

To get a tabular output, unnest the list of references by joining the department table
with the items in its nested table:
SELECT d.dno, e.COLUMN_VALUE.eno, e.COLUMN_VALUE.ename
FROM dept_view d, TABLE(d.empreflist) e
WHERE e.COLUMN_VALUE.ename like 'John%'
AND d.dno = 100;

Finally, we can rewrite the preceding query to use the emp_view instead of the dept_
view to show how you can navigate from one view to the other:
SELECT e.deptref.dno, DEREF(f.COLUMN_VALUE)
FROM emp_view e, TABLE(e.deptref.empreflist) f
WHERE e.deptref.dno = 100
AND f.COLUMN_VALUE.ename like 'John%';

Object View Hierarchies

An object view hierarchy is a set of object views each of which is based on a different
type in a type hierarchy. Subviews in a view hierarchy are created under a superview,
analogously to the way subtypes in a type hierarchy are created under a supertype.
Each object view in a view hierarchy is populated with objects of a single type, but
queries on a given view implicitly address its subviews as well. Thus an object view
hierarchy gives you a simple way to frame queries that can return a polymorphic set of
objects of a given level of specialization or greater.

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 Object View Hierarchies

For example, suppose you have the following type hierarchy, with person_typ as the
root:

Figure 5–1 Object View Hierarchy

Person_typ

Student_typ Employee_typ

ParTimeStudent_typ

If you have created an object view hierarchy based on this type hierarchy, with an
object view built on each type, you can query the object view that corresponds to the
level of specialization you are interested in. For instance, you can query the view of
student_typ to get a result set that contains only students, including part-time
students.
You can base the root view of an object view hierarchy on any type in a type hierarchy:
you do not need to start the object view hierarchy at the root type. Nor do you need to
extend an object view hierarchy to every leaf of a type hierarchy or cover every
branch. However, you cannot skip intervening subtypes in the line of descent. Any
subview must be based on a direct subtype of the type of its direct superview.
Just as a type can have multiple sibling subtypes, an object view can have multiple
sibling subviews. But a subview based on a given type can participate in only one
object view hierarchy: two different object view hierarchies cannot each have a
subview based on the same subtype.
A subview inherits the object identifier (OID) from its superview. An OID cannot be
explicitly specified in any subview.
A root view can explicitly specify an object identifier using the WITH OBJECT ID
clause. If the OID is system-generated or the clause is not specified in the root view,
then subviews can be created only if the root view is based on a table or view that also
uses a system generated OID.
The query underlying a view determines whether the view is updatable. For a view to
be updatable, its query must contain no joins, set operators, aggregate functions,
GROUP BY, DISTINCT, pseudocolumns, or expressions. The same applies to subviews.
If a view is not updatable, you can define INSTEAD OF triggers to perform appropriate
DML actions. Note that INSTEAD OF triggers are not inherited by subviews.
All views in a view hierarchy must be in the same schema.

Applying an Object Model to Relational Data 5-15

Object View Hierarchies

Note: You can create views of types that are non-instantiable. A

non-instantiable type cannot have instances, so ordinarily there
would be no point in creating an object view of such a type.
However, a non-instantiable type can have subtypes that are
instantiable. The ability to create object views of non-instantiable
types enables you to base an object view hierarchy on a type
hierarchy that contains a non-instantiable type.

Creating an Object View Hierarchy

You build an object view hierarchy by creating subviews under a root view. You do
this by using the UNDER keyword in the CREATE VIEW statement, as show in
Example 5–9.
The same object view hierarchy can be based on different underlying storage models.
In other words, a variety of layouts or designs of underlying tables can produce the
same object view hierarchy. The design of the underlying storage model has
implications for the performance and updatability of the object view hierarchy.
The following examples show three possible storage models. In the first, a flat model,
all views in the object view hierarchy are based on the same table. In the second, a
horizontal model, each view has a one-to-one correspondence with a different table.
And in the third, a vertical model, the views are constructed using joins.

The Flat Model

In the flat model, all the views in the hierarchy are based on the same table. In the
following example, the single table AllPersons contains columns for all the
attributes of person_typ, student_typ, or employee_typ.

Figure 5–2 Flat Storage Model for Object View Hierarchy

Table AllPersons
TYPEID Person attributes (columns) Student attributes Employee attributes
1, 2, or 3

View Person_v

Person attributes

View Student_v

Person attributes Student attributes

View Employee_v

Person attributes Employee attributes

CREATE TABLE AllPersons

( typeid NUMBER(1),
ssn NUMBER,
name VARCHAR2(30),
address VARCHAR2(100),
deptid NUMBER,
major VARCHAR2(30),

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 Object View Hierarchies

empid NUMBER,
mgr VARCHAR2(30));

The typeid column identifies the type of each row. Possible values are:
-- 1 = person_typ
-- 2 = student_typ
-- 3 = employee_typ

CREATE TYPE person_typ AS OBJECT

( ssn NUMBER,
name VARCHAR2(30),
address VARCHAR2(100)) NOT FINAL;
/

CREATE TYPE student_typ UNDER person_typ

( deptid NUMBER,
major VARCHAR2(30)) NOT FINAL;
/

CREATE TYPE employee_typ UNDER person_typ

( empid NUMBER,
mgr VARCHAR2(30));
/

The following statements create the views that make up the object view hierarchy:

Example 5–9 Creating an Object View Hierarchy

CREATE VIEW Person_v OF person_typ
WITH OBJECT OID(ssn) AS
SELECT ssn, name, address
FROM AllPersons
WHERE typeid = 1;

CREATE VIEW Student_v OF student_typ UNDER Person_v

AS
SELECT ssn, name, address, deptid, major
FROM AllPersons
WHERE typeid = 2;

CREATE VIEW Employee_v OF employee_typ UNDER Person_v

AS
SELECT ssn, name, address, empid, mgr
FROM AllPersons
WHERE typeid = 3;

The flat model has the advantage of simplicity and poses no obstacles to supporting
indexes and constraints. Its drawbacks are:
■ A single table cannot contain more than 1000 columns, so the flat model imposes a
1000-column limit on the total number of columns that the object view hierarchy
can contain.
■ Each row of the table will have NULLs for all the attributes not belonging to its
type. Such non-trailing NULLs can adversely affect performance.

Applying an Object Model to Relational Data 5-17

Object View Hierarchies

The Horizontal Model

On the horizontal model, each view or subview is based on a different table. In the
example, the tables are relational, but they could just as well be object tables for which
column substitutability is turned off.

Figure 5–3 Horizontal Storage Model for Object View Hierarchy

Table only_person View Person_v

Person attributes Person attributes

Table only_students View Student_v

Person attributes Student attributes Person attributes Student attributes

Table only_employees View Employee_v

Person attributes Employee attributes Person attributes Employee attributes

CREATE TABLE only_persons

( ssn NUMBER,
name VARCHAR2(30),
address VARCHAR2(100));

CREATE TABLE only_students

( ssn NUMBER,
name VARCHAR2(30),
address VARCHAR2(100),
deptid NUMBER,
major VARCHAR2(30));

CREATE TABLE only_employees

( ssn NUMBER,
name VARCHAR2(30),
address VARCHAR2(100),
empid NUMBER,
mgr VARCHAR2(30));

These are the views:

CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW Person_v OF person_typ
WITH OBJECT OID(ssn) AS
SELECT *
FROM only_persons

CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW Student_v OF student_typ UNDER Person_v

AS
SELECT *
FROM only_students;

CREATE OR REPlACE VIEW Employee_v OF employee_typ UNDER Person_v

AS
SELECT *
FROM only_employees;

The horizontal model is very efficient at processing queries of the form:

SELECT VALUE(p) FROM Person_v p

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 Object View Hierarchies

WHERE VALUE(p) IS OF (ONLY student_typ);

Such queries need access only a single physical table to get all the objects of the
specific type. The drawbacks of this model are that queries of the sort SELECT *
FROM view require performing a UNION over all the underlying tables and projecting
the rows over just the columns in the specified view. (See "Querying a View in a
Hierarchy" on page 5-20.) Also, indexes on attributes (and unique constraints) must
span multiple tables, and support for this does not currently exist.

The Vertical Model

In the vertical model, there is a physical table corresponding to each view in the
hierarchy, but each physical table stores only those attributes that are unique to its
corresponding subtype.

Figure 5–4 Vertical Storage Model for Object View Hierarchy

Table all_personattrs View Person_v

typeid Person attributes:
ssn, name, address Person attributes
1, 2, or 3

Table all_studentattrs View Student_v

Student attributes:
snn Person attributes Student attributes
deptid, major

Table all_employeeattrs View Employee_v

Employee attributes:
snn empid, mgr Person attributes Employee attributes

CREATE TABLE all_personattrs

( typeid NUMBER,
ssn NUMBER,
name VARCHAR2(30),
address VARCHAR2(100));

CREATE TABLE all_studentattrs

( ssn NUMBER,
deptid NUMBER,
major VARCHAR2(30));

CREATE TABLE all_employeeattrs

( ssn NUMBER,
empid NUMBER,
mgr VARCHAR2(30));

CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW Person_v OF person_typ

WITH OBJECT OID(ssn) AS
SELECT ssn, name, address
FROM all_personattrs
WHERE typeid = 1;

CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW Student_v OF student_typ UNDER Person_v

Applying an Object Model to Relational Data 5-19

Object View Hierarchies

AS
SELECT x.ssn, x.name, x.address, y.deptid, y.major
FROM all_personattrs x, all_studentattrs y
WHERE x.typeid = 2 AND x.ssn = y.ssn;

CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW Employee_v OF employee_typ UNDER Person_v

AS
SELECT x.ssn, x.name, x.address, y.empid, y.mgr
FROM all_personattrs x, all_employeeattrs y
WHERE x.typeid = 3 AND x.ssn = y.ssn;

The vertical model can efficiently process queries of the kind SELECT * FROM root_
view, and it is possible to index individual attributes and impose unique constraints
on them. However, to re-create an instance of a type, a join over OIDs must be
performed for each level that the type is removed from the root in the hierarchy.

Querying a View in a Hierarchy

You can query any view or subview in an object view hierarchy; rows are returned for
the declared type of the view that you query and for any of that type's subtypes. So,
for instance, in an object view hierarchy based on the person_typ type hierarchy, you
can query the view of person_typ to get a result set that contains all persons,
including students and employees; or you can query the view of student_typ to get
a result set that contains only students, including part-time students.
In the SELECT list of a query, you can include either functions such as REF() and
VALUE() that return an object instance, or you can specify object attributes of the
view's declared type, such as the name and ssn attributes of person_typ.
If you specify functions, to return object instances, the query returns a polymorphic
result set: that is, it returns instances of both the view's declared type and any subtypes
of that type.
For example, the following query returns instances of persons, employees, and
students of all types, as well as REFs to those instances.
SELECT REF(p), VALUE(p) FROM Person_v p;

If you specify individual attributes of the view's declared type in the SELECT list or do
a SELECT *, again the query returns rows for the view's declared type and any
subtypes of that type, but these rows are projected over columns for the attributes of
the view's declared type, and only those columns are used. In other words, the
subtypes are represented only with respect to the attributes they inherit from and
share with the view's declared type.
So, for example, the following query returns rows for all persons and rows for
employees and students of all types, but the result uses only the columns for the
attributes of person_typ—namely, name, ssn, and address. It does not show rows
for attributes added in the subtypes, such as the deptid attribute of student_typ.
SELECT * FROM Person_v;

To exclude subviews from the result, use the ONLY keyword. The ONLY keyword
confines the selection to the declared type of the view that you are querying:
SELECT VALUE(p) FROM ONLY(Person_v) p;

5-20 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Object View Hierarchies

Privileges for Operations on View Hierarchies

Generally, a query on a view with subviews requires only the SELECT privilege on the
view being referenced and does not require any explicit privileges on subviews. For
example, the following query requires only SELECT privileges on Person_v but not
on any of its subviews.
SELECT * FROM Person_v;

However, a query that selects for any attributes added in subtypes but not used by the
root type requires the SELECT privilege on all subviews as well. Such subtype
attributes may hold sensitive information that should reasonably require additional
privileges to access.
The following query, for example, requires SELECT privileges on Person_v and also
on Student_v, Employee_v (and on any other subview of Person_v) because the
query selects object instances and thus gets all the attributes of the subtypes.
SELECT VALUE(p) FROM Person_v p;

To simplify the process of granting SELECT privileges on an entire view hierarchy, you
can use the HIERARCHY option. Specifying the HIERARCHY option when granting a
user SELECT privileges on a view implicitly grants SELECT privileges on all current
and future subviews of the view as well. For example:
GRANT SELECT ON Person_v TO oe WITH HIERARCHY OPTION;

A query that excludes rows belonging to subviews also requires SELECT privileges on
all subviews. The reason is that information about which rows belong exclusively to
the most specific type of an instance may be sensitive, so the system requires SELECT
privileges on subviews for queries (such as the following one) that exclude all rows
from subviews.
SELECT * FROM ONLY(Person_v);

Applying an Object Model to Relational Data 5-21

Object View Hierarchies

5-22 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 6
Managing Oracle Objects

This chapter explains how Oracle objects work in combination with the rest of the
database, and how to perform DML and DDL operations on them. It contains the
following major sections:
■ Privileges on Object Types and Their Methods
■ Dependencies and Incomplete Types
■ Synonyms for Object Types
■ Performance Tuning
■ Tools Providing Support for Objects
■ Utilities Providing Support for Objects

Privileges on Object Types and Their Methods

Privileges for object types exist at the system level and the schema object level.

System Privileges for Object Types

Oracle defines the following system privileges for object types:
■ CREATE TYPE enables you to create object types in your own schema
■ CREATE ANY TYPE enables you to create object types in any schema
■ ALTER ANY TYPE enables you to alter object types in any schema
■ DROP ANY TYPE enables you to drop named types in any schema
■ EXECUTE ANY TYPE enables you to use and reference named types in any schema
■ UNDER ANY TYPE enables you to create subtypes under any non-final object types
■ UNDER ANY VIEW enables you to create subviews under any object view
The RESOURCE role includes the CREATE TYPE system privilege. The DBA role
includes all of these privileges.

Schema Object Privileges

Two schema object privileges apply to object types:
■ EXECUTE on an object type enables you to use the type to:
■ Define a table.
■ Define a column in a relational table.

Managing Oracle Objects 6-1

Privileges on Object Types and Their Methods

■ Declare a variable or parameter of the named type.

EXECUTE lets you invoke the type's methods, including the constructor.
Method execution and the associated permissions are the same as for stored
PL/SQL procedures.
■ UNDER enables you to create a subtype or subview under the type or view on
which the privilege is granted
The UNDER privilege on a subtype or subview can be granted only if the grantor
has the UNDER privilege on the direct supertype or superview WITH GRANT
OPTION.
The phrase WITH HIERARCHY OPTION grants a specified object privilege on all
subobjects of the object. This option is meaningful only with the SELECT object
privilege granted on an object view in an object view hierarchy. In this case, the
privilege applies to all subviews of the view on which the privilege is granted.

Using Types in New Types or Tables

In addition to the permissions detailed in the previous sections, you need specific
privileges to:
■ Create types or tables that use types created by other users.
■ Grant use of your new types or tables to other users.
You must have the EXECUTE ANY TYPE system privilege, or you must have the
EXECUTE object privilege for any type you use in defining a new type or table. You
must have received these privileges explicitly, not through roles.
If you intend to grant access to your new type or table to other users, you must have
either the required EXECUTE object privileges with the GRANT option or the EXECUTE
ANY TYPE system privilege with the option WITH ADMIN OPTION. You must have
received these privileges explicitly, not through roles.

Example: Privileges on Object Types

Assume that three users exist with the CREATE SESSION and RESOURCE roles: USER1,
USER2, and USER3.
USER1 performs the following DDL in the USER1 schema:
CONNECT user1/user1
CREATE TYPE type1 AS OBJECT ( attr1 NUMBER );
/
CREATE TYPE type2 AS OBJECT ( attr2 NUMBER );
/
GRANT EXECUTE ON type1 TO user2;
GRANT EXECUTE ON type2 TO user2 WITH GRANT OPTION;

USER2 performs the following DDL in the USER2 schema:

CONNECT user2/user2
CREATE TABLE tab1 OF user1.type1;
CREATE TYPE type3 AS OBJECT ( attr3 user1.type2 );
/
CREATE TABLE tab2 (col1 user1.type2 );

The following statements succeed because USER2 has EXECUTE on USER1's TYPE2
with the GRANT option:

6-2 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Privileges on Object Types and Their Methods

GRANT EXECUTE ON type3 TO user3;

GRANT SELECT ON tab2 TO user3;

However, the following grant fails because USER2 does not have EXECUTE on
USER1.TYPE1 with the GRANT option:
GRANT SELECT ON tab1 TO user3 -- incorrect statement;

USER3 can successfully perform the following actions:

CONNECT user3/user3
CREATE TYPE type4 AS OBJECT (attr4 user2.type3);
/
CREATE TABLE tab3 OF type4;

Privileges on Type Access and Object Access

While object types only make use of EXECUTE privilege, object tables use all the same
privileges as relational tables:
■ SELECT lets you access an object and its attributes from the table.
■ UPDATE lets you modify attributes of objects in the table.
■ INSERT lets you add new objects to the table.
■ DELETE lets you delete objects from the table.
Similar table and column privileges regulate the use of table columns of object types.
Selecting columns of an object table does not require privileges on the type of the
object table. Selecting the entire row object, however, does.
Consider the following schema and queries in Example 6–1:

Example 6–1 SELECT Privileges on Type Access

CREATE TYPE emp_type as object (
eno NUMBER,
ename VARCHAR2(36));
/
CREATE TABLE emp OF emp_type;
GRANT SELECT on emp TO user1;
SELECT VALUE(e) FROM emp e;
SELECT eno, ename FROM emp;

For either query, Oracle checks the user's SELECT privilege for the emp table. For the
first query, the user needs to obtain the emp_type type information to interpret the
data. When the query accesses the emp_type type, Oracle checks the user's EXECUTE
privilege.
Execution of the second query, however, does not involve named types, so Oracle does
not check type privileges.
Additionally, using the schema described in "Example: Privileges on Object Types" on
page 6-2, USER3 can perform the following queries:
SELECT t.col1.attr2 from user2.tab2 t;

SELECT t.attr4.attr3.attr2 FROM tab3 t;

Managing Oracle Objects 6-3

Dependencies and Incomplete Types

Note that in both selects by USER3, USER3 does not have explicit privileges on the
underlying types, but the statement succeeds because the type and table owners have
the necessary privileges with the GRANT option.
Oracle checks privileges on the following requests, and returns an error if the
requestor does not have the privilege for the action:
■ Pinning an object in the object cache using its REF value causes Oracle to check
SELECT privilege on the object table containing the object and EXECUTE privilege
on the object type.

See Also: Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide for tips and
techniques for using OCI program effectively with objects

■ Modifying an existing object or flushing an object from the object cache, causes
Oracle to check UPDATE privilege on the destination object table. Flushing a new
object causes Oracle to check INSERT privilege on the destination object table.
■ Deleting an object causes Oracle to check DELETE privilege on the destination
table.
■ Invoking a method causes Oracle to check EXECUTE privilege on the
corresponding object type.
Oracle does not provide column level privileges for object tables.

Dependencies and Incomplete Types

Types can depend upon each other for their definitions. For example, you might want
to define object types employee and department in such a way that one attribute of
employee is the department the employee belongs to and one attribute of
department is the employee who manages the department.
Types that depend on each other in this way, either directly or through intermediate
types, are called mutually dependent. In a diagram that uses arrows to show the
dependency relationships among a set of types, connections among mutually
dependent types form a loop.
To define such a circular dependency, you must use REFs for at least one segment of
the circle.
For example, you can define the types show in Example 6–2.

Example 6–2 Creating Dependent Object Types

CREATE TYPE department;
/

CREATE TYPE employee AS OBJECT (

name VARCHAR2(30),
dept REF department,
supv REF employee );
/

CREATE TYPE emp_list AS TABLE OF employee;

/

CREATE TYPE department AS OBJECT (

name VARCHAR2(30),
mgr REF employee,
staff emp_list );

6-4 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Dependencies and Incomplete Types

This is a legal set of mutually dependent types and a legal sequence of SQL DDL
statements. Oracle compiles it without errors.
Notice that the code in Example 6–2 creates the type department twice. The first
statement:
CREATE TYPE department;
is an optional, incomplete declaration of department that serves as a placeholder for
the REF attribute of employee to point to. The declaration is incomplete in that it
omits the AS OBJECT phrase and lists no attributes or methods. These are specified
later in the full declaration that completes the type. In the meantime, department is
created as an incomplete object type. This enables the compilation of employee to
proceed without errors.
To complete an incomplete type, you execute a CREATE TYPE statement that specifies
the attributes and methods of the type, as shown at the end of the example. Complete
an incomplete type after all the types that it refers to are created.
If you do not create incomplete types as placeholders, types that refer to the missing
types still compile, but the compilation proceeds with errors.
For example, if department did not exist at all, Oracle would create it as an
incomplete type and compile employee with errors. Then employee would be
recompiled the next time that some operation attempts to access it. This time, if all the
types it depends on are created and its dependencies are satisfied, it will compile
without errors.
Incomplete types also enable you to create types that contain REF attributes to a
subtype that has not yet been created. To create such a supertype, first create an
incomplete type of the subtype to be referenced. Create the complete subtype after you
create the supertype.
A subtype is just a specialized version of its direct supertype and consequently has an
explicit dependency on it. To ensure that subtypes are not left behind after a supertype
is dropped, all subtypes must be dropped first: a supertype cannot be dropped until
all its subtypes are dropped.

Completing Incomplete Types

When all the types that an incomplete type refers to have been created, there is no
longer any need for the incomplete type to remain incomplete, and you should
complete the declaration of the type. Completing the type recompiles it and enables
the system to release various locks.
You must complete an incomplete object type as an object type: you cannot complete
an object type as a collection type (a nested table type or an array type). The only
alternative to completing a type declaration is to drop the type.
You must also complete any incomplete types that Oracle creates for you because you
did not explicitly create them yourself. The example in the preceding section explicitly
creates department as an incomplete type. If department were not explicitly
created as an incomplete type, Oracle would create it as one so that the employee
type can compile (with errors). You must complete the declaration of department as
an object type whether you or Oracle declared it as an incomplete type.

Managing Oracle Objects 6-5

Dependencies and Incomplete Types

Manually Recompiling a Type

If a type was created with compilation errors, and you attempt an operation on it, such
as creating tables or inserting rows, you may receive an error. You need to recompile
type typename before attempting the operation. To manually recompile a type,
execute an ALTER TYPE typename COMPILE statement. After you have successfully
compiled the type, attempt the operation again.

Type Dependencies of Substitutable Tables and Columns

A substitutable table or column of type T is dependent not only on T but on all
subtypes of T as well. This is because a hidden column is added to the table for each
attribute added in a subtype of T. The hidden columns are added even if the
substitutable table or column contains no data of that subtype.
So, for example, a persons table of type person_typ is dependent not only on
person_typ but also on the person_typ subtypes student_typ and part_time_
student_typ.
If you attempt to drop a subtype that has a dependent type, table, or column, the DROP
TYPE statement returns an error and aborts. For example, trying to drop part_time_
student_typ will raise an error because of the dependent persons table.
If dependent tables or columns exist but contain no data of the type that you want to
drop, you can use the VALIDATE keyword to drop the type. The VALIDATE keyword
causes Oracle to check for actual stored instances of the specified type and to drop the
type if none are found. Hidden columns associated with attributes unique to the type
are removed as well.
For example, the first DROP TYPE statement in the following example fails because
part_time_student_typ has a dependent table (persons). But if persons
contains no instances of part_time_student_typ (and no other dependent table or
column does, either), the VALIDATE keyword causes the second DROP TYPE statement
to succeed:
-- Following generates an error due to presence of Persons table
DROP TYPE part_time_student_typ -- incorrect statement;
-- Following succeeds if there are no stored instances of part_time_student_typ
DROP TYPE part_time_student_typ VALIDATE;

Note: Oracle recommends that you always use the VALIDATE

option while dropping subtypes.

The FORCE Option

The DROP TYPE statement also has a FORCE option that causes the type to be dropped
even though it may have dependent types or tables. The FORCE option should be used
only with great care, as any dependent types or tables that do exist are marked invalid
and become inaccessible when the type is dropped. Data in a table that is marked
invalid because a type it depends on has been dropped can never be accessed again.
The only action that can be performed on such a table is to drop it.
See "Type Evolution" on page 7-5 for information about how to alter a type.

6-6 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Synonyms for Object Types

Synonyms for Object Types

Just as you can create synonyms for tables, views, and various other schema objects,
you can also define synonyms for object types.
Synonyms for types have the same advantages as synonyms for other kinds of schema
objects: they provide a location-independent way to reference the underlying schema
object. An application that uses public type synonyms can be deployed without
alteration in any schema of a database without having to qualify a type name with the
name of the schema in which the type was defined.

See Also: Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for more

information on synonyms in general

Creating a Type Synonym

You create a type synonym with a CREATE SYNONYM statement. For example, these
statements create a type typ1 and then create a synonym for it:
-- For the synonym examples, CREATE SYNONYM and CREATE PUBLIC SYNONYM
-- are granted to USER1
CREATE TYPE typ1 AS OBJECT (x number);
/
CREATE SYNONYM syn1 FOR typ1;

Synonyms can be created for collection types, too. The following example creates a
synonym for a nested table type:
CREATE TYPE typ2 AS TABLE OF NUMBER;
/
CREATE SYNONYM syn2 FOR typ2;

You create a public synonym by using the PUBLIC keyword:

CREATE TYPE shape AS OBJECT ( name VARCHAR2(10) );
/
CREATE PUBLIC SYNONYM pub_shape FOR shape;

The REPLACE option enables you to have the synonym point to a different underlying
type. For example, the following statement causes syn1 to point to type typ2 instead
of the type it formerly pointed to:
CREATE OR REPLACE SYNONYM syn1 FOR typ2;

Using a Type Synonym

You can use a type synonym anywhere that you can refer to a type. For instance, you
can use a type synonym in a DDL statement to name the type of a table column or
type attribute. In Example 6–3, synonym syn1 is used to specify the type of an
attribute in type typ3:

Example 6–3 Using a Type Synonym in a Create Statement

CREATE TYPE typ1 AS OBJECT (x number);
/
CREATE SYNONYM syn1 FOR typ1;

CREATE TYPE typ3 AS OBJECT ( a syn1 );

/

Managing Oracle Objects 6-7

Synonyms for Object Types

The next example shows a type synonym syn1 used to call the constructor of the
object type typ1, for which syn1 is a synonym. The statement returns an object
instance of typ1:
SELECT syn1(0) FROM dual;

In the following example, syn2 is a synonym for a nested table type. The example
shows the synonym used in place of the actual type name in a CAST expression:
SELECT CAST(MULTISET(SELECT eno FROM USER3.EMP) AS syn2) FROM dual;

Type synonyms can be used in the following kinds of statements:

■ DML statements: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, FLASHBACK TABLE,
EXPLAIN PLAN, and LOCK TABLE
■ DDL statements: AUDIT, NOAUDIT, GRANT, REVOKE, and COMMENT

Describing Schema Objects That Use Synonyms

If a type or table has been created using type synonyms, the DESCRIBE command will
show the synonyms in place of the types they represent. Similarly, catalog views, such
as USER_TYPE_ATTRS, that show type names will show the associated type synonym
names in their place.
You can query the catalog view USER_SYNONYMS to find out the underlying type of a
type synonym.

Dependents of Type Synonyms

A type that directly or indirectly references a synonym in its type declaration is a
dependent of that synonym. Thus, in the following example, type typ3 is a dependent
type of synonym syn1.
CREATE TYPE typ3 AS OBJECT ( a syn1 );
/

Other kinds of schema objects that reference synonyms in their DDL statements also
become dependents of those synonyms. An object that depends on a type synonym
depends on both the synonym and on the synonym's underlying type.
A synonym's dependency relationships affect your ability to drop or rename the
synonym. Dependent schema objects are also affected by some operations on
synonyms. The following sections describe these various ramifications.

Restriction on Replacing a Type Synonym

You can replace a synonym only if it has no dependent tables or valid user defined
types. Replacing a synonym is equivalent to dropping it and then re-creating a new
synonym with the same name.

Dropping Type Synonyms

You drop a synonym with the DROP SYNONYM statement as shown in Example 6–4.

Example 6–4 Dropping Type Synonyms

CREATE SYNONYM syn4 FOR typ1;

DROP SYNONYM syn4;

6-8 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Performance Tuning

You cannot drop a type synonym if it has table or valid object types as dependents
unless you use the FORCE option. The FORCE option causes any columns that directly
or indirectly depend on the synonym to be marked unused, just as if the actual types
of the columns were dropped. (A column indirectly depends on a synonym if, for
instance, the synonym is used to specify the type of an attribute of the declared type of
the column.)
Any dependent schema objects of a dropped synonym are invalidated. They can be
revalidated by creating a local object of the same name as the dropped synonym or by
creating a new public synonym with same name.
Dropping the underlying base type of a type synonym has the same effect on
dependent objects as dropping the synonym.

Renaming Type Synonyms

You can rename a type synonym with the RENAME statement. Renaming a synonym is
equivalent to dropping it and then re-creating it with a new name. You cannot rename
a type synonym if it has dependent tables or valid object types. The following example
fails because synonym syn1 has a dependent object type:
RENAME syn1 TO syn3 -- invalid statement;

Public Type Synonyms and Local Schema Objects

You cannot create a local schema object that has the same name as a public synonym if
the public synonym has a dependent table or valid object type in the local schema
where you want to create the new schema object. Nor can you create a local schema
object that has the same name as a private synonym in the same schema.
For instance, in the following example, table shape_tab is a dependent table of
public synonym pub_shape because the table has a column that uses the synonym in
its type definition. Consequently, the attempt to create a table that has the same name
as public synonym pub_shape, in the same schema as the dependent table, fails:
-- Following uses public synonym pub_shape
CREATE TABLE shape_tab ( c1 pub_shape );
-- Following is not allowed
CREATE TABLE pub_shape ( c1 NUMBER ) -- invalid statement;

Performance Tuning
When tuning objects, the following items need to be addressed:
■ How objects and object views consume CPU and memory resources during
runtime
■ How to monitor memory and CPU resources during runtime
■ How to manage large numbers of objects
Some of the key performance factors are the following:
■ DBMS_STATS package to collect statistics
■ tkprof to profile execution of SQL commands
■ EXPLAIN PLAN to generate the query plans

See Also: Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide for details on

measuring and tuning the performance of your application

Managing Oracle Objects 6-9

Tools Providing Support for Objects

Tools Providing Support for Objects

This section describes several Oracle tools that provide support for Oracle objects.

JDeveloper
JDeveloper is a full-featured, integrated development environment for creating
multitier Java applications. It enables you to develop, debug, and deploy Java client
applications, dynamic HTML applications, web and application server components
and database stored procedures based on industry-standard models.
JDeveloper provides powerful features in the following areas:
■ Oracle Business Components for Java
■ Web Application Development
■ Java Client Application Development
■ Java in the Database
■ Component-Based Development with JavaBeans
■ Simplified Database Access
■ Visual Integrated Development Environment
■ Java Language Support
JDeveloper runs on Windows platforms. It provides a standard GUI based Java
development environment that is well integrated with Oracle Application Server and
Database.

Business Components for Java (BC4J)

Supporting standard EJB and CORBA deployment architectures, Oracle Business
Components for Java simplifies the development, delivery, and customization of Java
business applications for the enterprise. Oracle Business Components for Java is an
application component framework providing developers a set of reusable software
building blocks that manage all the common facilities required to:
■ Author and test business logic in components which integrate with relational
databases
■ Reuse business logic through multiple SQL-based views of data
■ Access and update the views from servlets, JavaServer Pages (JSPs), and thin-Java
Swing clients
■ Customize application functionality in layers without requiring modification of
the delivered application

JPublisher
JPublisher is a utility, written entirely in Java, that generates Java classes to represent
the following user-defined database entities in your Java program:
■ Database object types
■ Database reference (REF) types
■ Database collection types (varrays or nested tables)
■ PL/SQL packages

6-10 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Utilities Providing Support for Objects

JPublisher enables you to specify and customize the mapping of database object types,
reference types, and collection types (varrays or nested tables) to Java classes, in a
strongly typed paradigm.

See Also: Oracle Database JPublisher User's Guide

Utilities Providing Support for Objects

This section describes several Oracle utilities that provide support for Oracle objects.

Import/Export of Object Types

The Export and Import utilities move data into and out of Oracle databases. They also
back up or archive data and aid migration to different releases of the Oracle RDBMS.
Export and Import support object types. Export writes object type definitions and all
of the associated data to the dump file. Import then re-creates these items from the
dump file.

Types The definition statements for derived types are exported. On an Import, a
subtype may be created before the supertype definition has been imported. In this
case, the subtype will be created with compilation errors, which may be ignored. The
type will be revalidated after its supertype is created.

Object View Hierarchies View definitions for all views belonging to a view hierarchy
are exported

SQL*Loader
The SQL*Loader utility moves data from external files into tables in an Oracle
database. The files may contain data consisting of basic scalar datatypes, such as
INTEGER, CHAR, or DATE, as well as complex user-defined datatypes such as row and
column objects (including objects that have object, collection, or REF attributes),
collections, and LOBs. Currently, SQL*Loader supports single-level collections only:
you cannot yet use SQL*Loader to load multilevel collections, that is, collections
whose elements are, or contain, other collections.
SQL*Loader uses control files, which contain SQL*Loader data definition language
(DDL) statements, to describe the format, content, and location of the datafiles.
SQL*Loader provides two approaches to loading data:
■ Conventional path loading, which uses the SQL INSERT statement and a bind
array buffer to load data into database tables
■ Direct path loading, which uses the Direct Path Load API to write data blocks
directly to the database on behalf of the SQL*Loader client.
Direct path loading does not use a SQL interface and thus avoids the overhead of
processing the associated SQL statements. Consequently, direct path loading tends
to provide much better performance than conventional path loading.
Either approach can be used to load data of supported object and collection datatypes.

See Also: Oracle Database Utilities for instructions on how to use

SQL*Loader

Managing Oracle Objects 6-11

Utilities Providing Support for Objects

6-12 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 7
Advanced Topics for Oracle Objects

The other chapters in this book discuss the topics that you need to get started with
Oracle objects. The topics in this chapter are of interest once you start applying
object-relational techniques to large-scale applications or complex schemas.
The chapter contains these topics:
■ Storage of Objects
■ Creating Indexes on Typeids or Attributes
■ Type Evolution
■ Transient and Generic Types
■ User-Defined Aggregate Functions
■ Partitioning Tables That Contain Oracle Objects

Storage of Objects
Oracle automatically maps the complex structure of object types into the simple
rectangular structure of tables.

Leaf-Level Attributes
An object type is like a tree structure, where the branches represent the attributes.
Attributes that are objects sprout subbranches for their own attributes.
Ultimately, each branch ends at an attribute that is a built-in type; such as NUMBER,
VARCHAR2, or REF; or a collection type, such as VARRAY or nested table. Each of these
leaf-level attributes of the original object type is stored in a table column.
The leaf-level attributes that are not collection types are called the leaf-level scalar
attributes of the object type.

How Row Objects Are Split Across Columns

In an object table, Oracle stores the data for every leaf-level scalar or REF attribute in a
separate column. Each VARRAY is also stored in a column, unless it is too large. Oracle
stores leaf-level attributes of nested table types in separate tables associated with the
object table. You must declare these tables as part of the object table declaration. See
"Internal Layout of VARRAYs" on page 7-3 and "Internal Layout of Nested Tables" on
page 7-3.
When you retrieve or change attributes of objects in an object table, Oracle performs
the corresponding operations on the columns of the table. Accessing the value of the

Advanced Topics for Oracle Objects 7-1

Storage of Objects

object itself produces a copy of the object, by invoking the default constructor for the
type, using the columns of the object table as arguments.
Oracle stores the system-generated object identifier in a hidden column. Oracle uses
the object identifier to construct REFs to the object.

Hidden Columns for Tables with Column Objects

When a table is defined with a column of an object type, Oracle adds hidden columns
to the table for the object type's leaf-level attributes. Each object-type column also has a
corresponding hidden column to store the NULL information for the column objects
(that is, the atomic nulls of the top-level and the nested objects).

Hidden Columns for Substitutable Columns and Tables

A substitutable column or object table has a hidden column not only for each attribute
of the column's object type but also for each attribute added in any subtype of the
object type. These columns store the values of those attributes for any subtype
instances inserted in the substitutable column.
For example, a substitutable column of person_typ will have associated with it a
hidden column for each of the attributes of person_typ: idno, name, and phone. It
will also have hidden columns for attributes of the subtypes of person_typ. For
example, the attributes dept_id and major (for student_typ) and number_hours
(for part_time_student_typ).
When a subtype is created, hidden columns for attributes added in the subtype are
automatically added to tables containing a substitutable column of any of the new
subtype's ancestor types. These retrofit the tables to store data of the new type. If, for
some reason, the columns cannot be added, creation of the subtype is rolled back.
When a subtype is dropped with the VALIDATE option to DROP TYPE, all such hidden
columns for attributes unique to the subtype are automatically dropped as well if they
do not contain data.
A substitutable column also has associated with it a hidden type discriminant column.
This column contains an identifier, called a typeid, that identifies the most specific
type of each object in the substitutable column. Typically, a typeid (RAW) is one byte,
though it can be as big as four bytes for a large hierarchy.
You can find the typeid of a specified object instance using the function SYS_TYPEID.
For example, suppose that the substitutable object table person_obj_table contains
three rows, as shown in Example 2–17 on page 2-16.
The query in Example 7–1 retrieves typeids of object instances stored in the table:

Example 7–1 Retrieving Typeids in a Table

SELECT name, SYS_TYPEID(VALUE(p)) typeid
FROM person_obj_table p;

NAME TYPEID
------------------------------ ---------------------------
Bob Jones 01
Joe Lane 02
Kim Patel 03

The catalog views USER_TYPES, DBA_TYPES and ALL_TYPES contain a TYPEID

column (not hidden) that gives the typeid value for each type. You can join on this

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 Storage of Objects

column to get the type names corresponding to the typeids in a type discriminant
column. See "SYS_TYPEID" on page 2-31 for more information about SYS_TYPEID
and typeids.

REFs
When Oracle constructs a REF to a row object, the constructed REF is made up of the
object identifier (OID), some metadata of the object table, and, optionally, the ROWID.
The size of a REF in a column of REF type depends on the storage properties
associated with the column. For example, if the column is declared as a REF WITH
ROWID, Oracle stores the ROWID in the REF column. The ROWID hint is ignored for
object references in constrained REF columns.
If column is declared as a REF with a SCOPE clause, the column is made smaller by
omitting the object table metadata and the ROWID. A scoped REF is 16 bytes long.
If the object identifier is primary-key based, Oracle may create one or more internal
columns to store the values of the primary key depending on how many columns
comprise the primary key.

Note: When a REF column references row objects whose object

identifiers are derived from primary keys, we refer to it as a
primary-key-based REF or pkREF. Columns containing pkREFs
must be scoped or have a referential constraint.

Internal Layout of Nested Tables

The rows of a nested table are stored in a separate storage table. Each nested table
column has a single associated storage table, not one for each row. The storage table
holds all the elements for all of the nested tables in that column. The storage table has
a hidden NESTED_TABLE_ID column with a system-generated value that lets Oracle
map the nested table elements back to the appropriate row.
You can speed up queries that retrieve entire collections by making the storage table
index-organized. Include the ORGANIZATION INDEX clause inside the STORE AS
clause.
A nested table type can contain objects or scalars:
■ If the elements are objects, the storage table is like an object table: the top-level
attributes of the object type become the columns of the storage table. But because a
nested table row has no object identifier column, you cannot construct REFs to
objects in a nested table.
■ If the elements are scalars, the storage table contains a single column called
COLUMN_VALUE that contains the scalar values.
See "Nested Table Storage" on page 8-11.

Internal Layout of VARRAYs

All the elements of a VARRAY are stored in a single column. Depending upon the size
of the array, it may be stored inline or in a BLOB. See Storage Considerations for
Varrays on page 8-9 for details.

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Creating Indexes on Typeids or Attributes

Creating Indexes on Typeids or Attributes

This section discusses the use of indexes on typeids and attributes.

Indexing a Type Discriminant Column

Using the SYS_TYPEID function, you can build an index on the hidden type
discriminant column that every substitutable column has. The type discriminant
column contains typeids that identify the most specific type of every object instance
stored in the substitutable column. This information is used by the system to evaluate
queries that use the IS OF predicate to filter by type, but you can access the typeids
for your own purposes using the SYS_TYPEID function.

Note: Generally, a type discriminant column contains only a small

number of distinct typeids: at most, there can be only as many as
there are types in the related type hierarchy. The low cardinality of
this column makes it a good candidate for a bitmap index.

For example, the following statement creates a bitmap index on the type discriminant
column underlying the substitutable contact column of table contacts. Function
SYS_TYPEID is used to reference the type discriminant column:
CREATE BITMAP INDEX typeid_idx ON contacts (SYS_TYPEID(contact));

Indexing Subtype Attributes of a Substitutable Column

You can build an index on attributes of any of the types that can be stored in a
substitutable column. Attributes of subtypes can be referenced in the CREATE INDEX
statement by using the TREAT function to filter out types other than the desired
subtype (and its subtypes); you then use the dot notation to specify the desired
attribute.
For example, the following statement creates an index on the major attribute of all
students in the contacts table. The declared type of the contact column is
person_typ, of which student_typ is a subtype, so the column may contain
instances of person_typ, student_typ, and subtypes of either one:
CREATE INDEX major1_idx ON contacts
(TREAT(contact AS student_typ).major);

student_typ is the type that first defined the major attribute: the person_typ
supertype does not have it. Consequently, all the values in the hidden column for the
major attribute are values for student_typ or parttimestudent_typ authors (a
student_typ subtype). This means that the hidden column's values are identical to
the values returned by the TREAT expression, which returns major values for all
students, including student subtypes: both the hidden column and the TREAT
expression list majors for students and nulls for authors of other types. The system
exploits this fact and creates index major1_idx as an ordinary B-tree index on the
hidden column.
Values in a hidden column are identical to the values returned by a TREAT expression
like the preceding one only if the type named as the target of the TREAT function
(student_typ) is the type that first defined the attribute. If the target of the TREAT
function is a subtype that merely inherited the attribute, as in the following example,
the TREAT expression will return non-null major values for the subtype (part-time
students) but not for its supertype (other students).

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CREATE INDEX major2_idx ON contacts

(TREAT(contact AS part_time_student_typ).major);

Here the values stored in the hidden column for major may be different from the
results of the TREAT expression. Consequently, an ordinary B-tree index cannot be
created on the underlying column. In a case like this, Oracle treats the TREAT
expression like any other function-based expression and tries to create the index as a
function-based index on the result.
The following example, like the previous one, creates a function-based index on the
major attribute of part-time students, but in this case the hidden column for major is
associated with a substitutable object table person_obj_table:
CREATE INDEX major3_idx ON person_obj_table p
(TREAT(VALUE(p) AS part_time_student_typ).major);

Type Evolution
Changing a object type is called type evolution. You can make the following changes
to an object type:
■ Add and drop attributes
■ Add and drop methods
■ Modify a numeric attribute to increase its length, precision, or scale
■ Modify a varying length character attribute to increase its length
■ Change a type's FINAL and INSTANTIABLE properties
■ Modify limit and size of VARRAYs
■ Modify length, precision, and scale of collection elements
Changes to a type affect things that reference the type. For example, if you add a new
attribute to a type, data in a column of that type must be presented so as to include the
new attribute.
Schema objects that directly or indirectly reference a type and are affected by a change
to it are called dependents of the type. A type can have these kinds of dependents:
■ Table
■ Type or subtype
■ Program unit (PL/SQL block): procedure, function, package, trigger
■ Indextype
■ View (including object view)
■ Function-based index
■ Operator
How a dependent schema object is affected by a change to a type depends on the
dependent object and on the nature of the change to the type.
All dependent program units, views, operators and indextypes are marked invalid
when a type is modified. The next time one of these invalid schema objects is
referenced, it is revalidated using the new type definition. If the object recompiles
successfully, it becomes valid and can be used again. Depending on the change to the
type, function-based indexes may be dropped or disabled and need to be rebuilt.

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Type Evolution

If a type has dependent tables, then, for each attribute added to a type, one or more
internal columns are added to the table depending on the new attribute's type. New
attributes are added with NULL values. For each dropped attribute, the columns
associated with that attribute are dropped. For each modified attribute, the length,
precision, or scale of its associated column is changed accordingly.
These changes mainly involve updating the tables' metadata (information about a
table's structure, describing its columns and their types) and can be done quickly.
However, the data in those tables must be updated to the format of the new type
version as well. Updating this data can be time-consuming if there is a lot of it, so the
ALTER TYPE command has options to let you choose whether to convert all
dependent table data immediately or to leave it in the old format to be converted
piecemeal as it is updated in the course of business.
The CASCADE option for ALTER TYPE propagates a type change to dependent types
and tables. See "ALTER TYPE Statement for Type Evolution" on page 7-12. CASCADE
itself has options that let you choose whether to convert table data to the new type
format as part of the propagation: the option INCLUDING TABLE DATA converts the
data; the option NOT INCLUDING TABLE DATA does not convert it. By default, the
CASCADE option converts the data. In any case, table data is always returned in the
format of the latest type version. If the table data is stored in the format of an earlier
type version, Oracle converts the data to the format of the latest version before
returning it, even though the format in which the data is actually stored is not changed
until the data is rewritten.
You can retrieve the definition of the latest type from the system view USER_SOURCE.
You can view definitions of all versions of a type in the USER_TYPE_VERSIONS view.

Changes Involved When a Type Is Altered

Only structural changes to a type affect dependent data and require the data to be
converted. Changes that are confined to a type's method definitions or behavior (in the
type body, where the type's methods are implemented) do not.
These possible changes to a type are structural:
■ Adding an attribute
■ Dropping an attribute
■ Modifying the length, precision, or scale of an attribute
■ Changing the finality of a type (which determines whether subtypes can be
derived from it) from FINAL to NOT FINAL or from NOT FINAL to FINAL.
These changes result in new versions of the altered type and all its dependent types
and require the system to add, drop, or modify internal columns of dependent tables
as part of the process of converting to the new version.
When you make any of these kinds of changes to a type that has dependent types or
tables, the effects of propagating the change are not confined only to metadata but
affect data storage arrangements and require the data to be converted.
Besides converting data, you may also need to make other changes. For example, if a
new attribute is added to a type, and the type body invokes the type's constructor,
then each constructor in the type body must be modified to specify a value for the new
attribute. Similarly, if a new method is added, then the type body must be replaced to
add the implementation of the new method. The type body can be modified by using
the CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE BODY statement.

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Example 7–2 illustrates how to make a simple change to person_typ by adding one
attribute and dropping another. The CASCADE keyword propagates the type change to
dependent types and tables, but the phrase NOT INCLUDING TABLE DATA prevents
conversion of the related data.

Example 7–2 Altering an Object Type by Adding and Dropping an Attribute

CREATE TABLE person_obj_table OF person_typ;

INSERT INTO person_obj_table

VALUES (person_typ(12, 'Bob Jones', '111-555-1212'));

SELECT value(p) FROM person_obj_table p;

VALUE(P)(IDNO, NAME, PHONE)

--------------------------------------------
PERSON_TYP(12, 'Bob Jones', '111-555-1212')

-- add the email attribute and drop the phone attribute

ALTER TYPE person_typ
ADD ATTRIBUTE (email VARCHAR2(80)),
DROP ATTRIBUTE phone CASCADE NOT INCLUDING TABLE DATA;

-- Disconnect and reconnect to accommodate the type change

-- The data of table person_obj_table has not been converted yet, but
-- when the data is retrieved, Oracle returns the data based on
-- the latest type version. The new attribute is initialized to NULL.
SELECT value(p) FROM person_obj_table p;

VALUE(P)(IDNO, NAME, EMAIL)

---------------------------------
PERSON_TYP(12, 'Bob Jones', NULL)

During SELECT statements, even though column data may be converted to the latest
type version, the converted data is not written back to the column. If a certain
user-defined type column in a table is retrieved often, you should consider converting
that data to the latest type version to eliminate redundant data conversions.
Converting is especially beneficial if the column contains a VARRAY attribute because a
VARRAY typically takes more time to convert than an object or nested table column.
You can convert a column of data by issuing an UPDATE statement to set the column to
itself. For example:
UPDATE dept_tab SET emp_array_col = emp_array_col;
You can convert all columns in a table by using ALTER TABLE with the UPGRADE
INCLUDING DATA. For example:
ALTER TYPE person_typ ADD ATTRIBUTE (photo BLOB)
CASCADE NOT INCLUDING TABLE DATA;

Altering a Type by Adding a Nested Table Attribute

This section describes the steps required to make a complex change to a type. This
change involves the addition of a nested table attribute to an object type that is already
included in a nested table. When upgrading the affected nested table, the name of the
new storage table is specified.
Assume we have the following schema based on the person_typ object type:

Advanced Topics for Oracle Objects 7-7

Type Evolution

CREATE TYPE people_typ AS TABLE OF person_typ;

/
CREATE TYPE department_typ AS OBJECT (
manager person_typ,
employee people_typ);
/
CREATE TABLE department OF department_typ
NESTED TABLE employee STORE AS employee_store_nt;

1. Issue an ALTER TYPE statement to alter the type.

The default behavior of an ALTER TYPE statement without any option specified is
to check if there is any object dependent on the target type. The statement aborts if
any dependent object exists. Optional keywords allow cascading the type change
to dependent types and tables.
With the ALTER TYPE statement in Example 7–3, all type and table checks are
bypassed to save time and dependent objects are invalidated. Table data cannot be
accessed until is validated.

Example 7–3 Altering an Object Type by Adding a Nested Table Attribute

-- Create and add a new nested table attribute to person_typ
CREATE TYPE tasks_typ AS OBJECT (
priority VARCHAR2(2),
description VARCHAR2(30));
/

CREATE TYPE tasks_nttab AS TABLE OF tasks_typ;

/

ALTER TYPE person_typ ADD ATTRIBUTE tasks tasks_nttab

INVALIDATE;

-- Propagate the change to employee_store_nt

-- Specify a storage name for the new nested table
ALTER TABLE employee_store_nt
UPGRADE NESTED TABLE tasks STORE AS tasks_nt;

2. Use CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE BODY to update the corresponding type body
to make it current with the new type definition if necessary.
3. Upgrade the dependent tables to the latest type version and convert the data in the
tables.

Example 7–4 Upgrading Dependent Tables

ALTER TABLE department UPGRADE INCLUDING DATA;

4. Alter dependent PL/SQL program units as needed to take account of changes to

the type.
5. Use OTT or JPUB (or another tool) to generate new header files for applications,
depending on whether the application is written in C or Java.
Adding a new attribute to a supertype also increases the number of attributes in
all its subtypes because these inherit the new attribute. Inherited attributes always
precede declared (locally defined) attributes, so adding a new attribute to a
supertype causes the ordinal position of all declared attributes of any subtype to
be incremented by one recursively. The mappings of the altered type must be
updated to include the new attributes. OTT and JPUB do this. If you use some

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other tool, you must be sure that the type headers are properly synchronized with
the type definition in the server; otherwise, unpredictable behavior may result.
6. Modify application code as needed and rebuild the application.

Validating a Type That Has Been Altered

When the system executes an ALTER TYPE statement, it first validates the requested
type change syntactically and semantically to make sure it is legal. The system
performs the same validations as for a CREATE TYPE statement plus some additional
ones. For example, it checks to be sure an attribute being dropped is not used as a
partitioning key. If the new spec of the target type or any of its dependent types fails
the type validations, the ALTER TYPE statement aborts. No new type version is
created, and all dependent objects remain unchanged.
If dependent tables exist, further checking is done to ensure that restrictions relating to
the tables and any indexes are observed. Again, if the ALTER TYPE statement fails the
check of table-related restrictions, then the type change is aborted, and no new version
of the type is created.
When multiple attributes are added in a single ALTER TYPE statement, they are
added in the order specified. Multiple type changes can be specified in the same
ALTER TYPE statement, but no attribute name or method signature can be specified
more than once in the statement. For example, adding and modifying the same
attribute in a single statement is not allowed.
For example:
CREATE TYPE mytype AS OBJECT (attr1 NUMBER, attr2 NUMBER);
/
ALTER TYPE mytype ADD ATTRIBUTE (attr3 NUMBER),
DROP ATTRIBUTE attr2,
ADD ATTRIBUTE attr4 NUMBER CASCADE;

The resulting definition for mytype becomes:

(attr1 NUMBER, attr3 NUMBER, attr4 NUMBER);
The following ALTER TYPE statement, which attempts to make multiple changes to
the same attribute (attr5), is invalid:
-- invalid ALTER TYPE statement
ALTER TYPE mytype ADD ATTRIBUTE (attr5 NUMBER, attr6 CHAR(10)),
DROP ATTRIBUTE attr5;

The following are other notes on validation constraints, table restrictions, and assorted
information about the various kinds of changes that can be made to a type.

Dropping an Attribute
■ Dropping all attributes from a root type is not allowed. You must instead drop the
type. Because a subtype inherits all the attributes from its supertype, dropping all
the attributes from a subtype does not reduce its attribute count to zero; thus,
dropping all attributes declared locally in a subtype is allowed.
■ Only an attribute declared locally in the target type can be dropped. You cannot
drop an inherited attribute from a subtype. Instead, drop the attribute from the
type where it is locally declared.
■ Dropping an attribute which is part of a table partitioning or sub-partitioning key
in a table is not allowed.

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Type Evolution

■ Dropping an attribute of a primary key OID of an object table or an

index-organized table (IOT) is not allowed.
■ When an attribute is dropped, the column corresponding to the dropped attribute
is dropped.
■ Indexes, statistics, constraints, and any referential integrity constraints referencing
a dropped attribute are removed.

Modifying Attribute Type to Increase the Length, Precision, or Scale

■ Expanding the length of an attribute referenced in a function-based index,
clustered key or domain index on a dependent table is not allowed.

Dropping a Method
■ You can drop a method only from the type in which the method is defined (or
redefined): You cannot drop an inherited method from a subtype, and you cannot
drop an redefined method from a supertype.
■ If a method is not redefined, dropping it using the CASCADE option removes the
method from the target type and all subtypes. However, if a method is redefined
in a subtype, the CASCADE will fail and roll back. For the CASCADE to succeed, you
must first drop each redefined method from the subtype that defines it and only
then drop the method from the supertype.
You can consult the USER_DEPENDENCIES table to find all the schema objects,
including types, that depend on a given type. You can also run the DBMS_
UTILITY.GET_DEPENDENCY utility to find the dependencies of a type.
■ You can use the INVALIDATE option to drop a method that has been redefined,
but the redefined versions in the subtypes must still be dropped manually. The
subtypes will remain in an invalid state until they are explicitly altered to drop the
redefined versions. Until then, an attempt to recompile the subtypes for
revalidation will produce the error Method does not override.
Unlike CASCADE, INVALIDATE bypasses all the type and table checks and simply
invalidates all schema objects dependent on the type. The objects are revalidated
the next time they are accessed. This option is faster than using CASCADE, but you
must be certain that no problems will be encountered revalidating dependent
types and tables. Table data cannot be accessed while a table is invalid; if a table
cannot be validated, its data remains inaccessible.
See "If a Type Change Validation Fails" on page 7-11.

Modifying the FINAL or INSTANTIABLE Property

■ Altering an object type from INSTANTIABLE to NOT INSTANTIABLE is allowed
only if the type has no table dependents.
■ Altering an object type from NOT INSTANTIABLE to INSTANTIABLE is allowed
anytime. This change does not affect tables.
■ Altering an object type from NOT FINAL to FINAL is allowed only if the target
type has no subtypes.
■ When you alter an object type from FINAL to NOT FINAL or vice versa, you must
use CASCADE to convert data in dependent columns and tables immediately. You
may not use the CASCADE option NOT INCLUDING TABLE DATA to defer
converting data.
If you alter a type from NOT FINAL to FINAL, you must use CASCADE
INCLUDING TABLE DATA. If you alter a type from FINAL to NOT FINAL, you

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may use either CASCADE INCLUDING TABLE DATA or CASCADE CONVERT TO

SUBSTITUTABLE.
When you alter a type from FINAL to NOT FINAL. the CASCADE option you should
choose depends on whether you want to be able to insert new subtypes of the type
you are altering in existing columns and tables.
By default, altering a type from FINAL to NOT FINAL enables you to create new
substitutable tables and columns of that type, but it does not automatically make
existing columns (or object tables) of that type substitutable. In fact, just the
opposite happens: existing columns and tables of the type are marked NOT
SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL LEVELS. If any embedded attribute of such a column is
substitutable, an error is generated. New subtypes of the altered type cannot be
inserted in such preexisting columns and tables.
To alter an object type to NOT FINAL in such a way as to make existing columns
and tables of the type substitutable (assuming that they are not marked NOT
SUBSTITUTABLE), use the CASCADE option CONVERT TO SUBSTITUTABLE. For
example:

Example 7–5 Converting a Type from FINAL to NOT FINAL

CREATE TYPE shape AS OBJECT (
name VARCHAR2(30),
area NUMBER)
FINAL;
/
ALTER TYPE shape NOT FINAL CASCADE CONVERT TO SUBSTITUTABLE;

This CASCADE option marks each existing column as SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL

LEVELS and causes a new, hidden column to be added for the TypeId of instances
stored in the column. The column can then store subtype instances of the altered
type.

If a Type Change Validation Fails

The INVALIDATE option of the ALTER TYPE statement lets you alter a type without
propagating the type change to dependent objects. In this case, the system does not
validate the dependent types and tables to ensure that all the ramifications of the type
change are legal. Instead, all dependent schema objects are marked invalid. The
objects, including types and tables, are revalidated when next referenced. If a type
cannot be revalidated, it remains invalid, and any tables referencing it become
inaccessible until the problem is corrected.
A table may fail validation because, for example, adding a new attribute to a type has
caused the number of columns in the table to exceed the maximum allowable number
of 1000, or because an attribute used as a partitioning or clustering key of a table was
dropped from a type.
To force a revalidation of a type, users can issue the ALTER TYPE COMPILE
statement. To force a revalidation of an invalid table, users can issue the ALTER
TABLE UPGRADE statement and specify whether the data is to be converted to the
latest type version. (Note that, in a table validation triggered by the system when a
table is referenced, table data is always updated to the latest type version: you do not
have the option to postpone conversion of the data.)
If a table is unable to convert to the latest type version, then INSERT, UPDATE and
DELETE statements on the table are not allowed and its data becomes inaccessible. The

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Type Evolution

following DDLs can be executed on the table, but all other statements which reference
an invalid table are not allowed until the table is successfully validated:
■ DROP TABLE
■ TRUNCATE TABLE
All PL/SQL programs containing variables defined using %ROWTYPE of a table or
%TYPE of a column or attribute from a table are compiled based on the latest type
version. If the table fails the revalidation, then compiling any program units that
reference that table will also fail.

ALTER TYPE Statement for Type Evolution

Table 7–1 lists some of the important options in the ALTER TYPE statement for altering
the attribute or method definition of a type.

Table 7–1 ALTER TYPE Options for Type Evolution

Option Description
INVALIDATE Invalidates all dependent objects. Using this option bypasses all
the type and table checks, to save time.
Use this option only if you are certain that problems will not be
encountered validating dependent types and tables. Table data
cannot be accessed again until it is validated; if it cannot be
validated, it remains inaccessible.
CASCADE Propagates the type change to dependent types and tables. The
statement aborts if an error is found in dependent types or tables
unless the FORCE option is specified.
If CASCADE is specified with no other options, then the
INCLUDING TABLE DATA option for CASCADE is implied, and
Oracle converts all table data to the latest type version.
INCLUDING TABLE Converts data stored in all user-defined columns to the most
DATA recent version of the column's type.
For each new attribute added to the column's type, a new
attribute is added to the data and is initialized to NULL. For
each attribute dropped from the referenced type, the
corresponding attribute data is removed from each row in the
table. All tablespaces containing the table's data must be in read
write mode; otherwise, the statement will not succeed.

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Table 7–1 (Cont.) ALTER TYPE Options for Type Evolution

Option Description
NOT INCLUDING Leaves column data as is, associated with the current type
TABLE DATA version. If an attribute is dropped from a type referenced by a
table, then the corresponding column of the dropped attribute is
not removed from the table. Only the metadata of the column is
marked unused. If the dropped attribute is stored out-of-line (for
example, VARRAY, LOB or nested table attribute) then the
out-of-line data is not removed. (Unused columns can be
removed afterward by using an ALTER TABLE DROP UNUSED
COLUMNS statement.)
This option is useful when you have many large tables and may
run out of rollback segments if you convert them all in one
transaction. This option enables you to convert the data of each
dependent table later in a separate transaction (using an ALTER
TABLE UPGRADE INCLUDING DATA statement).
Specifying this option will speed up the table upgrade because
the table's data is left in the format of the old type version.
However, selecting data from this table will require converting
the images stored in the column to the latest type version. This is
likely to affect performance during subsequent SELECT
statements.
Because this option only requires updating the table's metadata
all tablespaces are not required to be on-line in read/write mode
for the statement to succeed.
FORCE Forces the system to ignore errors from dependent tables and
indexes. Errors are logged in a specified exception table so that
they can be queried afterward. This option must be used with
caution because dependent tables may become inaccessible if
some table errors occur.
CONVERT TO For use when altering a type from FINAL to NOT FINAL:
SUBSTITUTABLE Converts data stored in all user-defined columns to the most
recent version of the column's type and then marks these
existing columns and object tables of the type SUBSTITUTABLE
AT ALL LEVELS so that they can store any new subtypes of the
type that are created.
If the type is altered to NOT FINAL without specifying this
option, existing columns and tables of the type are marked NOT
SUBSTITUTABLE AT ALL LEVELS, and new subtypes of the
type cannot be stored in them. You will be able to store such
subtypes only in columns and tables created after the type was
altered.

See Also:Oracle Database SQL Reference for information about

ALTER TYPE options

Figure 7–1 graphically summarizes the options for ALTER TYPE INVALIDATE and
their effects. In the figure, T1 is a type and T2 is a dependent type. See the notes
following the figure.

Advanced Topics for Oracle Objects 7-13

Type Evolution

Figure 7–1 ALTER TYPE Options

Alter Type Invalidate

Options
Target type T1

T2

Cascade Not Including

Table Data

Dependent types

Metadata Metadata
2

TB2 TB1

Cascade Including
Table Data

Dependent tables

D2 D1
Other dependent objects

Notes on the figure:

1. Invalidate: All objects following line (1) are marked invalid
2. Cascade Not Including Table Data: All objects following line (2) are marked
invalid. Metadata of all dependent tables are upgraded to the latest type version,
but the table data are not converted.
3. Cascade Including Table Data: All objects following line (3) are marked invalid.
All dependent tables are upgraded to the latest type version, including the table
data.

ALTER TABLE Statement for Type Evolution

You can use ALTER TABLE to convert table data to the latest version of referenced
types. For an example of converting table data to latest type version, see "Altering a
Type by Adding a Nested Table Attribute" on page 7-7. See Table 7–1 on page 7-12 for
a discussion of the INCLUDING DATA option.

See Also:Oracle Database SQL Reference for information about

ALTER TABLE options

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 Type Evolution

The Attribute-Value Constructor

The system-defined attribute value constructor requires you to pass the constructor a
value for each attribute of the type. The constructor then sets the attributes of the new
object instance to those values, as shown in Example 7–6.

Example 7–6 Setting the Attribute Value with the Constructor

CREATE TYPE shape AS OBJECT (
name VARCHAR2(30),
area NUMBER);
/
CREATE TABLE building_blocks of shape;

-- Attribute value constructor: Sets instance attributes to the specified values

INSERT INTO building_blocks
VALUES (
NEW shape('my_shape', 4));

The keyword NEW preceding a call to a constructor is optional but recommended.

Constructors and Type Evolution

The attribute value constructor function saves you the trouble of defining your own
constructors for a type. However, with an attribute-value constructor, you must supply
a value for every attribute declared in the type. Otherwise the constructor call will fail
to compile.
This requirement of an attribute-value constructor can create a problem if you evolve
the type later on—by adding an attribute, for example. When you change the
attributes of a type, the type's attribute-value constructor changes, too. If you add an
attribute, the updated attribute-value constructor expects a value for the new attribute
as well as the old ones. As a result, all the attribute-value constructor calls in your
existing code, where values for only the old number of attributes are supplied, will fail
to compile.
See "Type Evolution" on page 7-5.

Advantages of User-Defined Constructors

User-defined constructors avoid the problem with the attribute-value constructor
because user-defined constructors do not need to explicitly set a value for every
attribute of a type. A user-defined constructor can have any number of arguments, of
any type, and these do not need to map directly to type attributes. In your definition of
the constructor, you can initialize the attributes to any appropriate values. Any
attributes for which you do not supply values are initialized by the system to NULL.
If you evolve a type—for example, by adding an attribute—calls to user-defined
constructors for the type do not need to be changed. User-defined constructors, like
ordinary methods, are not automatically modified when the type evolves, so the call
signature of a user-defined constructor remains the same. You may, however, need to
change the definition of the constructor if you do not want the new attribute to be
initialized to NULL.

Defining and Implementing User-Defined Constructors

You define user-defined constructors in the type body, like an ordinary method
function. You introduce the declaration and the definition with the phrase
CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION; you must also use the clause RETURN SELF AS RESULT.

Advanced Topics for Oracle Objects 7-15

Type Evolution

A constructor for a type must have the same name as the type. Example 7–7 defines
two constructor functions for the shape type. As the example shows, you can
overload user-defined constructors by defining multiple versions with different
signatures.

Example 7–7 Defining and Implementing User-Defined Constructors

CREATE TYPE shape AS OBJECT (
name VARCHAR2(30),
area NUMBER,
CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION shape(SELF IN OUT NOCOPY shape, name VARCHAR2)
RETURN SELF AS RESULT,
CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION shape(SELF IN OUT NOCOPY shape, name VARCHAR2,
area NUMBER) RETURN SELF AS RESULT
) NOT FINAL;
/

CREATE TYPE BODY shape AS

CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION shape(SELF IN OUT NOCOPY shape, name VARCHAR2)
RETURN SELF AS RESULT IS
BEGIN
SELF.name := name;
SELF.area := 0;
RETURN;
END;
CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION shape(SELF IN OUT NOCOPY shape, name VARCHAR2,
area NUMBER) RETURN SELF AS RESULT IS
BEGIN
SELF.name := name;
SELF.area := area;
RETURN;
END;
END;
/

A user-defined constructor has an implicit first parameter SELF. Specifying this

parameter in the declaration of a user-defined constructor is optional. If you do specify
it, its mode must be declared to be IN OUT.
The required clause RETURN SELF AS RESULT ensures that the most specific type of
the instance being returned is the same as the most specific type of the SELF
argument. In the case of constructors, this is the type for which the constructor is
defined.
For example, if the most specific type of the SELF argument on a call to the shape
constructor is shape, then this clause ensures that the shape constructor returns an
instance of shape (not an instance of a subtype of shape).
When a constructor function is called, the system initializes the attributes of the SELF
argument to NULL. Names of attributes subsequently initialized in the function body
may be qualified with SELF, as shown in the preceding example, to distinguish them
from the names of the arguments of the constructor function, if these are the same. If
the argument names are different, no such qualification is necessary. For example:
SELF.name := name;
or:
name := p1;

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 Type Evolution

The function body must include an explicit return; as shown. The return keyword
must not be followed by a return expression. The system automatically returns the
newly constructed SELF instance.
A user-defined constructor may be implemented in PL/SQL, C, or Java.

Overloading and Hiding Constructors

Like other type methods, user-defined constructors can be overloaded.
User-defined constructors are not inherited, so a user-defined constructor defined in a
supertype cannot be hidden in a subtype. However, a user-defined constructor does
hide, and thus supersede, the attribute-value constructor for its type if the signature of
the user-defined constructor exactly matches the signature of the attribute-value
constructor. For the signatures to match, the names and types of the parameters (after
the implicit SELF parameter) of the user-defined constructor must be the same as the
names and types of the type's attributes. The mode of each of the user-defined
constructor's parameters (after the implicit SELF parameter) must be IN.
If an attribute-value constructor is not hidden by a user-defined constructor having the
same name and signature, the attribute-value constructor can still be called.
Note that, if you evolve a type—for example, by adding an attribute—the signature of
the type's attribute-value constructor changes accordingly. This can cause a formerly
hidden attribute-value constructor to become usable again.

Calling User-Defined Constructors

A user-defined constructor is called like any other function. You can use a user-defined
constructor anywhere you can use an ordinary function.
The SELF argument is passed in implicitly and may not be passed in explicitly. In
other words, usages like the following are not allowed:
NEW constructor(instance, argument_list)
A user-defined constructor cannot occur in the DEFAULT clause of a CREATE or ALTER
TABLE statement, but an attribute-value constructor can. The arguments to the
attribute-value constructor must not contain references to PL/SQL functions or to
other columns, including the pseudocolumns LEVEL, PRIOR, and ROWNUM, or to date
constants that are not fully specified. The same is true for check constraint expressions:
an attribute-value constructor can be used as part of check constraint expressions
while creating or altering a table, but a user-defined constructor cannot.
Parentheses are required in SQL even for constructor calls that have no arguments. In
PL/SQL, parentheses are optional when invoking a zero-argument constructor. They
do, however, make it more obvious that the constructor call is a function call. The
following PL/SQL example omits parentheses in the constructor call to create a new
shape:
shape s := NEW my_schema.shape;
The NEW keyword and the schema name are optional.
Example 7–8 creates a subtype under the type created in Example 7–7 and shows
examples for calling the user-defined constructors.

Example 7–8 Calling User-Defined Constructors

CREATE TYPE rectangle UNDER shape (
len NUMBER,

Advanced Topics for Oracle Objects 7-17

Type Evolution

wth NUMBER,
CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION rectangle(SELF IN OUT NOCOPY rectangle,
name VARCHAR2, len NUMBER, wth NUMBER) RETURN SELF as RESULT,
CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION rectangle(SELF IN OUT NOCOPY rectangle,
name VARCHAR2, side NUMBER) RETURN SELF as RESULT);
/
SHOW ERRORS
CREATE TYPE BODY rectangle IS
CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION rectangle(SELF IN OUT NOCOPY rectangle,
name VARCHAR2, len NUMBER, wth NUMBER) RETURN SELF AS RESULT IS
BEGIN
SELF.name := name;
SELF.area := len*wth;
SELF.len := len;
SELF.wth := wth;
RETURN ;
END;
CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION rectangle(SELF IN OUT NOCOPY rectangle,
name VARCHAR2, side NUMBER) RETURN SELF AS RESULT IS
BEGIN
SELF.name := name;
SELF.area := side * side;
SELF.len := side;
SELF.wth := side;
RETURN ;
END;
END;
/

CREATE TABLE shape_table OF shape;

INSERT INTO shape_table VALUES(shape('shape1'));
INSERT INTO shape_table VALUES(shape('shape2', 20));
INSERT INTO shape_table VALUES(rectangle('rectangle', 2, 5));
INSERT INTO shape_table VALUES(rectangle('quadrangle', 12, 3));
INSERT INTO shape_table VALUES(rectangle('square', 12));

The following query selects the rows in the shape_table:

SELECT VALUE(s) FROM shape_table s;

VALUE(S)(NAME, AREA)
---------------------------------------------
SHAPE('shape1', 0)
SHAPE('shape2', 20)
RECTANGLE('rectangle', 10, 2, 5)
RECTANGLE('quadrangle', 36, 12, 3)
RECTANGLE('square', 144, 12, 12)

The following PL/SQL code calls the constructor:

s shape := NEW shape('void');

Constructors for SQLJ Object Types

A SQLJ object type is a SQL object type mapped to a Java class. A SQLJ object type has
an attribute-value constructor. It can also have user-defined constructors that are
mapped to constructors in the referenced Java class.

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 Transient and Generic Types

Example 7–9 Creating a SQLJ Object

CREATE TYPE address AS OBJECT
EXTERNAL NAME 'university.address' LANGUAGE JAVA
USING SQLData(
street VARCHAR2(100) EXTERNAL NAME 'street',
city VARCHAR2(50) EXTERNAL NAME 'city',
state VARCHAR2(50) EXTERNAL NAME 'state',
zipcode NUMBER EXTERNAL NAME 'zipcode',
CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION address (SELF IN OUT NOCOPY address, street VARCHAR2,
city VARCHAR2, state VARCHAR2, zipcode NUMBER)
RETURN SELF AS RESULT AS LANGUAGE JAVA
NAME 'university.address (java.lang.String, java.lang.String,
java.lang.String, int) return address');
/

A SQLJ type of a serialized representation can have only a user-defined constructor.

The internal representation of an object of SQLJ type is opaque to SQL, so an
attribute-value constructor is not possible for a SQLJ type.

Transient and Generic Types

Oracle has three special SQL datatypes that enable you to dynamically encapsulate
and access type descriptions, data instances, and sets of data instances of any other
SQL type, including object and collection types. You can also use these three special
types to create anonymous types, including anonymous collection types.
The three SQL types are implemented as opaque types. In other words, the internal
structure of these types is not known to the database; their data can be queried only by
implementing functions (typically 3GL routines) for the purpose. Oracle provides both
an OCI and a PL/SQL API for implementing such functions.
The three generic SQL types are described in Table 7–2.

Table 7–2 Generic SQL Types

Type Description
SYS.ANYTYPE A type description type. A SYS.ANYTYPE can contain a type
description of any SQL type, named or unnamed, including
object types and collection types.
An ANYTYPE can contain a type description of a persistent type,
but an ANYTYPE itself is transient: in other words, the value in
an ANYTYPE itself is not automatically stored in the database. To
create a persistent type, use a CREATE TYPE statement from
SQL.
SYS.ANYDATA A self-describing data instance type. A SYS.ANYDATA contains
an instance of a given type, with data, plus a description of the
type. In this sense, a SYS.ANYDATA is self-describing. An
ANYDATA can be persistently stored in the database.
SYS.ANYDATASET A self-describing data set type. A SYS.ANYDATASET type
contains a description of a given type plus a set of data instances
of that type. An ANYDATASET can be persistently stored in the
database.

Each of these three types can be used with any built-in type native to the database as
well as with object types and collection types, both named and unnamed. The types
provide a generic way to work dynamically with type descriptions, lone instances, and
sets of instances of other types. Using the APIs, you can create a transient ANYTYPE

Advanced Topics for Oracle Objects 7-19

Transient and Generic Types

description of any kind of type. Similarly, you can create or convert (cast) a data value
of any SQL type to an ANYDATA and can convert an ANYDATA (back) to a SQL type.
And similarly again with sets of values and ANYDATASET.
The generic types simplify working with stored procedures. You can use the generic
types to encapsulate descriptions and data of standard types and pass the
encapsulated information into parameters of the generic types. In the body of the
procedure, you can detail how to handle the encapsulated data and type descriptions
of whatever type.
You can also store encapsulated data of a variety of underlying types in one table
column of type ANYDATA or ANYDATASET. For example, you can use ANYDATA with
Advanced Queuing to model queues of heterogeneous types of data. You can query
the data of the underlying datatypes like any other data.
Example 7–10 defines and executes a PL/SQL procedure that uses methods built into
SYS.ANYDATA to access information about data stored in a SYS.ANYDATA table
column.

Example 7–10 Using SYS.ANYDATA

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE dogowner AS OBJECT (
ownerno NUMBER, ownername VARCHAR2(10) );
/
CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE dog AS OBJECT (
breed VARCHAR2(10), dogname VARCHAR2(10) );
/
CREATE TABLE mytab ( id NUMBER, data SYS.ANYDATA );
INSERT INTO mytab VALUES ( 1, SYS.ANYDATA.ConvertNumber (5) );
INSERT INTO mytab VALUES ( 2, SYS.ANYDATA.ConvertObject (
dogowner ( 5555, 'John') ) );
commit;

CREATE OR REPLACE procedure P IS

CURSOR cur IS SELECT id, data FROM mytab;

v_id mytab.id%TYPE;
v_data mytab.data%TYPE;
v_type SYS.ANYTYPE;
v_typecode PLS_INTEGER;
v_typename VARCHAR2(60);
v_dummy PLS_INTEGER;
v_n NUMBER;
v_dogowner dogowner;
non_null_anytype_for_NUMBER exception;
unknown_typename exception;

BEGIN
OPEN cur;
LOOP
FETCH cur INTO v_id, v_data;
EXIT WHEN cur%NOTFOUND;
v_typecode := v_data.GetType ( v_type /* OUT */ );
CASE v_typecode
WHEN Dbms_Types.Typecode_NUMBER THEN
IF v_type IS NOT NULL
THEN RAISE non_null_anytype_for_NUMBER; END IF;
v_dummy := v_data.GetNUMBER ( v_n /* OUT */ );
Dbms_Output.Put_Line (
To_Char(v_id) || ': NUMBER = ' || To_Char(v_n) );

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 Transient and Generic Types

WHEN Dbms_Types.Typecode_Object THEN

v_typename := v_data.GetTypeName();
IF v_typename NOT IN ( 'HR.DOGOWNER' )
THEN RAISE unknown_typename; END IF;
v_dummy := v_data.GetObject ( v_dogowner /* OUT */ );
Dbms_Output.Put_Line (
To_Char(v_id) || ': user-defined type = ' || v_typename ||
'(' || v_dogowner.ownerno || ', ' || v_dogowner.ownername || ' )' );
END CASE;
END LOOP;
CLOSE cur;

EXCEPTION
WHEN non_null_anytype_for_NUMBER THEN
RAISE_Application_Error ( -20000,
'Paradox: the return AnyType instance FROM GetType ' ||
'should be NULL for all but user-defined types' );
WHEN unknown_typename THEN
RAISE_Application_Error ( -20000,
'Unknown user-defined type ' || v_typename ||
' - program written to handle only HR.DOGOWNER' );
END;
/

SELECT t.data.gettypename() FROM mytab t;

SET SERVEROUTPUT ON;
EXEC P;

The query and the procedure P in the preceding code sample produce output like the
following:
T.DATA.GETTYPENAME()
-------------------------------------------------------------
SYS.NUMBER
HR.DOGOWNER

1: NUMBER = 5
2: user-defined type = HR.DOGOWNER(5555, John )

Corresponding to the three generic SQL types are three OCI types that model them.
Each has a set of functions for creating and accessing the respective type:
■ OCIType, corresponding to SYS.ANYTYPE
■ OCIAnyData, corresponding to SYS.ANYDATA
■ OCIAnyDataSet, corresponding to SYS.ANYDATASET

See Also:
■ Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide for the OCIType,
OCIAnyData, and OCIAnyDataSet APIs and details on how
to use them.
■ Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for
information about the interfaces to the ANYTYPE, ANYDATA,
and ANYDATASET types and about the DBMS_TYPES package,
which defines constants for built-in and user-defined types, for
use with ANYTYPE, ANYDATA, and ANYDATASET.

Advanced Topics for Oracle Objects 7-21

User-Defined Aggregate Functions

User-Defined Aggregate Functions

Oracle provides a number of pre-defined aggregate functions such as MAX, MIN, SUM
for performing operations on a set of records. These pre-defined aggregate functions
can be used only with scalar data. However, you can create your own custom
implementations of these functions, or define entirely new aggregate functions, to use
with complex data—for example, with multimedia data stored using object types,
opaque types, and LOBs.
User-defined aggregate functions are used in SQL DML statements just like Oracle's
own built-in aggregates. Once such functions are registered with the server, Oracle
simply invokes the aggregation routines that you supplied instead of the native ones.
User-defined aggregates can be used with scalar data as well. For example, it may be
worthwhile to implement special aggregate functions for working with complex
statistical data associated with financial or scientific applications.
User-defined aggregates are a feature of the Extensibility Framework. You implement
them using ODCIAggregate interface routines.

See Also: Oracle Database Data Cartridge Developer's Guide for

information on using the ODCIAggregate interface routines to
implement user-defined aggregate functions

Partitioning Tables That Contain Oracle Objects

Partitioning addresses the key problem of supporting very large tables and indexes by
allowing you to decompose them into smaller and more manageable pieces called
partitions. Oracle extends partitioning capabilities by letting you partition tables that
contain objects, REFs, varrays, and nested tables. Varrays stored in LOBs are
equipartitioned in a way similar to LOBs. See also Oracle Database Application
Developer's Guide - Large Objects.
Example 7–11 partitions the purchase order table along zip codes (ToZip), which is an
attribute of the ShipToAddr embedded column object. For the purposes of this
example, the LineItemList nested table was made a varray to illustrate storage for
the partitioned varray.

Restriction: Nested tables are allowed in tables that are

partitioned; however, the storage table associated with the nested
table is not partitioned.

Example 7–11 Partitioning a Table That Contains Objects

CREATE TYPE LineItemList_vartyp as varray(10000) of LineItem_objtyp;
/
CREATE TYPE PurchaseOrder_typ AS OBJECT (
PONo NUMBER,
Cust_ref REF Customer_objtyp,
OrderDate DATE,
ShipDate DATE,
OrderForm BLOB,
LineItemList LineItemList_vartyp,
ShipToAddr Address_objtyp,

MAP MEMBER FUNCTION

ret_value RETURN NUMBER,
MEMBER FUNCTION

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 Partitioning Tables That Contain Oracle Objects

total_value RETURN NUMBER);

/
CREATE TABLE PurchaseOrders_tab of PurchaseOrder_typ
LOB (OrderForm) store as (nocache logging)
PARTITION BY RANGE (ShipToAddr.zip)
(PARTITION PurOrderZone1_part
VALUES LESS THAN ('59999')
LOB (OrderForm) store as (
storage (INITIAL 10 MINEXTENTS 10 MAXEXTENTS 100))
VARRAY LineItemList store as LOB (
storage (INITIAL 10 MINEXTENTS 10 MAXEXTENTS 100)),
PARTITION PurOrderZone6_part
VALUES LESS THAN ('79999')
LOB (OrderForm) store as (
storage (INITIAL 10 MINEXTENTS 10 MAXEXTENTS 100))
VARRAY LineItemList store as LOB (
storage (INITIAL 10 MINEXTENTS 10 MAXEXTENTS 100)),
PARTITION PurOrderZoneO_part
VALUES LESS THAN ('99999')
LOB (OrderForm) store as (
storage (INITIAL 10 MINEXTENTS 10 MAXEXTENTS 100))
VARRAY LineItemList store as LOB (
storage (INITIAL 10 MINEXTENTS 10 MAXEXTENTS 100)));

How Locators Improve the Performance of Nested Tables

Collection types do not map directly to a native type or structure in languages such as
C++ and Java. An application using those languages must access the contents of a
collection through Oracle interfaces, such as OCI.
Generally, when the client accesses a nested table explicitly or implicitly (by fetching
the containing object), Oracle returns the entire collection value to the client process.
For performance reasons, a client may wish to delay or avoid retrieving the entire
contents of the collection. Oracle handles this case for you by using a locator instead of
the real nested table value. When you really access the contents of the collection, they
are automatically transferred to the client.
A nested table locator is like a handle to the collection value. It attempts to preserve
the value or copy semantics of the nested table by containing the database snapshot as
of its time of retrieval. The snapshot helps the database retrieve the correct
instantiation of the nested table value at a later time when the collection elements are
fetched using the locator. The locator is scoped to a session and cannot be used across
sessions. Because database snapshots are used, it is possible to get a snapshot too
old error if there is a high update rate on the nested table. Unlike a LOB locator, the
nested table locator is truly a locator and cannot be used to modify the collection
instance.

Advanced Topics for Oracle Objects 7-23

Partitioning Tables That Contain Oracle Objects

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 8
Design Considerations for Oracle Objects

This chapter explains the implementation and performance characteristics of the

Oracle object-relational model. Use this information to map a logical data model into
an Oracle physical implementation, and when developing applications that use
object-oriented features. You should be familiar with the basic concepts behind Oracle
objects before you read this chapter.
This chapter covers the following topics:
■ General Storage Considerations for Objects
■ Performance of Object Comparisons
■ Design Considerations for REFs
■ Design Considerations for Collections
■ Design Considerations for Methods
■ Writing Reusable Code Using Invoker Rights
■ Replicating Object Tables and Columns
■ Constraints on Objects
■ Considerations Related to Type Evolution
■ Parallel Queries with Oracle Objects
■ Design Consideration Tips and Techniques

General Storage Considerations for Objects

This section discusses general storage considerations for various object types.

Storing Objects as Columns or Rows

You can store objects in columns of relational tables as column objects, or in object
tables as row objects. Objects that have meaning outside of the relational database
object in which they are contained, or objects that are shared among more than one
relational database object, should be made referenceable as row objects. That is, such
objects should be stored in an object table instead of in a column of a relational table.
For example, an object of object type customer has meaning outside of any particular
purchase order, and should be referenceable; therefore, customer objects should be
stored as row objects in an object table. An object of object type address, however,
has little meaning outside of a particular purchase order and can be one attribute
within a purchase order; therefore, address objects should be stored as column

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-1

General Storage Considerations for Objects

objects in columns of relational tables or object tables. So, address might be a column
object in the customer row object.

Column Object Storage

The storage of a column object is the same as the storage of an equivalent set of scalar
columns that collectively make up the object. The only difference is that there is the
additional overhead of maintaining the atomic null values of the object and its
embedded object attributes. These values are called null indicators because, for every
column object, a null indicator specifies whether the column object is null and whether
each of its embedded object attributes is null. However, null indicators do not specify
whether the scalar attributes of a column object are null. Oracle uses a different
method to determine whether scalar attributes are null.
Consider a table that holds the identification number, name, address, and phone
numbers of people within an organization. You can create three different object types
to hold the name, address, and phone number. Because each person may have more
than one phone number, you need to create a nested table type based on the phone
number object type
First, to create the name_objtyp object type, enter the SQL statements in
Example 8–1.

Example 8–1 Creating Object Types for Columns in a Table

CREATE TYPE name_objtyp AS OBJECT (
first VARCHAR2(15),
middle VARCHAR2(15),
last VARCHAR2(15));
/
CREATE TYPE address_objtyp AS OBJECT (
street VARCHAR2(200),
city VARCHAR2(200),
state CHAR(2),
zipcode VARCHAR2(20));
/
CREATE TYPE phone_objtyp AS OBJECT (
location VARCHAR2(15),
num VARCHAR2(14));
/
CREATE TYPE phone_ntabtyp AS TABLE OF phone_objtyp;
/

See "Design Considerations for Nested Tables" on page 8-10 for more information
about nested tables.
After all of these object types are in place, you can create a table to hold the
information about the people in the organization with the SQL statement in
Example 8–2.

Example 8–2 Creating a Table with Column Objects

CREATE TABLE people_reltab (
id NUMBER(4) CONSTRAINT pk_people_reltab PRIMARY KEY,
name_obj name_objtyp,
address_obj address_objtyp,
phones_ntab phone_ntabtyp)
NESTED TABLE phones_ntab STORE AS phone_store_ntab;

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 General Storage Considerations for Objects

Figure 8–1 Representation of the people_reltab Relational Table

Table PEOPLE_RELTAB
ID NAME_OBJ ADDRESS_OBJ PHONES_NTAB

Number Object Type Object Type Nested Table

NUMBER(4) NAME_OBJTYP ADDRESS_OBJTYP PHONE_NTABTYP

PK

Nested Table PHONES_NTAB (of PHONE_NTABTYP)

LOCATION NUM

Text Number
VARCHAR(15) VARCHAR(14)

Column Object ADDRESS_OBJ (of ADDRESS_OBJTYP)

STREET CITY STATE ZIPCODE

Text Text Text Text

VARCHAR2(200) VARCHAR(200) CHAR(2) VARCHAR(20)

Column Object NAME_OBJ (of NAME_OBJTYP)

FIRST MIDDLE LAST

Text Text Text

VARCHAR2(15) VARCHAR2(15) VARCHAR2(15)

The people_reltab table has three column objects: name_obj, address_obj, and
phones_ntab. The phones_ntab column object is also a nested table.

Note: The people_reltab table and its columns and related

types are used in examples throughout this chapter.

The storage for each object stored in the people_reltab table is the same as that of
the attributes of the object. For example, the storage required for a name_obj object is
the same as the storage for the first, middle, and last attributes combined, except
for the null indicator overhead.
If the COMPATIBLE parameter is set to 8.1.0 or higher, the null indicators for an object
and its embedded object attributes occupy one bit each. Thus, an object with n
embedded object attributes (including objects at all levels of nesting) has a storage
overhead of CEIL(n/8) bytes. In the people_reltab table, for example, the
overhead of the null information for each row is one byte because it translates to
CEIL(3/8) or CEIL(.37), which rounds up to one byte. In this case, there are three
objects in each row: name_obj, address_obj, and phones_ntab.

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-3

General Storage Considerations for Objects

If, however, the COMPATIBLE parameter is set to a value lower than 8.1.0, such as
8.0.0, the storage is determined by the following calculation:
CEIL(n/8) + 6
Here, n is the total number of all attributes (scalar and object) within the object.
Therefore, in the people_reltab table, for example, the overhead of the null
information for each row is seven bytes because it translates to the following
calculation:
CEIL(4/8) + 6 = 7
CEIL(4/8) is CEIL(.5), which rounds up to one byte. In this case, there are three
objects in each row and one scalar.
Therefore, the storage overhead and performance of manipulating a column object is
similar to that of the equivalent set of scalar columns. The storage for collection
attributes are described in the "Viewing Object Data in Relational Form with
Unnesting Queries" section on page 8-8.

See Also: Oracle Database SQL Reference for more information

about CEIL.

Row Object Storage in Object Tables

Row objects are stored in object tables. An object table is a special kind of table that
holds objects and provides a relational view of the attributes of those objects. An object
table is logically and physically similar to a relational table whose column types
correspond to the top level attributes of the object type stored in the object table. The
key difference is that an object table can optionally contain an additional object
identifier (OID) column and index.

Storage Considerations for Object Identifiers (OIDs)

By default, every row object in an object table has an associated logical object identifier
(OID) that uniquely identifies it in an object table. Oracle assigns each row object a
unique system-generated OID, 16 bytes in length that is automatically indexed for
efficient OID-based lookups. The OID column is the equivalent of having an extra
16-byte primary key column. In a distributed and replicated environment, the
system-generated unique identifier lets Oracle identify objects unambiguously.
Oracle provides no documentation of or access to the internal structure of object
identifiers. This structure can change at any time. The OID column of an object table is
a hidden column. Once it is set up, you can ignore it and focus instead on fetching and
navigating objects through object references.
An OID allows the corresponding row object to be referred to from other objects or
from relational tables. A built-in datatype called a REF represents such references. A
REF encapsulates a reference to a row object of a specified object type.
REFs use object identifiers (OIDs) to point to objects. You can use either
system-generated OIDs or primary-key based OIDs. The differences between these
types of OIDs are outlined in "Row Object Storage in Object Tables" on page 8-4. If you
use system-generated OIDs for an object table, Oracle maintains an index on the
column that stores these OIDs. The index requires storage space, and each row object
has a system-generated OID, which requires an extra 16 bytes of storage for each row.

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 Performance of Object Comparisons

Primary-Key Based OIDs

If a primary key column is available, you can avoid the storage and performance
overhead of maintaining the 16-byte OID column and its index. Instead of using the
system-generated OIDs, you can use a CREATE TABLE statement to specify that the
system use the primary key column(s) as the OIDs of the objects in the table.
Therefore, you can use existing columns as the OIDs of the objects or use application
generated OIDs that are smaller than the 16-byte globally unique OIDs generated by
Oracle.
You can avoid these added storage requirements by using the primary key for the
object identifiers, instead of system-generated OIDs. You can enforce referential
integrity on columns that store references to these row objects in a way similar to
foreign keys in relational tables.
Primary-key based identifiers also make it faster and easier to load data into an object
table. By contrast, system-generated object identifiers need to be remapped using some
user-specified keys, especially when references to them are also stored.
However, if each primary key value requires more than 16 bytes of storage and you
have a large number of REFs, using the primary key might require more space than
system-generated OIDs because each REF is the size of the primary key. In addition,
each primary-key based OID is locally (but not necessarily globally) unique. If you
require a globally unique identifier, you must ensure that the primary key is globally
unique or use system-generated OIDs.

Performance of Object Comparisons

You can compare objects by invoking the map or order methods defined on the object
type. A map method converts objects into scalar values while preserving the ordering
of the objects. Mapping objects into scalar values, if it can be done, is preferred because
it allows the system to efficiently order objects once they are mapped.
The way objects are mapped has significant performance implications when sorting is
required on the objects for ORDER BY or GROUP BY processing because an object may
need to be compared to other objects many times, and it is much more efficient if the
objects can be mapped to scalar values first. If the comparison semantics are extremely
complex, or if the objects cannot be mapped into scalar values for comparison, you can
define an order method that, given two objects, returns the ordering determined by the
object implementor. Order methods are not as efficient as map methods, so
performance may suffer if you use order methods. In any one object type, you can
implement either map or order methods, but not both.
Once again, consider an object type address consisting of four character attributes:
street, city, state, and zipcode. Here, the most efficient comparison method is a
map method because each object can be converted easily into scalar values. For
example, you might define a map method that orders all of the objects by state.
On the other hand, suppose you want to compare binary objects, such as images. In
this case, the comparison semantics may be too complex to use a map method; if so,
you can use an order method to perform comparisons. For example, you could create
an order method that compares images according to brightness or the number of
pixels in each image.
If an object type does not have either a map or order method, only equality
comparisons are allowed on objects of that type. In this case, Oracle performs the
comparison by doing a field-by-field comparison of the corresponding object
attributes, in the order they are defined. If the comparison fails at any point, a FALSE
value is returned. If the comparison matches at every point, a TRUE value is returned.

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-5

Design Considerations for REFs

However, if an object has a collection of LOB attributes, then Oracle does not compare
the object on a field-by-field basis. Such objects must have a map or order method to
perform comparisons.

Design Considerations for REFs

This section discusses considerations when working with REFs.
■ Storage Size of REFs
■ Integrity Constraints for REF Columns
■ Performance and Storage Considerations for Scoped REFs
■ Speeding up Object Access Using the WITH ROWID Option

Storage Size of REFs

A REF contains the following three logical components:
■ OID of the object referenced. A system-generated OID is 16 bytes long. The size of
a primary-key based OID depends on the size of the primary key column(s).
■ OID of the table or view containing the object referenced, which is 16 bytes long.
■ Rowid hint, which is 10 bytes long.

Integrity Constraints for REF Columns

Referential integrity constraints on REF columns ensure that there is a row object for
the REF. Referential integrity constraints on REFs create the same relationship as
specifying a primary key/foreign key relationship on relational data. In general, you
should use referential integrity constraints wherever possible because they are the only
way to ensure that the row object for the REF exists. However, you cannot specify
referential integrity constraints on REFs that are in nested tables.

Performance and Storage Considerations for Scoped REFs

A scoped REF is constrained to contain only references to a specified object table. You
can specify a scoped REF when you declare a column type, collection element, or
object type attribute to be a REF.
In general, you should use scoped REFs instead of unscoped REFs because scoped
REFs are stored more efficiently. Whereas an unscoped REF takes at least 36 bytes to
store (more if it uses rowids), a scoped REF is stored as just the OID of its target object
and can take less than 16 bytes, depending on whether the referenced OID is
system-generated or primary-key based. A system-generated OID requires 16 bytes; a
PK-based OID requires enough space to store the primary key value, which may be
less than 16 bytes. However, a REF to a PK-based OID, which must be dynamically
constructed on being selected, may take more space in memory than a REF to a
system-generated OID.
Besides requiring less storage space, scoped REFs often enable the optimizer to
optimize queries that dereference a scoped REF into more efficient joins. This
optimization is not possible for unscoped REFs because the optimizer cannot
determine the containing table(s) for unscoped REFs at query-optimization time.
Unlike referential integrity constraints, scoped REFs do not ensure that the referenced
row object exists; they only ensure that the referenced object table exists. Therefore, if

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 Design Considerations for REFs

you specify a scoped REF to a row object and then delete the row object, the scoped
REF becomes a dangling REF because the referenced object no longer exists.

Note: Referential integrity constraints are scoped implicitly.

Unscoped REFs are useful if the application design requires that the objects referenced
be scattered in multiple tables. Because rowid hints are ignored for scoped REFs, you
should use unscoped REFs if the performance gain of the rowid hint, as explained in
the "Speeding up Object Access Using the WITH ROWID Option" on page 8-8,
outweighs the benefits of the storage saving and query optimization of using scoped
REFs.

Indexing Scoped REFs

You can build indexes on scoped REF columns using the CREATE INDEX command.
This allows you to use the index to efficiently evaluate queries that dereference the
scoped REFs. Such queries are turned into joins implicitly. For certain types of queries,
Oracle can use an index on the scoped REF column to evaluate the join efficiently.
For example, suppose the object type address_objtyp is used to create an object
table named address_objtab:
CREATE TABLE address_objtab OF address_objtyp ;

A people_reltab2 table can be created that has the same definition as the people_
reltab table shown in Example 8–2 on page 8-2, except that a REF is used for the
address. Next, an index can be created on the address_ref column.

Example 8–3 Creating an Index on Scoped REF Columns

CREATE TABLE people_reltab2 (
id NUMBER(4) CONSTRAINT pk_people_reltab2 PRIMARY KEY,
name_obj name_objtyp,
address_ref REF address_objtyp SCOPE IS address_objtab,
phones_ntab phone_ntabtyp)
NESTED TABLE phones_ntab STORE AS phone_store_ntab2 ;

CREATE INDEX address_ref_idx ON people_reltab2 (address_ref) ;

The following query dereferences the address_ref:

SELECT id FROM people_reltab2 p
WHERE p.address_ref.state = 'CA' ;

When this query is executed, the address_ref_idx index is used to efficiently

evaluate it. Here, address_ref is a scoped REF column that stores references to
addresses stored in the address_objtab object table. Oracle implicitly transforms
the preceding query into a query with a join:
SELECT p.id FROM people_reltab2 p, address_objtab a
WHERE p.address_ref = REF(a) AND a.state = 'CA' ;

The Oracle query optimizer might create a plan to perform a nested-loops join with
address_objtab as the outer table and look up matching addresses using the index
on the address_ref scoped REF column.

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-7

Design Considerations for Collections

Speeding up Object Access Using the WITH ROWID Option

If the WITH ROWID option is specified for a REF column, Oracle maintains the rowid of
the object referenced in the REF. Then, Oracle can find the object referenced directly
using the rowid contained in the REF, without the need to fetch the rowid from the
OID index. Therefore, you use the WITH ROWID option to specify a rowid hint.
Maintaining the rowid requires more storage space because the rowid adds 10 bytes to
the storage requirements of the REF.
Bypassing the OID index search improves the performance of REF traversal
(navigational access) in applications. The actual performance gain may vary from
application to application depending on the following factors:
■ How large the OID indexes are.
■ Whether the OID indexes are cached in the buffer cache.
■ How many REF traversals an application does.
The WITH ROWID option is only a hint because, when you use this option, Oracle
checks the OID of the row object with the OID in the REF. If the two OIDs do not
match, Oracle uses the OID index instead. The rowid hint is not supported for scoped
REFs, for REFs with referential integrity constraints, or for primary key-based REFs.

Design Considerations for Collections

This section discusses considerations when working with collections.
■ Viewing Object Data in Relational Form with Unnesting Queries
■ Storage Considerations for Varrays
■ Performance of Varrays Versus Nested Tables
■ Design Considerations for Nested Tables
■ Design Considerations for Multilevel Collections

Viewing Object Data in Relational Form with Unnesting Queries

An unnesting query on a collection allows the data to be viewed in a flat (relational)
form. You can execute unnesting queries on single-level and multilevel collections of
either nested tables or varrays. This section contains examples of unnesting queries.
Nested tables can be unnested for queries using the TABLE syntax, as in the following
example:

Example 8–4 Unnesting a Nested Table with the TABLE Function

SELECT p.name_obj, n.num
FROM people_reltab p, TABLE(p.phones_ntab) n ;

Here, phones_ntab specifies the attributes of the phones_ntab nested table. To

retrieve even parent rows that have no child rows (no phone numbers, in this case),
use the outer join syntax, with the +. For example:
SELECT p.name_obj, n.num
FROM people_reltab p, TABLE(p.phones_ntab) (+) n ;

If the SELECT list of a query does not refer to any columns from the parent table other
than the nested table column, the query is optimized to execute only against the nested
table's storage table.

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 Design Considerations for Collections

The unnesting query syntax is the same for varrays as for nested tables. For instance,
suppose the phones_ntab nested table is instead a varray named phones_var. The
following example shows how to use the TABLE syntax to query the varray:
SELECT p.name_obj, v.num
FROM people_reltab p, TABLE(p.phones_var) v;

Using Procedures and Functions in Unnesting Queries

You can create procedures and functions that you can then execute to perform
unnesting queries. For example, you can create a function called home_phones() that
returns only the phone numbers where location is home. To create the home_
phones() function, you enter code like the following:

Example 8–5 Creating the home_phones Function

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION home_phones(allphones IN phone_ntabtyp)
RETURN phone_ntabtyp IS
homephones phone_ntabtyp := phone_ntabtyp();
indx1 number;
indx2 number := 0;
BEGIN
FOR indx1 IN 1..allphones.count LOOP
IF
allphones(indx1).location = 'home'
THEN
homephones.extend; -- extend the local collection
indx2 := indx2 + 1;
homephones(indx2) := allphones(indx1);
END IF;
END LOOP;

RETURN homephones;
END;
/

Now, to query for a list of people and their home phone numbers, enter the following:

Example 8–6 Using the TABLE Function to Unnest a Query

SELECT p.name_obj, n.num
FROM people_reltab p, TABLE(
CAST(home_phones(p.phones_ntab) AS phone_ntabtyp)) n ;

To query for a list of people and their home phone numbers, including those people
who do not have a home phone number listed, enter the following:
SELECT p.name_obj, n.num
FROM people_reltab p,
TABLE(CAST(home_phones(p.phones_ntab) AS phone_ntabtyp))(+) n ;

See Also: Oracle Database SQL Reference and Oracle Database Data
Cartridge Developer's Guide for more information about the TABLE
function

Storage Considerations for Varrays

The size of a stored varray depends only on the current count of the number of
elements in the varray and not on the maximum number of elements that it can hold.
Because the storage of varrays incurs some overhead, such as null information, the

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-9

Design Considerations for Collections

size of the varray stored may be slightly greater than the size of the elements
multiplied by the count.
Varrays are stored in columns either as raw values or LOBs. Oracle decides how to
store the varray when the varray is defined, based on the maximum possible size of
the varray computed using the LIMIT of the declared varray. If the size exceeds
approximately 4000 bytes, then the varray is stored in LOBs. Otherwise, the varray is
stored in the column itself as a raw value. In addition, Oracle supports inline LOBs
which means that elements that fit in the first 4000 bytes of a large varray, with some
bytes reserved for the LOB locator, are stored in the column of the row. See also Oracle
Database Application Developer's Guide - Large Objects.

Propagating VARRAY Size Change

When changing the size of a VARRAY type, a new type version is generated for the
dependent types. It is important to be aware of this when a VARRAY column is not
explicitly stored as a LOB and its maximum size is originally smaller than 4000 bytes.
If the size is larger than or equal to 4000 bytes after the increase, the VARRAY column
has to be stored as a LOB. This requires an extra operation to upgrade the metadata of
the VARRAY column in order to set up the necessary LOB metadata information
including the LOB segment and LOB index.
The CASCADE option in the ALTER TYPE statement propagates the VARRAY size
change to its dependent types and tables. A new version is generated for each valid
dependent type and dependent tables metadata are updated accordingly based on the
different case scenarios described previously. If the VARRAY column is in a cluster
table, an ALTER TYPE statement with the CASCADE option fails because a cluster table
does not support a LOB.
The CASCADE option in the ALTER TYPE statement also provides the [NOT]
INCLUDING TABLE DATA option. The NOT INCLUDING TABLE DATA option only
updates the metadata of the table, but does not convert the data image. In order to
convert the VARRAY image to the latest version format, you can either specify
INCLUDING TABLE DATA explicitly in ALTER TYPE CASCADE statement or issue
ALTER TABLE UPGRADE statement.

Performance of Varrays Versus Nested Tables

If the entire collection is manipulated as a single unit in the application, varrays
perform much better than nested tables. The varray is stored packed and requires no
joins to retrieve the data, unlike nested tables.

Varray Querying
The unnesting syntax can be used to access varray columns similar to the way it is
used to access nested tables. See "Viewing Object Data in Relational Form with
Unnesting Queries" on page 8-8 for more information.

Varray Updates
Piece-wise updates of a varray value are not supported. Thus, when a varray is
updated, the entire old collection is replaced by the new collection.

Design Considerations for Nested Tables

The following sections contain design considerations for using nested tables.

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 Design Considerations for Collections

Nested Table Storage

Oracle stores the rows of a nested table in a separate storage table. A system generated
NESTED_TABLE_ID, which is 16 bytes in length, correlates the parent row with the
rows in its corresponding storage table.
Figure 8–2 shows how the storage table works. The storage table contains each value
for each nested table in a nested table column. Each value occupies one row in the
storage table. The storage table uses the NESTED_TABLE_ID to track the nested table
for each value. So, in Figure 8–2, all of the values that belong to nested table A are
identified, all of the values that belong to nested table B are identified, and so on.

Figure 8–2 Nested Table Storage

DATA1 DATA2 DATA3 DATA4 NT_DATA

... ... ... ... A
... ... ... ... B
... ... ... ... C
... ... ... ... D
... ... ... ... E

Storage Table
NESTED_TABLE_ID Values
B B21
B B22
C C33
A A11
E E51
B B25
E E52
A A12
E E54
B B23
C C32
A A13
D D41
B B24
E E53

Nested Table in an Index-Organized Table (IOT)

If a nested table has a primary key, you can organize the nested table as an
index-organized table (IOT). If the NESTED_TABLE_ID column is a prefix of the
primary key for a given parent row, Oracle physically clusters its child rows together.
So, when a parent row is accessed, all its child rows can be efficiently retrieved. When
only parent rows are accessed, efficiency is maintained because the child rows are not
inter-mixed with the parent rows.
Figure 8–3 shows how the storage table works when the nested table is in an IOT. The
storage table groups by NESTED_TABLE_ID the values for each nested table in a
nested table column. In Figure 8–3, for each nested table in the NT_DATA column of the
parent table, the data is grouped in the storage table: all of the values in nested table A
are grouped together, all of the values in nested table B are grouped together, and so
on.

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-11

Design Considerations for Collections

Figure 8–3 Nested Table in IOT Storage

DATA1 DATA2 DATA3 DATA4 NT_DATA

... ... ... ... A
... ... ... ... B
... ... ... ... C
... ... ... ... D
... ... ... ... E

Storage Table
NESTED_TABLE_ID Values
Storage for A A11
nested A A12
table A A A13
B B21
Storage for B B22
nested B B23
table B B B24
B B25
Storage for
nested C C31
Storage for table C C C32
nested D D41
table D E E51
Storage for E E52
nested
table E E E53
E E54

In addition, the COMPRESS clause enables prefix compression on the IOT rows. It
factors out the key of the parent in every child row. That is, the parent key is not
repeated in every child row, thus providing significant storage savings.
In other words, if you specify nested table compression using the COMPRESS clause,
the amount of space required for the storage table is reduced because the NESTED_
TABLE_ID is not repeated for each value in a group. Instead, the NESTED_TABLE_ID
is stored only once for each group, as illustrated in Figure 8–4.

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 Design Considerations for Collections

Figure 8–4 Nested Table in IOT Storage with Compression

DATA1 DATA2 DATA3 DATA4 NT_DATA

... ... ... ... A
... ... ... ... B
... ... ... ... C
... ... ... ... D
... ... ... ... E

Storage Table
NESTED_TABLE_ID Values
Storage for A11
nested A A12
table A A13
B21
Storage for B22
nested B B23
table B B24
B25
Storage for
nested C31
C
Storage for table C C32
nested D D41
table D E51
Storage for E52
nested E
table E E53
E54

In general, Oracle recommends that nested tables be stored in an IOT with the
NESTED_TABLE_ID column as a prefix of the primary key. Further, prefix
compression should be enabled on the IOT. However, if you usually do not retrieve the
nested table as a unit and you do not want to cluster the child rows, do not store the
nested table in an IOT and do not specify compression.

Nested Table Indexes

For nested tables stored in heap tables (as opposed to IOTs), you should create an
index on the NESTED_TABLE_ID column of the storage table. The index on the
corresponding ID column of the parent table is created by Oracle automatically when
the table is created. Creating an index on the NESTED_TABLE_ID column enables
Oracle to access the child rows of the nested table more efficiently, because Oracle
must perform a join between the parent table and the nested table using the NESTED_
TABLE_ID column.

Nested Table Locators

For large child sets, the parent row and a locator to the child set can be returned so that
the child rows can be accessed on demand; the child sets also can be filtered. Using
nested table locators enables you to avoid unnecessarily transporting child rows for
every parent.
You can perform either one of the following actions to access the child rows using the
nested table locator:
■ Call the OCI collection functions. This action occurs implicitly when you access
the elements of the collection in the client-side code, such as OCIColl* functions.
The entire collection is retrieved implicitly on the first access.

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-13

Design Considerations for Collections

See Also: Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide for more

information about OCI collection functions.

■ Use SQL to retrieve the rows corresponding to the nested table.

In a multilevel collection, you can use a locator with a specified collection at any level
of nesting. Following are described two ways in which to specify that a collection is to
be retrieved as a locator.

At Table Creation Time

When the collection type is being used as a column type and the NESTED TABLE
storage clause is used, you can use the RETURN AS LOCATOR clause to specify that a
particular collection is to be retrieved as a locator.
For instance, suppose that inner_table is a collection type consisting of three levels
of nested tables. In the following example, the RETURN AS LOCATOR clause specifies
that the third level of nested tables is always to be retrieved as a locator.

Example 8–7 Using the RETURN AS LOCATOR Clause

CREATE TYPE inner_table AS TABLE OF NUMBER;
/
CREATE TYPE middle_table AS TABLE OF inner_table;
/
CREATE TYPE outer_table AS TABLE OF middle_table;
/
CREATE TABLE tab1 (
col1 NUMBER,
col2 outer_table)
NESTED TABLE col2 STORE AS col2_ntab
(NESTED TABLE COLUMN_VALUE STORE AS cval1_ntab
(NESTED TABLE COLUMN_VALUE STORE AS cval2_ntab RETURN AS LOCATOR) );

As a HINT During Retrieval

A query can retrieve a collection as a locator by means of the hint NESTED_TABLE_
GET_REFS. Here is an example of retrieving the column col2 from the table tab1 as a
locator:
SELECT /*+ NESTED_TABLE_GET_REFS +*/ col2
FROM tab1
WHERE col1 = 2;

Unlike with the RETURN AS LOCATOR clause, however, you cannot specify a particular
inner collection to return as a locator when using the hint.

Optimizing Set Membership Queries

Set membership queries are useful when you want to search for a specific item in a
nested table. For example, the following query tests the membership in a child-set;
specifically, whether the location home is in the nested table phones_ntab, which is
in the parent table people_reltab:
SELECT * FROM people_reltab p
WHERE 'home' IN (SELECT location FROM TABLE(p.phones_ntab)) ;

Oracle can execute a query that tests the membership in a child-set more efficiently by
transforming it internally into a semijoin. However, this optimization only happens if
the ALWAYS_SEMI_JOIN initialization parameter is set. If you want to perform

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 Design Considerations for Collections

semijoins, the valid values for this parameter are MERGE and HASH; these parameter
values indicate which join method to use.

Note: In the preceding example, home and location are child

set elements. If the child set elements are object types, they must
have a map or order method to perform a set membership query.

Design Considerations for Multilevel Collections

Chapter 3, "Support for Collection Datatypes" describes how to nest collection types to
create a true multilevel collection, such as a nested table of nested tables, a nested table
of varrays, a varray of nested tables, a varray of nested tables, or a varray or nested
table of an object type that has an attribute of a collection type.
You can also nest collections indirectly using REFs. For example, you can create a
nested table of an object type that has an attribute that references an object that has a
nested table or varray attribute. If you do not actually need to access all elements of a
multilevel collection, then nesting a collection with REFs may provide better
performance because only the REFs need to be loaded, not the elements themselves.
True multilevel collections (specifically multilevel nested tables) perform better for
queries that access individual elements of the collection. Using nested table locators
can improve the performance of programmatic access if you do not need to access all
elements.
For an example of a collection that uses REFs to nest another collection, suppose you
want to create a new object type called person_objtyp using the object types shown
in Example 8–1 on page 8-2, which are name_objtyp, address_objtyp, and
phone_ntabtyp. Remember that the phone_ntabtyp object type is a nested table
because each person may have more than one phone number.
To create the person_objtyp object type and an object table called people_objtab
of person_objtyp object type, issue the following SQL statement:

Example 8–8 Creating an Object Table with a Multilevel Collection

CREATE TYPE person_objtyp AS OBJECT (
id NUMBER(4),
name_obj name_objtyp,
address_obj address_objtyp,
phones_ntab phone_ntabtyp);
/

CREATE TABLE people_objtab OF person_objtyp (id PRIMARY KEY)

NESTED TABLE phones_ntab STORE AS phones_store_ntab ;

The people_objtab table has the same attributes as the people_reltab table
discussed in "Column Object Storage" on page 8-2. The difference is that the people_
objtab is an object table with row objects, while the people_reltab table is a
relational table with three column objects.

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-15

Design Considerations for Collections

Figure 8–5 Object-Relational Representation of the people_objtab Object Table

Object Table PEOPLE_OBJTAB (of PERSON_OBJTYP)

ID NAME_OBJ ADDRESS_OBJ PHONES_NTAB

Number Object Type Object Type Nested Table

NUMBER(4) NAME_OBJTYP ADDRESS_OBJTYP PHONE_NTABTYP

PK

Nested Table PHONES_NTAB (of PHONE_NTABTYP)

LOCATION NUM

Text Number
VARCHAR(15) VARCHAR(14)

Column Object ADDRESS_OBJ (of ADDRESS_OBJTYP)

STREET CITY STATE ZIPCODE

Text Text Text Text

VARCHAR2(200) VARCHAR(200) CHAR(2) VARCHAR2(20)

Column Object NAME_OBJ (of NAME_OBJTYP)

FIRST MIDDLE LAST

Text Text Text

VARCHAR2(15) VARCHAR2(15) VARCHAR2(15)

Now you can reference the row objects in the people_objtab object table from other
tables. For example, suppose you want to create a projects_objtab table that
contains:
■ A project identification number for each project.
■ The title of each project.
■ The project lead for each project.
■ A description of each project.
■ Nested table collection of the team of people assigned to each project.
You can use REFs to the people_objtab for the project leads, and you can use a
nested table collection of REFs for the team. To begin, create a nested table object type
called personref_ntabtyp based on the person_objtyp object type:
CREATE TYPE personref_ntabtyp AS TABLE OF REF person_objtyp;
/
Now you are ready to create the object table projects_objtab. First, create the
object type projects_objtyp, then create the object table projects_objtab based
on the projects_objtyp as shown in Example 8–9.

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 Design Considerations for Collections

Example 8–9 Creating an Object Table Using REFs

CREATE TYPE projects_objtyp AS OBJECT (
id NUMBER(4),
title VARCHAR2(15),
projlead_ref REF person_objtyp,
description CLOB,
team_ntab personref_ntabtyp);
/
CREATE TABLE projects_objtab OF projects_objtyp (id PRIMARY KEY)
NESTED TABLE team_ntab STORE AS team_store_ntab ;

Figure 8–6 Object-Relational Representation of the projects_objtab Object Table

Table PROJECTS_OBJTAB (of PROJECTS_OBJTYP)

ID TITLE PROJLEAD_REF DESCRIPTION TEAM_NTAB

Number Text Reference Text Nested Table Reference

NUMBER(4) VARCHAR2(15) PERSON_OBJTYP CLOB PERSONREF_NTABTYP

PK

Refers to a Refers to multiple rows

row of the of the object table
object table

Object Table PEOPLE_OBJTAB (of PERSON_OBJTYP)

ID NAME_OBJ ADDRESS_OBJ PHONES_NTAB

Number Object Type Object Type Nested Table

NUMBER(4) NAME_OBJTYP ADDRESS_OBJTYP PHONE_NTABTYP

PK

After the people_objtab object table and the projects_objtab object table are in
place, you indirectly have a nested collection. That is, the projects_objtab table
contains a nested table collection of REFs that point to the people in the people_
objtab table, and the people in the people_objtab table have a nested table
collection of phone numbers.
You can insert values into the people_objtab table as shown in Example 8–10.

Example 8–10 Inserting Values into the people_objtab Object Table

INSERT INTO people_objtab VALUES (
0001,
name_objtyp('JOHN', 'JACOB', 'SCHMIDT'),
address_objtyp('1252 Maple Road', 'Fairfax', 'VA', '22033'),
phone_ntabtyp(
phone_objtyp('home', '650.339.9922'),
phone_objtyp('work', '510.563.8792'))) ;

INSERT INTO people_objtab VALUES (

0002,
name_objtyp('MARY', 'ELLEN', 'MILLER'),
address_objtyp('33 Spruce Street', 'McKees Rocks', 'PA', '15136'),
phone_ntabtyp(

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-17

Design Considerations for Methods

phone_objtyp('home', '415.642.6722'),
phone_objtyp('work', '650.891.7766'))) ;

INSERT INTO people_objtab VALUES (

0003,
name_objtyp('SARAH', 'MARIE', 'SINGER'),
address_objtyp('525 Pine Avenue', 'San Mateo', 'CA', '94403'),
phone_ntabtyp(
phone_objtyp('home', '510.804.4378'),
phone_objtyp('work', '650.345.9232'),
phone_objtyp('cell', '650.854.9233'))) ;

Then, you can insert into the projects_objtab relational table by selecting from the
people_objtab object table using a REF operator, as in Example 8–11.

Example 8–11 Inserting Values into the projects_objtab Object Table

INSERT INTO projects_objtab VALUES (
1101,
'Demo Product',
(SELECT REF(p) FROM people_objtab p WHERE id = 0001),
'Demo the product, show all the great features.',
personref_ntabtyp(
(SELECT REF(p) FROM people_objtab p WHERE id = 0001),
(SELECT REF(p) FROM people_objtab p WHERE id = 0002),
(SELECT REF(p) FROM people_objtab p WHERE id = 0003))) ;

INSERT INTO projects_objtab VALUES (

1102,
'Create PRODDB',
(SELECT REF(p) FROM people_objtab p WHERE id = 0002),
'Create a database of our products.',
personref_ntabtyp(
(SELECT REF(p) FROM people_objtab p WHERE id = 0002),
(SELECT REF(p) FROM people_objtab p WHERE id = 0003))) ;

Note: This example uses nested tables to store REFs, but you also
can store REFs in varrays. That is, you can have a varray of REFs.

Design Considerations for Methods

This section discusses considerations when working with methods.
■ Choosing a Language for Method Functions
■ Static Methods
■ Using SELF IN OUT NOCOPY with Member Procedures
■ Function-Based Indexes on the Return Values of Type Methods

Choosing a Language for Method Functions

Method functions can be implemented in any of the languages supported by Oracle,
such as PL/SQL, Java, or C. Consider the following factors when you choose the
language for a particular application:
■ Ease of use

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 Design Considerations for Methods

■ SQL calls
■ Speed of execution
■ Same/different address space
In general, if the application performs intense computations, C is preferable, but if the
application performs a relatively large number of database calls, PL/SQL or Java is
preferable.
A method implemented in C executes in a separate process from the server using
external procedures. In contrast, a method implemented in Java or PL/SQL executes in
the same process as the server.

Example: Implementing a Method

The example described in this section involves an object type whose methods are
implemented in different languages. In the example, the object type ImageType has
an ID attribute, which is a NUMBER that uniquely identifies it, and an IMG attribute,
which is a BLOB that stores the raw image. The object type ImageType has the
following methods:
■ The method get_name fetches the name of the image by looking it up in the
database. This method is implemented in PL/SQL.
■ The method rotate rotates the image. This method is implemented in C.
■ The method clear returns a new image of the specified color. This method is
implemented in Java.
For implementing a method in C, a LIBRARY object must be defined to point to the
library that contains the external C routines. For implementing a method implemented
in Java, this example assumes that the Java class with the method has been compiled
and uploaded into Oracle.
The object type specification and its methods are shown in Example 8–12.

Example 8–12 Creating an Object Type with Methods Implemented in Different

Languages
CREATE LIBRARY myCfuncs TRUSTED AS STATIC
/

CREATE TYPE ImageType AS OBJECT (

id NUMBER,
img BLOB,
MEMBER FUNCTION get_name return VARCHAR2,
MEMBER FUNCTION rotate return BLOB,
STATIC FUNCTION clear(color NUMBER) return BLOB);
/

CREATE TYPE BODY ImageType AS

MEMBER FUNCTION get_name RETURN VARCHAR2
IS
imgname VARCHAR2(100);
sqlstmt VARCHAR2(200);
BEGIN
sqlstmt := 'SELECT name INTO imgname FROM imgtab WHERE imgid = id';
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE sqlstmt;
RETURN imgname;
END;

MEMBER FUNCTION rotate RETURN BLOB

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-19

Design Considerations for Methods

AS LANGUAGE C
NAME "Crotate"
LIBRARY myCfuncs;

STATIC FUNCTION clear(color NUMBER) RETURN BLOB

AS LANGUAGE JAVA
NAME 'myJavaClass.clear(oracle.sql.NUMBER) return oracle.sql.BLOB';

END;
/

Restriction: Type methods can be mapped only to static Java

methods.

See Also:
■ Oracle Database Java Developer's Guide for more information
■ Chapter 4, "Object Support in Oracle Programming
Environments" for more information about choosing a
language

Static Methods
Static methods differ from member methods in that the SELF value is not passed in as
the first parameter. Methods in which the value of SELF is not relevant should be
implemented as static methods. Static methods can be used for user-defined
constructors.
Example 8–13 shows a constructor-like method that constructs an instance of the type
based on the explicit input parameters and inserts the instance into the specified table:.

Example 8–13 Creating an Object Type with a STATIC Method

CREATE TYPE atype AS OBJECT(
a1 NUMBER,
STATIC PROCEDURE newa (
p1 NUMBER,
tabname VARCHAR2,
schname VARCHAR2));
/
CREATE TYPE BODY atype AS
STATIC PROCEDURE newa (p1 NUMBER, tabname VARCHAR2, schname VARCHAR2)
IS
sqlstmt VARCHAR2(100);
BEGIN
sqlstmt := 'INSERT INTO '||schname||'.'||tabname|| ' VALUES (atype(:1))';
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE sqlstmt USING p1;
END;
END;
/

CREATE TABLE atab OF atype;

BEGIN
atype.newa(1, 'atab', 'HR');
END;
/

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 Design Considerations for Methods

Using SELF IN OUT NOCOPY with Member Procedures

In member procedures, if SELF is not declared, its parameter mode defaults to IN OUT.
However, the default behavior does not include the NOCOPY compiler hint. See
"Member Methods" on page 2-7.
Because the value of the IN OUT actual parameter is copied into the corresponding
formal parameter, the copying slows down execution when the parameters hold large
data structures such as instances of large object types.
For performance reasons, you may want to include SELF IN OUT NOCOPY when
passing a large object type as a parameter. For example:
MEMBER PROCEDURE my_proc (SELF IN OUT NOCOPY my_LOB)

See Also:
■ Oracle Database PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference for
information on performance issues and restrictions on the use
of NOCOPY
■ Oracle Database SQL Reference for information about using
NOCOPY in the CREATE PROCEDURE statement

Function-Based Indexes on the Return Values of Type Methods

A function-based index is an index based on the return values of an expression or
function. The function may be a method function of an object type.
A function-based index built on a method function precomputes the return value of
the function for each object instance in the column or table being indexed and stores
those values in the index. There they can be referenced without having to evaluate the
function again.
Function-based indexes are useful for improving the performance of queries that have
a function in the WHERE clause. For example, the following code contains a query of an
object table emps:
CREATE TYPE emp_t AS OBJECT(
name VARCHAR2(36),
salary NUMBER,
MEMBER FUNCTION bonus RETURN NUMBER DETERMINISTIC);
/
CREATE TYPE BODY emp_t IS
MEMBER FUNCTION bonus RETURN NUMBER DETERMINISTIC IS
BEGIN
RETURN self.salary * .1;
END;
END;
/

CREATE TABLE emps OF emp_t ;

SELECT e.name
FROM emps e
WHERE e.bonus() > 2000;

To evaluate this query, Oracle must evaluate bonus() for each row object in the table.
If there is a function-based index on the return values of bonus(), then this work has

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-21

Writing Reusable Code Using Invoker Rights

already been done, and Oracle can simply look up the results in the index. This
enables Oracle to return a result from the query more quickly.
Return values of a function can be usefully indexed only if those values are constant,
that is, only if the function always returns the same value for each object instance. For
this reason, to use a user-written function in a function-based index, the function must
have been declared with the DETERMINISTIC keyword, as in the preceding example.
This keyword promises that the function always returns the same value for each object
instance's set of input argument values.
The following example creates a function-based index on the method bonus() in the
table emps:

Example 8–14 Creating a Function-Based Index on a Method

CREATE INDEX emps_bonus_idx ON emps x (x.bonus()) ;

See Also: Oracle Database Concepts and Oracle Database SQL

Reference for detailed information about function-based indexes

Writing Reusable Code Using Invoker Rights

To create generic object types that can be used in any schema, you must define the type
to use invoker rights, through the AUTHID CURRENT_USER option of CREATE OR
REPLACE TYPE. In general, use invoker rights when both of the following conditions
are true:
■ There are type methods that access and manipulate data.
■ Users who did not define these type methods must use them.
For example, you can grant user OE execute privileges on type atype created by HR
in "Static Methods" on page 8-20, and then create table atab based on the type:
GRANT EXECUTE ON atype TO oe;
CONNECT oe/oe;
CREATE TABLE atab OF HR.atype ;

Now, suppose user OE tries to use atype in the following statement:

BEGIN -- follwing call raises an error, insufficient privileges
HR.atype.newa(1, 'atab', 'OE');
END;
/

This statement raises an error because the definer of the type (HR) does not have the
privileges required to perform the insert in the newa procedure. You can avoid this
error by defining atype using invoker rights. Here, you first drop the atab table in
both schemas and re-create atype using invoker rights:
DROP TABLE atab;
CONNECT hr/hr;
DROP TABLE atab;
DROP TYPE atype FORCE;
COMMIT;

CREATE TYPE atype AUTHID CURRENT_USER AS OBJECT(

a1 NUMBER,
STATIC PROCEDURE newa(p1 NUMBER, tabname VARCHAR2, schname VARCHAR2));
/

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 Replicating Object Tables and Columns

CREATE TYPE BODY atype AS

STATIC PROCEDURE newa(p1 NUMBER, tabname VARCHAR2, schname VARCHAR2)
IS
sqlstmt VARCHAR2(100);
BEGIN
sqlstmt := 'INSERT INTO '||schname||'.'||tabname|| '
VALUES (HR.atype(:1))';
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE sqlstmt USING p1;
END;
END;
/

Now, if user OE tries to use atype again, the statement executes successfully:
GRANT EXECUTE ON atype TO oe;
CONNECT oe/oe;
CREATE TABLE atab OF HR.atype;

BEGIN
HR.atype.newa(1, 'atab', 'OE');
END;
/
DROP TABLE atab;
CONNECT hr/hr;
DROP TYPE atype FORCE;

The statement is successful this time because the procedure is executed under the
privileges of the invoker (OE), not the definer (HR).
In a type hierarchy, a subtype has the same rights model as its immediate supertype.
That is, it implicitly inherits the rights model of the supertype and cannot explicitly
specify one. Furthermore, if the supertype was declared with definer rights, the
subtype must reside in the same schema as the supertype. These rules allow
invoker-rights type hierarchies to span schemas. However, type hierarchies that use a
definer-rights model must reside within a single schema. For example:
CREATE TYPE deftype1 AS OBJECT (...); --Definer-rights type
CREATE TYPE subtype1 UNDER deftype1 (...); --subtype in same schema as supertype
CREATE TYPE schema2.subtype2 UNDER deftype1 (...); --ERROR
CREATE TYPE invtype1 AUTHID CURRENT_USER AS OBJECT (...); --Invoker-rights type
CREATE TYPE schema2.subtype2 UNDER invtype1 (...); --LEGAL

Replicating Object Tables and Columns

Object tables and object views can be replicated as materialized views. You can also
replicate relational tables that contain columns of an object, collection, or REF type.
Such materialized views are called object-relational materialized views.
All user-defined types required by an object-relational materialized view must exist at
the materialized view site as well as at the master site. They must have the same object
type IDs and versions at both sites.

Replicating Columns of Object, Collection, or REF Type

To be updatable, a materialized view based on a table that contains an object column
must select the column as an object in the query that defines the view: if the query
selects only certain attributes of the column's object type, then the materialized view is
read-only.

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-23

Constraints on Objects

The view-definition query can also select columns of collection or REF type. REFs can
be either primary-key based or have a system-generated key, and they can be either
scoped or unscoped. Scoped REF columns can be rescoped to a different table at the
site of the materialized view—for example, to a local materialized view of the master
table instead of the original, remote table.

Replicating Object Tables

A materialized view based on an object table is called an object materialized view.
Such a materialized view is itself an object table. An object materialized view is created
by adding the OF type keyword to the CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW statement. For
example:
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW customer OF cust_objtyp AS
SELECT * FROM HR.Customer_objtab@dbs1;

As with an ordinary object table, each row of an object materialized view is an object
instance, so the view-definition query that creates the materialized view must select
entire objects from the master table: the query cannot select only a subset of the object
type's attributes. For example, the following materialized view is not allowed:
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW customer OF cust_objtyp AS
SELECT CustNo FROM HR.Customer_objtab@dbs1;

You can create an object-relational materialized view from an object table by omitting
the OF type keyword, but such a view is read-only: you cannot create an updatable
object-relational materialized view from an object table.
For example, the following CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW statement creates a
read-only object-relational materialized view of an object table. Even though the
view-definition query selects all columns and attributes of the object type, it does not
select them as attributes of an object, so the view created is object-relational and
read-only:
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW customer AS
SELECT * FROM HR.Customer_objtab@dbs1;

For both object-relational and object materialized views that are based on an object
table, if the type of the master object table is not FINAL, the FROM clause in the
materialized view definition query must include the ONLY keyword. For example:
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW customer OF cust_objtyp AS
SELECT CustNo FROM ONLY HR.Customer_objtab@dbs1;

Otherwise, the FROM clause must omit the ONLY keyword.

See Also: Oracle Database Advanced Replication for more

information on replicating object tables and columns

Constraints on Objects
Oracle does not support constraints and defaults in type specifications. However, you
can specify the constraints and defaults when creating the tables:

Example 8–15 Specifying Constraints on an Object Type When Creating a Table

CREATE TYPE customer_typ AS OBJECT(
cust_id INTEGER);

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 Considerations Related to Type Evolution

/
CREATE TYPE department_typ AS OBJECT(
deptno INTEGER);
/
CREATE TABLE customer_tab OF customer_typ (
cust_id default 1 NOT NULL);

CREATE TABLE department_tab OF department_typ (

deptno PRIMARY KEY);

CREATE TABLE customer_tab1 (

cust customer_typ DEFAULT customer_typ(1)
CHECK (cust.cust_id IS NOT NULL),
some_other_column VARCHAR2(32));

Considerations Related to Type Evolution

The following sections contain design considerations relating to type evolution.

Pushing a Type Change Out to Clients

Once a type has evolved on the server side, all client applications using this type need
to make the necessary changes to structures associated with the type. You can do this
with OTT/JPUB. You also may need to make programmatic changes associated with
the structural change. After making these changes, you must recompile your
application and relink.
Types may be altered between releases of a third-party application. To inform client
applications that they need to recompile to become compatible with the latest release
of the third-party application, you can have the clients call a release-oriented
compatibility initialization function. This function could take as input a string that tells
it which release the client application is working with. If the release string mismatches
with the latest version, an error is generated. The client application must then change
the release string as part of the changes required to become compatible with the latest
release.
For example:
FUNCTION compatibility_init(
rel IN VARCHAR2, errmsg OUT VARCHAR2)
RETURN NUMBER;

where:
■ rel is a release string that is chosen by the product, such as, 'Release 10.1'
■ errmsg is any error message that may need to be returned
■ The function returns 0 on success and a nonzero value on error

Changing Default Constructors

When a type is altered, its default, system-defined constructors need to be changed in
order (for example) to include newly added attributes in the parameter list. If you are
using default constructors, you need to modify their invocations in your program in
order for the calls to compile.

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-25

Parallel Queries with Oracle Objects

You can avoid having to modify constructor calls if you define your own constructor
functions instead of using the system-defined default ones. See "Advantages of
User-Defined Constructors" on page 7-15.

Altering the FINAL Property of a Type

When you alter a type T1 from FINAL to NOT FINAL, any attribute of type T1 in the
client program changes from being an inlined structure to a pointer to T1. This means
that you need to change the program to use dereferencing when this attribute is
accessed.
Conversely, when you alter a type from NOT FINAL to FINAL, the attributes of that
type change from being pointers to inlined structures.
For example, say that you have the types T1(a int) and T2(b T1), where T1's
property is FINAL. The C/JAVA structure corresponding to T2 is T2(T1 b). But if
you change T1's property to NOT FINAL, then T2's structure becomes T2(T1 *b).

Parallel Queries with Oracle Objects

Oracle lets you perform parallel queries with objects and objects synthesized in views,
when you follow these rules:
■ To make queries involving joins and sorts parallel (using the ORDER BY, GROUP BY,
and SET operations), a MAP function is required. In the absence of a MAP function,
the query automatically becomes serial.
■ Parallel queries on nested tables are not supported. Even if there are parallel hints
or parallel attributes for the table, the query is serial.
■ Parallel DML and parallel DDL are not supported with objects. DML and DDL are
always performed in serial.
■ Parallel DML is not supported on views with INSTEAD-OF trigger. However, the
individual statements within the trigger may be parallelized.

Design Consideration Tips and Techniques

The following sections provide assorted tips on various aspects of working with
Oracle object types.

Deciding Whether to Evolve a Type or Create a Subtype Instead

As an application goes through its life cycle, the question often arises whether to
change an existing object type or to create a specialized subtype to meet new
requirements. The answer depends on the nature of the new requirements and their
context in the overall application semantics. Here are two examples:

Changing a Widely Used Base Type

Suppose that we have an object type address with attributes Street, State, and
ZIP:
CREATE TYPE address AS OBJECT (
Street VARCHAR2(80),
State VARCHAR2(20),
ZIP VARCHAR2(10));
/

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 Design Consideration Tips and Techniques

We later find that we need to extend the address type by adding a Country attribute
to support addresses internationally. Is it better to create a subtype of address or to
evolve the address type itself?
With a general base type that has been widely used throughout an application, it is
better to implement the change using type evolution.

Adding Specialization
Suppose that an existing type hierarchy of Graphic types (for example, curve, circle,
square, text) needs to accommodate an additional variation, namely, Bezier curve. To
support a new specialization of this sort that does not reflect a shortcoming of the base
type, we should use inheritance and create a new subtype BezierCurve under the
Curve type.
To sum up, the semantics of the required change dictates whether we should use type
evolution or inheritance. For a change that is more general and affects the base type,
use type evolution. For a more specialized change, implement the change using
inheritance.

How ANYDATA Differs from User-Defined Types

ANYDATA is an Oracle-supplied type that can hold instances of any Oracle datatype,
whether built-in or user-defined. ANYDATA is a self-describing type and supports a
reflection-like API that you can use to determine the shape of an instance.
While both inheritance, through the substitutability feature, and ANYDATA provide the
polymorphic ability to store any of a set of possible instances in a placeholder, the two
models give the capability two very different forms.
In the inheritance model, the polymorphic set of possible instances must form part of a
single type hierarchy. A variable can potentially hold instances only of its defined type
or of its subtypes. You can access attributes of the supertype and call methods defined
in the supertype (and potentially overridden by the subtype). You can also test the
specific type of an instance using the IS OF and the TREAT operators.
ANYDATA variables, however, can store heterogeneous instances. You cannot access
attributes or call methods of the actual instance stored in an ANYDATA variable (unless
you extract out the instance). You use the ANYDATA methods to discover and extract
the type of the instance. ANYDATA is a very useful mechanism for parameter passing
when the function/procedure does not care about the specific type of the parameter(s).
Inheritance provides better modeling, strong typing, specialization, and so on. Use
ANYDATA when you simply want to be able to hold one of any number of possible
instances that do not necessarily have anything in common.

Polymorphic Views: An Alternative to an Object View Hierarchy

Chapter 5, "Applying an Object Model to Relational Data" describes how to build up a
view hierarchy from a set of object views each of which contains objects of a single
type. Such a view hierarchy enables queries on a view within the hierarchy to see a
polymorphic set of objects contained by the queried view or its subviews.
As an alternative way to support such polymorphic queries, you can define an object
view based on a query that returns a polymorphic set of objects. This approach is
especially useful when you want to define a view over a set of tables or views that
already exists.
For example, an object view of Person_t can be defined over a query that returns
Person_t instances, including Employee_t instances. The following statement

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-27

Design Consideration Tips and Techniques

creates a view based on queries that select persons from a persons table and
employees from an employees table.
CREATE VIEW Persons_view OF Person_t AS
SELECT Person_t(...) FROM persons
UNION ALL
SELECT TREAT(Employee_t(...) AS Person_t) FROM employees;

An INSTEAD OF trigger defined for this view can use the VALUE function to access the
current object and to take appropriate action based on the object's most specific type.
Polymorphic views and object view hierarchies have these important differences:
■ Addressability: In a view hierarchy, each subview can be referenced
independently in queries and DML statements. Thus, every set of objects of a
particular type has a logical name. However, a polymorphic view is a single view,
so you must use predicates to obtain the set of objects of a particular type.
■ Evolution: If a new subtype is added, a subview can be added to a view hierarchy
without changing existing view definitions. With a polymorphic view, the single
view definition must be modified by adding another UNION branch.
■ DML Statements: In a view hierarchy, each subview can be either inherently
updatable or can have its own INSTEAD OF trigger. With a polymorphic view,
only one INSTEAD OF trigger can be defined for a given operation on the view.

The SQLJ Object Type

This section discusses the SQLJ object type.

The Intended Use of SQLJ Object Types

According to the Information Technology - SQLJ - Part 2 document (SQLJ Standard), a
SQLJ object type is a database object type designed for Java. A SQLJ object type maps
to a Java class. Once the mapping is registered through the extended SQL CREATE
TYPE command (a DDL statement), the Java application can insert or select the Java
objects directly into or from the database through an Oracle JDBC driver. This enables
the user to deploy the same class in the client, through JDBC, and in the server,
through SQL method dispatch.

Actions Performed When Creating a SQLJ Object Type

The extended SQL CREATE TYPE command:
■ Populates the database catalog with the external names for attributes, functions,
and the Java class. Also, dependencies between the Java class and its
corresponding SQLJ object type are maintained.
■ Validates the existence of the Java class and validates that it implements the
interface corresponding to the value of the USING clause.
■ Validates the existence of the Java fields (as specified in the EXTERNAL NAME
clause) and whether these fields are compatible with corresponding SQL
attributes.
■ Generates an internal class to support constructors, external variable names, and
external functions that return self as a result.

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 Design Consideration Tips and Techniques

Uses of SQLJ Object Types

The SQLJ object type is a special case of SQL object type in which all methods are
implemented in a Java class(es). The mapping between a Java class and its
corresponding SQL type is managed by the SQLJ object type specification. That is, the
SQLJ Object type specification cannot have a corresponding type body specification.
Also, the inheritance rules among SQLJ object types specify the legal mapping
between a Java class hierarchy and its corresponding SQLJ object type hierarchy. These
rules ensure that the SQLJ Type hierarchy contains a valid mapping. That is, the
supertype or subtype of a SQLJ object type has to be another SQLJ object type.

Uses of Custom Object Types

The custom object type is the Java interface for accessing SQL object type. A SQL
object type may include methods that are implemented in languages such as PLSQL,
Java, and C. Methods implemented in Java in a given SQL object type can belong to
different unrelated classes. That is, the SQL object type does not map to a specific Java
class.
In order for the client to access these objects, JPub can be used to generate the
corresponding Java class. Furthermore, the user has to augment the generated classes
with the code of the corresponding methods. Alternatively, the user can create the
class corresponding to the SQL object type.
At runtime, the JDBC user has to register the correspondence between a SQL Type
name and its corresponding Java class in a map.

Differences Between SQLJ and Custom Object Types Through JDBC

The following table summarizes the differences between SQLJ object types and custom
object types.

Table 8–1 Differences Between SQLJ and Custom Object Types

Feature SQLJ Object Type Behavior Custom Object Type Behavior
Typecodes Use the OracleTypes.JAVA_STRUCT typecode to Use the OracleTypes.STRUCT typecode to
register a SQLJ object type as a SQL OUT parameter. register a custom object type as a SQL OUT
The OracleTypes.JAVA_STRUCT typecode is also parameter. The OracleTypes.STRUCT typecode
used in the _SQL_TYPECODE field of a class is also used in the _SQL_TYPECODE field of a
implementing the ORAData or SQLData interface. class implementing the ORAData or SQLData
interface.
Creation Create a Java class implementing the SQLData or Issue the extended SQL CREATE TYPE command
ORAData and ORADataFactory interfaces first for a custom object type and then create the
and then load the Java class into the database. Next, SQLData or ORAData Java wrapper class using
you issue the extended SQL CREATE TYPE JPublisher or do this manually.
command for SQLJ object type.
Method Support Supports external names, constructor calls, and There is no default class for implementing type
calls for member functions with side effects. methods as Java methods. Some methods may
also be implemented in SQL.
Type Mapping Type mapping is automatically done by the Register the correspondence between SQL and
extended SQL CREATE TYPE command. However, Java in a type map. Otherwise, the type is
the SQLJ object type must have a defining Java class materialized as oracle.sql.STRUCT.
on the client.
Inheritance There are rules for mapping SQL hierarchy to a Java There are no mapping rules.
class hierarchy. See the Oracle Database SQL
Reference for a complete description of these rules.

Miscellaneous Tips
This section discusses miscellaneous tips.

Design Considerations for Oracle Objects 8-29

Design Consideration Tips and Techniques

Column Substitutability and the Number of Attributes in a Hierarchy

If a column or table is of type T, Oracle adds a hidden column for each attribute of
type T and, if the column or table is substitutable, for each attribute of every subtype
of T, to store attribute data. A hidden typeid column is added as well, to keep track
of the type of the object instance in a row.
The number of columns in a table is limited to 1,000. A type hierarchy with a number
of total attributes approaching 1,000 puts you at risk of running up against this limit
when using substitutable columns of a type in the hierarchy. To avoid problems as a
result of this, consider one of the following options for dealing with a hierarchy that
has a large number of total attributes:
■ Use views
■ Use REFs
■ Break up the hierarchy

Circular Dependencies Among Types

Avoid creating circular dependencies among types. In other words, do not create
situations in which a method of type T returns a type T1, which has a method that
returns a type T.

8-30 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 A
Sample Application Using Object-Relational
Features

This appendix describes a sample application that provides an overview of how to

create and use user-defined datatypes (Oracle Objects). An application is first
developed with the relational model and then with the object-relational model.
This appendix contains the following sections:
■ Introduction to the Sample Application
■ Implementing the Schema on the Relational Model
■ Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model
■ Evolving Object Types

Introduction to the Sample Application

User-defined types are schema objects in which users formalize the data structures and
operations that appear in their applications.
The examples in this appendix illustrate the most important aspects of defining, using,
and evolving object types. One important aspect of working with object types is
creating methods that perform operations on objects. In the example, definitions of
object type methods use the PL/SQL language. Other aspects of using object types,
such as defining a type, use SQL.
The examples develop different versions of a database schema for an application that
manages customer purchase orders. First a purely relational version is shown, and
then an equivalent, object-relational version. Both versions provide for the same basic
kinds of entities—customers, purchase orders, line items, and so on. But the
object-relational version creates object types for these entities and manages data for
particular customers and purchase orders by instantiating instances of the respective
object types.
PL/SQL and Java provide additional capabilities beyond those illustrated in this
appendix, especially in the area of accessing and manipulating the elements of
collections.
Client applications that use the Oracle Call Interface (OCI), Pro*C/C++, or Oracle
Objects for OLE (OO4O) can take advantage of its extensive facilities for accessing
objects and collections, and manipulating them on clients.

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-1

Implementing the Schema on the Relational Model

See Also:
■ Oracle Database SQL Reference for a complete description of SQL
syntax and usage for user-defined types
■ Oracle Database PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference for a
complete discussion of PL/SQL capabilities
■ Oracle Database Java Developer's Guide for a complete discussion
of Java
■ Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide
■ Pro*C/C++ Programmer's Guide

Implementing the Schema on the Relational Model

This section implements the relational version of the purchase order schema depicted
in Figure A–1.

Entities and Relationships

The basic entities in this example are:
■ Customers
■ The stock of products for sale
■ Purchase orders
As shown in Figure A–1, a customer has contact information, so that the address and
set of telephone numbers is exclusive to that customer. The application does not allow
different customers to be associated with the same address or telephone numbers. If a
customer changes his address, the previous address ceases to exist. If someone ceases
to be a customer, the associated address disappears.
A customer has a one-to-many relationship with a purchase order. A customer can
place many orders, but a given purchase order is placed by one customer. Because a
customer can be defined before he places an order, the relationship is optional rather
than mandatory.
Similarly, a purchase order has a many-to-many relationship with a stock item.
Because this relationship does not show which stock items appear on which purchase
orders, the entity-relationship has the notion of a line item. A purchase order must
contain one or more line items. Each line item is associated only with one purchase
order. The relationship between line item and stock item is that a stock item can
appear on zero, one, or many line items, but each line item refers to exactly one stock
item.

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 Implementing the Schema on the Relational Model

Figure A–1 Entity-Relationship Diagram for Purchase Order Application

Customer
1

customer number
customer name
street
city
zip
phone1
places
phone2
purchase order number
phone3
N customer number
order date
Purchase Order
ship date
1 tostreet
tocity
tostate
contains
tozip

Line Items

refers
to

Stock Item

stocknumber
price
tax rate

Creating Tables Under the Relational Model

The relational approach normalizes everything into tables. The table names are
Customer_reltab, PurchaseOrder_reltab, and Stock_reltab.
Each part of an address becomes a column in the Customer_reltab table.
Structuring telephone numbers as columns sets an arbitrary limit on the number of
telephone numbers a customer can have.
The relational approach separates line items from their purchase orders and puts each
into its own table, named PurchaseOrder_reltab and LineItems_reltab.
As depicted in Figure A–1, a line item has a relationship to both a purchase order and
a stock item. These are implemented as columns in LineItems_reltab table with
foreign keys to PurchaseOrder_reltab and Stock_reltab.

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-3

Implementing the Schema on the Relational Model

Note: We have adopted a convention in this section of adding the

suffix _reltab to the names of relational tables. Such a
self-describing notation can make your code easier to maintain.
You may find it useful to make distinctions between tables (_tab)
and types (_typ). But you can choose any names you want; one of
the advantages of object-relational constructs is that you can give
them names that closely model the corresponding real-world
objects.

The relational approach results in the tables describe in the following sections.

Customer_reltab
The Customer_reltab table has the following definition:

Example A–1 Creating the Customer_reltab Table

CREATE TABLE Customer_reltab (
CustNo NUMBER NOT NULL,
CustName VARCHAR2(200) NOT NULL,
Street VARCHAR2(200) NOT NULL,
City VARCHAR2(200) NOT NULL,
State CHAR(2) NOT NULL,
Zip VARCHAR2(20) NOT NULL,
Phone1 VARCHAR2(20),
Phone2 VARCHAR2(20),
Phone3 VARCHAR2(20),
PRIMARY KEY (CustNo));

This table, Customer_reltab, stores all the information about customers, which
means that it fully contains information that is intrinsic to the customer (defined with
the NOT NULL constraint) and information that is not as essential. According to this
definition of the table, the application requires that every customer have a shipping
address.
Our Entity-Relationship (E-R) diagram showed a customer placing an order, but the
table does not make allowance for any relationship between the customer and the
purchase order. This relationship must be managed by the purchase order.

PurchaseOrder_reltab
The PurchaseOrder_reltab table has the following definition:

Example A–2 Creating the PurchaseOrder_reltab Table

CREATE TABLE PurchaseOrder_reltab (
PONo NUMBER, /* purchase order no */
Custno NUMBER references Customer_reltab, /* Foreign KEY referencing
customer */
OrderDate DATE, /* date of order */
ShipDate DATE, /* date to be shipped */
ToStreet VARCHAR2(200), /* shipto address */
ToCity VARCHAR2(200),
ToState CHAR(2),
ToZip VARCHAR2(20),
PRIMARY KEY(PONo));

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 Implementing the Schema on the Relational Model

PurchaseOrder_reltab manages the relationship between the customer and the

purchase order by means of the foreign key (FK) column CustNo, which references the
CustNo key of the Customer_reltab. The PurchaseOrder_reltab table contains
no information about related line items. The line items table (next section) uses the
purchase order number to relate a line item to its parent purchase order.

Stock_reltab
The Stock_reltab table has the following definition:

Example A–3 Creating the Stock_reltab Table

CREATE TABLE Stock_reltab (
StockNo NUMBER PRIMARY KEY,
Price NUMBER,
TaxRate NUMBER);

LineItems_reltab
The LineItems_reltab table has the following definition:

Example A–4 Creating the LineItems_reltab Table

CREATE TABLE LineItems_reltab (
LineItemNo NUMBER,
PONo NUMBER REFERENCES PurchaseOrder_reltab,
StockNo NUMBER REFERENCES Stock_reltab,
Quantity NUMBER,
Discount NUMBER,
PRIMARY KEY (PONo, LineItemNo));

Note: The Stock_reltab and PurchaseOrder_reltab tables

must be created before the LineItems_reltab table.

The table name is in the plural form LineItems_reltab to emphasize to someone

reading the code that the table holds a collection of line items.
As shown in the E-R diagram, the list of line items has relationships with both the
purchase order and the stock item. These relationships are managed by LineItems_
reltab by means of two foreign key columns:
■ PONo, which references the PONo column in PurchaseOrder_reltab
■ StockNo, which references the StockNo column in Stock_reltab

Inserting Values Under the Relational Model

In our application, statements like these insert data into the tables:

Example A–5 Establish Inventory

INSERT INTO Stock_reltab VALUES(1004, 6750.00, 2);
INSERT INTO Stock_reltab VALUES(1011, 4500.23, 2);
INSERT INTO Stock_reltab VALUES(1534, 2234.00, 2);
INSERT INTO Stock_reltab VALUES(1535, 3456.23, 2);

Example A–6 Register Customers

INSERT INTO Customer_reltab
VALUES (1, 'Jean Nance', '2 Avocet Drive',

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-5

Implementing the Schema on the Relational Model

'Redwood Shores', 'CA', '95054',

'415-555-1212', NULL, NULL);

INSERT INTO Customer_reltab

VALUES (2, 'John Nike', '323 College Drive',
'Edison', 'NJ', '08820',
'609-555-1212', '201-555-1212', NULL);

Example A–7 Place Orders

INSERT INTO PurchaseOrder_reltab
VALUES (1001, 1, SYSDATE, '10-MAY-1997',
NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);

INSERT INTO PurchaseOrder_reltab

VALUES (2001, 2, SYSDATE, '20-MAY-1997',
'55 Madison Ave', 'Madison', 'WI', '53715');

Example A–8 Detail Line Items

INSERT INTO LineItems_reltab VALUES(01, 1001, 1534, 12, 0);
INSERT INTO LineItems_reltab VALUES(02, 1001, 1535, 10, 10);
INSERT INTO LineItems_reltab VALUES(01, 2001, 1004, 1, 0);
INSERT INTO LineItems_reltab VALUES(02, 2001, 1011, 2, 1);

Querying Data Under the Relational Model

The application can execute queries like these:

Example A–9 Get Customer and Line Item Data for a Specific Purchase Order
SELECT C.CustNo, C.CustName, C.Street, C.City, C.State,
C.Zip, C.phone1, C.phone2, C.phone3,
P.PONo, P.OrderDate,
L.StockNo, L.LineItemNo, L.Quantity, L.Discount
FROM Customer_reltab C,
PurchaseOrder_reltab P,
LineItems_reltab L
WHERE C.CustNo = P.CustNo
AND P.PONo = L.PONo
AND P.PONo = 1001;

Example A–10 Get the Total Value of Purchase Orders

SELECT P.PONo, SUM(S.Price * L.Quantity)
FROM PurchaseOrder_reltab P,
LineItems_reltab L,
Stock_reltab S
WHERE P.PONo = L.PONo
AND L.StockNo = S.StockNo
GROUP BY P.PONo;

Example A–11 Get the Purchase Order and Line Item Data for Stock Item 1004
SELECT P.PONo, P.CustNo,
L.StockNo, L.LineItemNo, L.Quantity, L.Discount
FROM PurchaseOrder_reltab P,
LineItems_reltab L
WHERE P.PONo = L.PONo
AND L.StockNo = 1004;

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 Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

Updating Data Under the Relational Model

The application can execute statements like these to update the data:

Example A–12 Update the Quantity for Purchase Order 1001 and Stock Item 1534
UPDATE LineItems_reltab
SET Quantity = 20
WHERE PONo = 1001
AND StockNo = 1534;

Deleting Data Under the Relational Model

The application can execute statements similar to Example A–13 to delete data.

Example A–13 Delete Purchase Order 1001 under the Relational Model
DELETE
FROM LineItems_reltab
WHERE PONo = 1001;

DELETE
FROM PurchaseOrder_reltab
WHERE PONo = 1001;

Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

The object-relational approach begins with the same entity relationships as in "Entities
and Relationships" on page A-2. Viewing these from the object-oriented perspective, as
in the following class diagram, allows us to translate more of the real-world structure
into the database schema.

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-7

Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

Figure A–2 Class Diagram for Purchase Order Application

Customer has Phone

CustNo 1 0 . . 10 Number
CustName
has
1 1 Address
1 Street
City
State

places
Zip

1
*
Purchase Order
PONo
OrderDate ShipTo
ShipDate *
getPONo()
sumLineItems()

1
contains

*
Line Item refers to Stock Item
LineItemNo StockNo
1 1 Price
TaxRate

Instead of breaking up addresses or multiple phone numbers into unrelated columns

in relational tables, the object-relational approach defines types to represent an entire
address and an entire list of phone numbers. Similarly, the object-relational approach
uses nested tables to keep line items with their purchase orders instead of storing them
separately.
The main entities—customers, stock, and purchase orders—become object types.
Object references are used to express some of the relationships among them. Collection
types—varrays and nested tables—are used to model multi-valued attributes.

Note: This appendix implements an object-relational interface by

building an object-relational schema from scratch. On this
approach, we create object tables for data storage. Alternatively,
instead of object tables, you can use object views to implement an
object-relational interface to existing data stored in relational tables.
Chapter 5 discusses object views.

Defining Types
You create an object type with a CREATE TYPE statement. For example, the following
statement creates the type StockItem_objtyp:

Example A–14 Creating the StockItem_objtyp Object

CREATE TYPE StockItem_objtyp AS OBJECT (
StockNo NUMBER,
Price NUMBER,

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 Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

TaxRate NUMBER
);
/

Instances of type StockItem_objtyp are objects representing the stock items that
customers order. They have three numeric attributes. StockNo is the primary key.
The order in which you define types can make a difference. Ideally, you want to wait
to define types that refer to other types until you have defined the other types they
refer to.
For example, the type LineItem_objtyp refers to, and thus presupposes,
StockItem_objtyp by containing an attribute that is a REF to objects of
StockItem_objtyp. You can see this in the statement that creates the type
LineItem_objtyp:

Example A–15 Creating the LineItem_objtyp Object

CREATE TYPE LineItem_objtyp AS OBJECT (
LineItemNo NUMBER,
Stock_ref REF StockItem_objtyp,
Quantity NUMBER,
Discount NUMBER
);
/

Instances of type LineItem_objtyp are objects that represent line items. They have
three numeric attributes and one REF attribute. The LineItem_objtyp models the
line item entity and includes an object reference to the corresponding stock object.
Sometimes the web of references among types makes it difficult or impossible to avoid
creating a type before all the types that it presupposes are created. To deal with this
sort of situation, you can create what is called an incomplete type to use as a
placeholder for other types that you want to create to refer to. Then, when you have
created the other types, you can come back and replace the incomplete type with a
complete one.
For example, if we had needed to create LineItem_objtyp before we created
StockItem_objtyp, we could have used a statement like the following to create
LineItem_objtyp as an incomplete type:
CREATE TYPE LineItem_objtyp;
The form of the CREATE TYPE statement used to create an incomplete type lacks that
phrase AS OBJECT and also lacks the specification of attributes.
To replace an incomplete type with a complete definition, include the phrase OR
REPLACE as shown in the following example:

Example A–16 Replacing the LineItem_objtyp Object

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE LineItem_objtyp AS OBJECT (
LineItemNo NUMBER,
Stock_ref REF StockItem_objtyp,
Quantity NUMBER,
Discount NUMBER
);
/

It is never wrong to include the words OR REPLACE, even if you have no incomplete
type to replace.

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-9

Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

Now create the remaining types we need for the schema. The following statement
defines an array type for the list of phone numbers:

Example A–17 Creating the PhoneList_vartyp Type

CREATE TYPE PhoneList_vartyp AS VARRAY(10) OF VARCHAR2(20);
/

Any data unit, or instance, of type PhoneList_vartyp is a varray of up to 10

telephone numbers, each represented by a data item of type VARCHAR2.
Either a varray or a nested table could be used to contain a list of phone numbers. In
this case, the list is the set of contact phone numbers for a single customer. A varray is
a better choice than a nested table for the following reasons:
■ The order of the numbers might be important: varrays are ordered while nested
tables are unordered.
■ The number of phone numbers for a specific customer is small. Varrays force you
to specify a maximum number of elements (10 in this case) in advance. They use
storage more efficiently than nested tables, which have no special size limitations.
■ You can query a nested table but not a varray. But there is no reason to query the
phone number list, so using a nested table offers no benefit.
In general, if ordering and bounds are not important design considerations, then
designers can use the following rule of thumb for deciding between varrays and
nested tables: If you need to query the collection, then use nested tables; if you intend
to retrieve the collection as a whole, then use varrays.

See Also: Chapter 8, "Design Considerations for Oracle Objects"

for more information about the design considerations for varrays
and nested tables

The following statement defines the object type Address_objtyp to represent

addresses:

Example A–18 Creating the Address_objtyp Object

CREATE TYPE Address_objtyp AS OBJECT (
Street VARCHAR2(200),
City VARCHAR2(200),
State CHAR(2),
Zip VARCHAR2(20)
)
/

All of the attributes of an address are character strings, representing the usual parts of
a simplified mailing address.
The following statement defines the object type Customer_objtyp, which uses other
object types as building blocks.

Example A–19 Creating the Customer_objtyp Object

CREATE TYPE Customer_objtyp AS OBJECT (
CustNo NUMBER,
CustName VARCHAR2(200),
Address_obj Address_objtyp,
PhoneList_var PhoneList_vartyp,

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 Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

ORDER MEMBER FUNCTION

compareCustOrders(x IN Customer_objtyp) RETURN INTEGER
) NOT FINAL;
/

Instances of the type Customer_objtyp are objects that represent blocks of

information about specific customers. The attributes of a Customer_objtyp object
are a number, a character string, an Address_objtyp object, and a varray of type
PhoneList_vartyp.
The clause NOT FINAL enables us to create subtypes of the customer type later if we
wish. By default, types are created as FINAL, which means that the type cannot be
further specialized by deriving subtypes from it. We define a subtype of Customer_
objtyp for a more specialized kind of customer later in this appendix.
Every Customer_objtyp object also has an associated order method, one of the two
types of comparison methods. Whenever Oracle needs to compare two Customer_
objtyp objects, it implicitly invokes the compareCustOrders method to do so.

Note: The PL/SQL to implement the comparison method appears

in "The compareCustOrders Method" on page A-14.

The two types of comparison methods are map methods and order methods. This
application uses one of each for purposes of illustration.
An ORDER method must be called for every two objects being compared, whereas a
map method is called once for each object. In general, when sorting a set of objects, the
number of times an ORDER method is called is more than the number of times a map
method would be called.

See Also:
■ Chapter 2, "Basic Components of Oracle Objects" for more
information about map and order methods
■ Oracle Database PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference for details
about how to use pragma declarations

The following statement defines a type for a nested table of line items. Each purchase
order will use an instance of this nested table type to contain the line items for that
purchase order:

Example A–20 Creating the LineItemList_ntabtyp Type

CREATE TYPE LineItemList_ntabtyp AS TABLE OF LineItem_objtyp;
/

An instance of this type is a nested table object (in other words, a nested table), each
row of which contains an object of type LineItem_objtyp. A nested table of line
items is a better choice to represent the multivalued line item list than a varray of
LineItem_objtyp objects, because:
■ Most applications will need to query the contents of line items. This can be done
using SQL if the line items are stored in a nested table but not if they are stored in
a varray.
■ If an application needs to index on line item data, this can be done with nested
tables but not with varrays.

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-11

Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

■ The order in which line items are stored is probably not important, and a query
can order them by line item number when necessary.
■ There is no practical upper bound on the number of line items on a purchase
order. Using a varray requires specifying an arbitrary upper bound on the number
of elements.
The following statement defines the object type PurchaseOrder_objtyp:

Example A–21 Creating the PurchaseOrder_objtyp Object

CREATE TYPE PurchaseOrder_objtyp AUTHID CURRENT_USER AS OBJECT (
PONo NUMBER,
Cust_ref REF Customer_objtyp,
OrderDate DATE,
ShipDate DATE,
LineItemList_ntab LineItemList_ntabtyp,
ShipToAddr_obj Address_objtyp,

MAP MEMBER FUNCTION

getPONo RETURN NUMBER,

MEMBER FUNCTION
sumLineItems RETURN NUMBER
);
/

Instances of type PurchaseOrder_objtyp are objects representing purchase orders.

They have six attributes, including a REF to Customer_objtyp, an Address_
objtyp object, and a nested table of type LineItemList_ntabtyp, which is based
on type LineItem_objtyp. PONo is the primary key and Cust_ref is a foreign key.
Objects of type PurchaseOrder_objtyp have two methods: getPONo and
sumLineItems. One, getPONo, is a map method, one of the two kinds of comparison
methods. A map method returns the relative position of a given record within the
order of records within the object. So, whenever Oracle needs to compare two
PurchaseOrder_objtyp objects, it implicitly calls the getPONo method to do so.
The two pragma declarations provide information to PL/SQL about what sort of
access the two methods need to the database.
The statement does not include the actual PL/SQL programs implementing the
methods getPONo and sumLineItems. Those appear in "Method Definitions" on
page A-12.

Method Definitions
If a type has no methods, its definition consists just of a CREATE TYPE statement.
However, for a type that has methods, you must also define a type body to complete
the definition of the type. You do this with a CREATE TYPE BODY statement. As with
CREATE TYPE, you can include the words OR REPLACE. You must include this phrase
if you are replacing an existing type body with a new one, to change the methods.
The following statement defines the body of the type PurchaseOrder_objtyp. The
statement supplies the PL/SQL programs that implement the type's methods:

Example A–22 Creating the PurchaseOrder_objtyp Type Body

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE BODY PurchaseOrder_objtyp AS

MAP MEMBER FUNCTION getPONo RETURN NUMBER is

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 Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

BEGIN
RETURN PONo;
END;

MEMBER FUNCTION sumLineItems RETURN NUMBER is

i INTEGER;
StockVal StockItem_objtyp;
Total NUMBER := 0;

BEGIN
FOR i in 1..SELF.LineItemList_ntab.COUNT LOOP
UTL_REF.SELECT_OBJECT(LineItemList_ntab(i).Stock_ref,StockVal);
Total := Total + SELF.LineItemList_ntab(i).Quantity * StockVal.Price;
END LOOP;
RETURN Total;
END;
END;
/

The getPONo Method

The getPONo method simply returns the value of the PONo attribute—namely, the
purchase order number—of whatever instance of the type PurchaseOrder_objtyp
that calls the method. Such get methods allow you to avoid reworking code that uses
the object if its internal representation changes.

The sumLineItems Method

The sumLineItems method uses a number of object-relational features:
■ As already noted, the basic function of the sumLineItems method is to return the
sum of the values of the line items of its associated PurchaseOrder_objtyp
object. The keyword SELF, which is implicitly created as a parameter to every
function, lets you refer to that object.
■ The keyword COUNT gives the count of the number of elements in a PL/SQL table
or array. Here, in combination with LOOP, the application iterates through all the
elements in the collection — in this case, the items of the purchase order. In this
way SELF.LineItemList_ntab.COUNT counts the number of elements in the
nested table that match the LineItemList_ntab attribute of the
PurchaseOrder_objtyp object, here represented by SELF.
■ A method from package UTL_REF is used in the implementation. The UTL_REF
methods are necessary because Oracle does not support implicit dereferencing of
REFs within PL/SQL programs. The UTL_REF package provides methods that
operate on object references. Here, the SELECT_OBJECT method is called to obtain
the StockItem_objtyp object corresponding to the Stock_ref.
The AUTHID CURRENT_USER syntax specifies that the PurchaseOrder_objtyp is
defined using invoker rights: the methods are executed under the rights of the current
user, not under the rights of the user who defined the type.
■ The PL/SQL variable StockVal is of type StockItem_objtyp. The UTL_
REF.SELECT_OBJECT sets it to the object whose reference is the following:
(LineItemList_ntab(i).Stock_ref)
This object is the actual stock item referred to in the currently selected line item.
■ Having retrieved the stock item in question, the next step is to compute its cost.
The program refers to the stock item's cost as StockVal.Price, the Price
attribute of the StockItem_objtyp object. But to compute the cost of the item,

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-13

Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

you also need to know the quantity of items ordered. In the application, the term
LineItemList_ntab(i).Quantity represents the Quantity attribute of the
currently selected LineItem_objtyp object.
The remainder of the method program is a loop that sums the values of the line items.
The method returns the total.

The compareCustOrders Method

The following statement defines the compareCustOrders method in the type body
of the Customer_objtyp object type:

Example A–23 Creating the Customer_objtyp Type Body

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE BODY Customer_objtyp AS
ORDER MEMBER FUNCTION
compareCustOrders (x IN Customer_objtyp) RETURN INTEGER IS
BEGIN
RETURN CustNo - x.CustNo;
END;
END;
/

As mentioned earlier, the order method compareCustOrders operation compares

information about two customer orders. It takes another Customer_objtyp object as
an input argument and returns the difference of the two CustNo numbers. The return
value is:
■ a negative number if its own object has a smaller value of CustNo
■ a positive number if its own object has a larger value of CustNo
■ zero if the two objects have the same value of CustNo—in which case both orders
are associated with the same customer.
Whether the return value is positive, negative, or zero signifies the relative order of the
customer numbers. For example, perhaps lower numbers are created earlier in time
than higher numbers. If either of the input arguments (SELF and the explicit
argument) to an ORDER method is NULL, Oracle does not call the ORDER method and
simply treats the result as NULL.
We have now defined all of the object types for the object-relational version of the
purchase order schema. We have not yet created any instances of these types to contain
actual purchase order data, nor have we created any tables in which to store such data.
We show how to do this in the next section.

Creating Object Tables

Creating an object type is not the same as creating a table. Creating a type merely
defines a logical structure; it does not create storage. To use an object-relational
interface to your data, you must create object types whether you intend to store your
data in object tables or leave it in relational tables and access it through object views.
Object views and object tables alike presuppose object types: an object table or object
view is always a table or view of a certain object type. In this respect it is like a
relational column, which always has a specified data type.

See Also: Chapter 5, "Applying an Object Model to Relational

Data" for a discussion of object views

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 Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

Like a relational column, an object table can contain rows of just one kind of thing,
namely, object instances of the same declared type as the table. (And, if the table is
substitutable, it can contain instances of subtypes of its declared type as well.)
Each row in an object table is a single object instance. So, in one sense, an object table
has, or consists of, only a single column of the declared object type. But this is not as
different as it may seem from the case with relational tables. Each row in a relational
table theoretically represents a single entity as well—for example, a customer, in a
relational Customers table. The columns of a relational table store data for attributes
of this entity.
Similarly, in an object table, attributes of the object type map to columns that can be
inserted into and selected from. The major difference is that, in an object table, data is
stored—and can be retrieved—in the structure defined by the table's type, making it
possible for you to retrieve an entire, multilevel structure of data with a very simple
query.

The Object Table Customer_objtab

The following statement defines an object table Customer_objtab to hold objects of
type Customer_objtyp:

Example A–24 Creating the Customer_objtab Table

CREATE TABLE Customer_objtab OF Customer_objtyp (CustNo PRIMARY KEY)
OBJECT IDENTIFIER IS PRIMARY KEY;

Unlike with relational tables, when you create an object table, you specify a data type
for it, namely, the type of objects it will contain.
The table has a column for each attribute of Customer_objtyp, namely:
CustNo NUMBER /* Primary key */
CustName VARCHAR2(200)
Address_obj Address_objtyp
PhoneList_var PhoneList_vartyp

See Example A–18, "Creating the Address_objtyp Object" on page A-10 and
Example A–17, "Creating the PhoneList_vartyp Type" on page A-10 for the definitions
of those types.

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-15

Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

Figure A–3 Object Relational Representation of Table Customer_objtab

Table CUSTOMER_OBJTAB (of CUSTOMER_OBJTYP)

CUSTNO CUSTNAME ADDRESS_OBJ PHONELIST_VAR

Number Text Object Type Varray

NUMBER VARCHAR2(200) ADDRESS_OBJTYP PHONELIST_VARTYP

PK

Varray PHONELIST_VAR (of PHONELIST_VARTYP)

(PHONE)

Number
NUMBER

Column Object ADDRESS_OBJ (of ADDRESS_OBJTYP)

STREET CITY STATE ZIP

Text Text Text Number

VARCHAR2(200) VARCHAR2(200) CHAR(2) VARCHAR2(20)

PK

Object Datatypes as a Template for Object Tables

Because there is a type Customer_objtyp, you could create numerous object tables
of the same type. For example, you could create an object table Customer_objtab2
also of type Customer_objtyp.
You can introduce variations when creating multiple tables. The statement that created
Customer_objtab defined a primary key constraint on the CustNo column. This
constraint applies only to this object table. Another object table of the same type might
not have this constraint.

Object Identifiers and References

Customer_objtab contains customer objects, represented as row objects. Oracle
allows row objects to be referenceable, meaning that other row objects or relational
rows may reference a row object using its object identifier (OID). For example, a
purchase order row object may reference a customer row object using its object
reference. The object reference is a system-generated value represented by the type
REF and is based on the row object's unique OID.
Oracle requires every row object to have a unique OID. You may specify the unique
OID value to be system-generated or specify the row object's primary key to serve as
its unique OID. You indicate this when you execute the CREATE TABLE statement by
specifying OBJECT IDENTIFIER IS PRIMARY KEY or OBJECT IDENTIFIER IS
SYSTEM GENERATED. The latter is the default. Using the primary key as the object
identifier can be more efficient in cases where the primary key value is smaller than

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 Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

the default 16 byte system-generated identifier. For our example, the primary key is
used as the row object identifier.

Object Tables with Embedded Objects

Note that the Address_obj column of Customer_objtab contains Address_
objtyp objects. As this shows, an object type may have attributes that are themselves
object types. Object instances of the declared type of an object table are called row
objects because one object instance occupies an entire row of the table. But embedded
objects such as those in the Address_obj column are referred to as column objects.
These differ from row objects in that they do not take up an entire row. Consequently,
they are not referenceable—they cannot be the target of a REF. Also, they can be NULL.
The attributes of Address_objtyp objects are of built-in types. They are scalar rather
than complex (that is, they are not object types with attributes of their own), and so are
called leaf-level attributes to reflect that they represent an end to branching. Columns
for Address_objtyp objects and their attributes are created in the object table
Customer_objtab. You can refer or navigate to these columns using the dot
notation. For example, if you want to build an index on the Zip column, you can refer
to it as Address.Zip.
The PhoneList_var column contains varrays of type PhoneList_vartyp. We
defined each object of type PhoneList_vartyp as a varray of up to 10 telephone
numbers, each represented by a data item of type VARCHAR2. See Example A–17 on
page A-10.
Because each varray of type PhoneList_vartyp can contain no more than 200
characters (10 x 20), plus a small amount of overhead, Oracle stores the varray as a
single data unit in the PhoneList_var column. Oracle stores varrays that do not
exceed 4000 bytes in inline BLOBs, which means that a portion of the varray value
could potentially be stored outside the table.

The Object Table Stock_objtab

The next statement creates an object table for StockItem_objtyp objects:

Example A–25 Creating the Stock_objtab Table

CREATE TABLE Stock_objtab OF StockItem_objtyp (StockNo PRIMARY KEY)
OBJECT IDENTIFIER IS PRIMARY KEY;

Each row of the table is a StockItem_objtyp object having three numeric attributes:
StockNo NUMBER
Price NUMBER
TaxRate NUMBER

Oracle creates a column for each attribute. The CREATE TABLE statement places a
primary key constraint on the StockNo column and specifies that the primary key be
used as the row object's identifier.

The Object Table PurchaseOrder_objtab

The next statement defines an object table for PurchaseOrder_objtyp objects:

Example A–26 Creating the PurchaseOrder_objtab Table

CREATE TABLE PurchaseOrder_objtab OF PurchaseOrder_objtyp ( /* Line 1 */
PRIMARY KEY (PONo), /* Line 2 */
FOREIGN KEY (Cust_ref) REFERENCES Customer_objtab) /* Line 3 */

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-17

Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

OBJECT IDENTIFIER IS PRIMARY KEY /* Line 4 */

NESTED TABLE LineItemList_ntab STORE AS PoLine_ntab ( /* Line 5 */
(PRIMARY KEY(NESTED_TABLE_ID, LineItemNo)) /* Line 6 */
ORGANIZATION INDEX COMPRESS) /* Line 7 */
RETURN AS LOCATOR /* Line 8 */
/

The preceding CREATE TABLE statement creates the PurchaseOrder_objtab object

table. The significance of each line is as follows:

Line 1:
CREATE TABLE PurchaseOrder_objtab OF PurchaseOrder_objtyp (

This line indicates that each row of the table is a PurchaseOrder_objtyp object.
Attributes of PurchaseOrder_objtyp objects are:
PONo NUMBER
Cust_ref REF Customer_objtyp
OrderDate DATE
ShipDate DATE
LineItemList_ntab LineItemList_ntabtyp
ShipToAddr_obj Address_objtyp

See Example A–19, "Creating the Customer_objtyp Object" on page A-10 and
Example A–20, "Creating the LineItemList_ntabtyp Type" on page A-11 for the
definitions of those types.

Figure A–4 Object Relational Representation of Table PurchaseOrder_objtab

Table PURCHASEORDER_OBJTAB (of PURCHASEORDER_OBJTYP)

PONO CUST_REF ORDERDATE SHIPDATE LINEITEMLIST_NTAB SHIPTOADDR_OBJ

Number Reference Date Date Nested Table Object Type

NUMBER CUSTOMER_ DATE DATE LINEITEMLIST_ ADDRESS_
OBJTYP NTABTYP OBJTYP

PK FK

MEMBER FUNCTION getPONO RETURN NUMBER

MEMBER FUNCTION SumLineItems RETURN NUMBER

Reference
to a row of
the table

Table CUSTOMER_OBJTAB (of CUSTOMER_OBJTYP)

CUSTNO CUSTNAME ADDRESS_OBJ PHONELIST_VAR

Number Text Object Type Varray

NUMBER VARCHAR2(200) ADDRESS_OBJTYP PHONELIST_VARTYP

PK

Line 2:
PRIMARY KEY (PONo),

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 Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

This line specifies that the PONo attribute is the primary key for the table.

Line 3:
FOREIGN KEY (Cust_ref) REFERENCES Customer_objtab)
This line specifies a referential constraint on the Cust_ref column. This referential
constraint is similar to those specified for relational tables. When there is no constraint,
the REF column permits you to reference any row object. However, in this case, the
Cust_ref REFs can refer only to row objects in the Customer_objtab object table.

Line 4:
OBJECT IDENTIFIER IS PRIMARY KEY
This line indicates that the primary key of the PurchaseOrder_objtab object table
be used as the row's OID.

Line 5 - 8:
NESTED TABLE LineItemList_ntab STORE AS PoLine_ntab (
(PRIMARY KEY(NESTED_TABLE_ID, LineItemNo))
ORGANIZATION INDEX COMPRESS)
RETURN AS LOCATOR

These lines pertain to the storage specification and properties of the nested table
column, LineItemList_ntab. The rows of a nested table are stored in a separate
storage table. This storage table cannot be directly queried by the user but can be
referenced in DDL statements for maintenance purposes. A hidden column in the
storage table, called the NESTED_TABLE_ID, matches the rows with their
corresponding parent row. All the elements in the nested table belonging to a
particular parent have the same NESTED_TABLE_ID value. For example, all the
elements of the nested table of a given row of PurchaseOrder_objtab have the
same value of NESTED_TABLE_ID. The nested table elements that belong to a
different row of PurchaseOrder_objtab have a different value of NESTED_TABLE_
ID.
In the preceding CREATE TABLE example, Line 5 indicates that the rows of
LineItemList_ntab nested table are to be stored in a separate table (referred to as
the storage table) named PoLine_ntab. The STORE AS clause also permits you to
specify the constraint and storage specification for the storage table. In this example,
Line 7 indicates that the storage table is an index-organized table (IOT). In general,
storing nested table rows in an IOT is beneficial because it provides clustering of rows
belonging to the same parent. The specification of COMPRESS on the IOT saves storage
space because, if you do not specify COMPRESS, the NESTED_TABLE_ID part of the
IOT's key is repeated for every row of a parent row object. If, however, you specify
COMPRESS, the NESTED_TABLE_ID is stored only once for each parent row object.

See Also: "Nested Table Storage" on page 8-11 for information

about the benefits of organizing a nested table as an IOT, specifying
nested table compression, and for more information about nested
table storage in general

In Line 6, the specification of NESTED_TABLE_ID and LineItemNo attribute as the

primary key for the storage table serves two purposes: first, it specifies the key for the
IOT; second, it enforces uniqueness of the column LineItemNo of the nested table
within each row of the parent table. By including the LineItemNo column in the key,

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-19

Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

the statement ensures that the LineItemNo column contains distinct values within
each purchase order.
Line 8 indicates that the nested table, LineItemList_ntab, is returned in the locator
form when retrieved. If you do not specify LOCATOR, the default is VALUE, which
causes the entire nested table to be returned instead of just a locator to it. If a nested
table collection contains many elements, it is inefficient to return the entire nested table
whenever the containing row object or the column is selected.
Specifying that the nested table's locator is returned enables Oracle to send the client
only a locator to the actual collection value. An application can find whether a fetched
nested table is in the locator or value form by calling the OCICollIsLocator or
UTL_COLL.IS_LOCATOR interfaces. Once you know that the locator has been
returned, the application can query using the locator to fetch only the desired subset of
row elements in the nested table. This locator-based retrieval of the nested table rows
is based on the original statement's snapshot, to preserve the value or copy semantics
of the nested table. That is, when the locator is used to fetch a subset of row elements
in the nested table, the nested table snapshot reflects the nested table when the locator
was first retrieved.
Recall the implementation of the sumLineItems method of PurchaseOrder_
objtyp in "Method Definitions" on page A-12. That implementation assumed that the
LineItemList_ntab nested table would be returned as a VALUE. In order to handle
large nested tables more efficiently, and to take advantage of the fact that the nested
table in the PurchaseOrder_objtab is returned as a locator, the sumLineItems
method must be rewritten as follows:

Example A–27 Replacing the PurchaseOrder_objtyp Type Body

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE BODY PurchaseOrder_objtyp AS

MAP MEMBER FUNCTION getPONo RETURN NUMBER is

BEGIN
RETURN PONo;
END;

MEMBER FUNCTION sumLineItems RETURN NUMBER IS

i INTEGER;
StockVal StockItem_objtyp;
Total NUMBER := 0;

BEGIN
IF (UTL_COLL.IS_LOCATOR(LineItemList_ntab)) -- check for locator
THEN
SELECT SUM(L.Quantity * L.Stock_ref.Price) INTO Total
FROM TABLE(CAST(LineItemList_ntab AS LineItemList_ntabtyp)) L;
ELSE
FOR i in 1..SELF.LineItemList_ntab.COUNT LOOP
UTL_REF.SELECT_OBJECT(LineItemList_ntab(i).Stock_ref,StockVal);
Total := Total + SELF.LineItemList_ntab(i).Quantity *
StockVal.Price;
END LOOP;
END IF;
RETURN Total;
END;
END;
/

The rewritten sumLineItems method checks whether the nested table attribute,
LineItemList_ntab, is returned as a locator using the UTL_COLL.IS_LOCATOR

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 Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

function. If the condition evaluates to TRUE, the nested table locator is queried using
the TABLE expression.

Note: The CAST expression is currently required in such TABLE

expressions to tell the SQL compilation engine the actual type of the
collection attribute (or parameter or variable) so that it can compile
the query.

The querying of the nested table locator results in more efficient processing of the large
line item list of a purchase order. The previous code that iterates over the
LineItemList_ntab is kept to deal with the case where the nested table is returned
as a VALUE.
After the table is created, the ALTER TABLE statement is issued to add the SCOPE FOR
constraint on a REF. The SCOPE FOR constraint on a REF is not allowed in a CREATE
TABLE statement. To specify that Stock_ref can reference only the object table
Stock_objtab, issue the following ALTER TABLE statement on the PoLine_ntab
storage table:

Example A–28 Adding the SCOPE FOR Constraint

ALTER TABLE PoLine_ntab
ADD (SCOPE FOR (Stock_ref) IS stock_objtab) ;

This statement specifies that the Stock_ref column of the nested table is scoped to
Stock_objtab. This indicates that the values stored in this column must be
references to row objects in Stock_objtab. The SCOPE constraint is different from
the referential constraint in that the SCOPE constraint has no dependency on the
referenced object. For example, any referenced row object in Stock_objtab may be
deleted, even if it is referenced in the Stock_ref column of the nested table. Such a
deletion renders the corresponding reference in the nested table a DANGLING REF.

Figure A–5 Object Relational Representation of Nested Table LineItemList_ntab

Column LINEITEMLIST_NTAB (of LINEITEMLIST_NTABTYP

(as table of LINEITEM_OBJTYP))
LINEITEMNO STOCK_REF QUANTITY DISCOUNT

Number Reference Number Number

NUMBER STOCKITEM_OBJTYP NUMBER NUMBER

Refers to a row
of the table

Table STOCK_OBJTAB (of STOCKITEM_OBJTYP)

STOCKNO PRICE TAXRATE

Number Number Number

NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER

PK

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-21

Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

Oracle does not support a referential constraint specification for storage tables. In this
situation, specifying the SCOPE clause for a REF column is useful. In general,
specifying scope or referential constraints for REF columns has several benefits:
■ It saves storage space because it allows Oracle to store just the row object's unique
identifier as the REF value in the column.
■ It enables an index to be created on the storage table's REF column.
■ It allows Oracle to rewrite queries containing dereferences of these REFs as joins
involving the referenced table.
At this point, all of the tables for the purchase order application are in place. The next
section shows how to operate on these tables.

Figure A–6 Object Relational Representation of Table PurchaseOrder_objtab

Table PURCHASEORDER_OBJTAB (of PURCHASEORDER_OBJTYP)

PONO CUST_REF ORDERDATE SHIPDATE LINEITEMLIST_NTAB SHIPTOADDR_OBJ

Number Reference Date Date Nested Table Object Type

NUMBER CUSTOMER_ DATE DATE LINEITEMLIST_ ADDRESS_
OBJTYP NTABTYP OBJTYP

PK FK

MEMBER FUNCTION getPONO RETURN NUMBER

MEMBER FUNCTION SumLineItems RETURNNUMBER

Column Object
of the defined type

Column Object SHIPTOADDR_OBJ (of ADDR_OBJTYP)

STREET CITY STATE ZIP

Text Text Text Number

VARCHAR2(200) VARCHAR2(200) CHAR(2) VARCHAR2(20)

Inserting Values
Here is how to insert the same data into the object tables that we inserted earlier into
relational tables. Notice how some of the values incorporate calls to the constructors
for object types, to create instances of the types.

Example A–29 Inserting Values in Stock_objtab

INSERT INTO Stock_objtab VALUES(1004, 6750.00, 2) ;
INSERT INTO Stock_objtab VALUES(1011, 4500.23, 2) ;
INSERT INTO Stock_objtab VALUES(1534, 2234.00, 2) ;
INSERT INTO Stock_objtab VALUES(1535, 3456.23, 2) ;

Example A–30 Inserting Values in Customer_objtab

INSERT INTO Customer_objtab
VALUES (
1, 'Jean Nance',

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 Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

Address_objtyp('2 Avocet Drive', 'Redwood Shores', 'CA', '95054'),

PhoneList_vartyp('415-555-1212')
) ;

INSERT INTO Customer_objtab

VALUES (
2, 'John Nike',
Address_objtyp('323 College Drive', 'Edison', 'NJ', '08820'),
PhoneList_vartyp('609-555-1212','201-555-1212')
) ;

Example A–31 Inserting Values in PurchaseOrder_objtab

INSERT INTO PurchaseOrder_objtab
SELECT 1001, REF(C),
SYSDATE, '10-MAY-1999',
LineItemList_ntabtyp(),
NULL
FROM Customer_objtab C
WHERE C.CustNo = 1 ;

The preceding statement constructs a PurchaseOrder_objtyp object with the

following attributes:
PONo 1001
Cust_ref REF to customer number 1
OrderDate SYSDATE
ShipDate 10-MAY-1999
LineItemList_ntab an empty LineItem_ntabtyp
ShipToAddr_obj NULL

The statement uses a query to construct a REF to the row object in the Customer_
objtab object table that has a CustNo value of 1.
The following statement uses a TABLE expression to identify the nested table as the
target for the insertion, namely the nested table in the LineItemList_ntab column
of the row object in the PurchaseOrder_objtab table that has a PONo value of 1001.

Example A–32 Inserting Values in LineItemList_ntab

INSERT INTO TABLE (
SELECT P.LineItemList_ntab
FROM PurchaseOrder_objtab P
WHERE P.PONo = 1001
)
SELECT 01, REF(S), 12, 0
FROM Stock_objtab S
WHERE S.StockNo = 1534 ;

The preceding statement inserts a line item into the nested table identified by the
TABLE expression. The inserted line item contains a REF to the row object with a
StockNo value of 1534 in the object table Stock_objtab.
The following statements follow the same pattern as the previous ones:

Example A–33 Inserting Values in PurchaseOrder_objtab and LineItemList_ntab

INSERT INTO PurchaseOrder_objtab
SELECT 2001, REF(C),
SYSDATE, '20-MAY-1997',
LineItemList_ntabtyp(),

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-23

Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

Address_objtyp('55 Madison Ave','Madison','WI','53715')

FROM Customer_objtab C
WHERE C.CustNo = 2 ;

INSERT INTO TABLE (

SELECT P.LineItemList_ntab
FROM PurchaseOrder_objtab P
WHERE P.PONo = 1001
)
SELECT 02, REF(S), 10, 10
FROM Stock_objtab S
WHERE S.StockNo = 1535 ;

INSERT INTO TABLE (

SELECT P.LineItemList_ntab
FROM PurchaseOrder_objtab P
WHERE P.PONo = 2001
)
SELECT 10, REF(S), 1, 0
FROM Stock_objtab S
WHERE S.StockNo = 1004 ;

INSERT INTO TABLE (

SELECT P.LineItemList_ntab
FROM PurchaseOrder_objtab P
WHERE P.PONo = 2001
)
VALUES(11, (SELECT REF(S)
FROM Stock_objtab S
WHERE S.StockNo = 1011), 2, 1) ;

Querying
The following query statement implicitly invokes a comparison method. It shows how
Oracle orders objects of type PurchaseOrder_objtyp using that type's comparison
method:

Example A–34 Query Purchase Orders

SELECT p.PONo
FROM PurchaseOrder_objtab p
ORDER BY VALUE(p) ;

Oracle invokes the map method getPONo for each PurchaseOrder_objtyp object
in the selection. Because that method returns the object's PONo attribute, the selection
produces a list of purchase order numbers in ascending numerical order.
The following queries correspond to the queries executed under the relational model.

Example A–35 Query Customer and Line Item Data for Purchase Order 1001
SELECT DEREF(p.Cust_ref), p.ShipToAddr_obj, p.PONo,
p.OrderDate, LineItemList_ntab
FROM PurchaseOrder_objtab p
WHERE p.PONo = 1001 ;

Example A–36 Query Total Value of Each Purchase Order

SELECT p.PONo, p.sumLineItems()
FROM PurchaseOrder_objtab p ;

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 Implementing the Schema on the Object-Relational Model

Example A–37 Query Purchase Order and Line Item Data for Stock Item 1004
SELECT po.PONo, po.Cust_ref.CustNo,
CURSOR (
SELECT *
FROM TABLE (po.LineItemList_ntab) L
WHERE L.Stock_ref.StockNo = 1004
)
FROM PurchaseOrder_objtab po ;

The preceding query returns a nested cursor for the set of LineItem_obj objects
selected from the nested table. The application can fetch from the nested cursor to get
the individual LineItem_obj objects. The query can also be expressed by unnesting
the nested set with respect to the outer result:
SELECT po.PONo, po.Cust_ref.CustNo, L.*
FROM PurchaseOrder_objtab po, TABLE (po.LineItemList_ntab) L
WHERE L.Stock_ref.StockNo = 1004 ;

The preceding query returns the result set as a flattened form (or First Normal Form).
This type of query is useful when accessing Oracle collection columns from relational
tools and APIs, such as ODBC. In the preceding unnesting example, only the rows of
the PurchaseOrder_objtab object table that have any LineItemList_ntab rows
are returned. To fetch all rows of the PurchaseOrder_objtab table, regardless of the
presence of any rows in their corresponding LineItemList_ntab, then the (+)
operator is required:
SELECT po.PONo, po.Cust_ref.CustNo, L.*
FROM PurchaseOrder_objtab po, TABLE (po.LineItemList_ntab) (+) L
WHERE L.Stock_ref.StockNo = 1004 ;

In Example A–38, the request requires querying the rows of all LineItemList_ntab
nested tables of all PurchaseOrder_objtab rows. Again, unnesting is required:

Example A–38 Query Average Discount across all Line Items of all Purchase Orders
SELECT AVG(L.DISCOUNT)
FROM PurchaseOrder_objtab po, TABLE (po.LineItemList_ntab) L ;

Deleting
The following example has the same effect as the two deletions needed in the
relational case shown in Example A–13 on page A-4. In Example A–39, Oracle deletes
the entire purchase order object, including its line items, in a single SQL operation. In
the relational case, line items for the purchase order must be deleted from the line
items table, and the purchase order must be separately deleted from the purchase
orders table.

Note: I f you are performing the SQL statements in this sample,

do not execute the DELETE statement in Example A–39 because the
purchase order is needed in the following examples.

Example A–39 Delete Purchase Order 1001 in an Object-Relational Model

DELETE
FROM PurchaseOrder_objtab
WHERE PONo = 1001 ;

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-25

Evolving Object Types

Evolving Object Types

Even a completed, fully built application tends to be a work in progress. Sometimes
requirements change, forcing a change an underlying object model or schema to adapt
it to new circumstances, and sometimes there are ways to improve an object model so
that it does a better job of what it was originally intended to do.
Suppose that, after living with our object-relational application for a while, we
discover some ways that we could improve the design. In particular, suppose that we
discover that users almost always want to see a history of purchases when they bring
up the record for a customer. To do this with the present object model requires a join
on the two tables Customer_objtab and PurchaseOrder_objtab that hold
information about customers and purchase orders. We decide that a better design
would be to provide access to data about related purchase orders directly from the
customers table.
One way to do this is to change the Customer_objtyp so that information about a
customer's purchase orders is included right in the object instance that represents that
customer. In other words, we want to add an attribute for purchase order information
to Customer_objtyp. To hold information about multiple purchase orders, the
attribute must be a collection type—a nested table.
Adding an attribute is one of several ways that you can alter, or evolve, an object type.
When you evolve a type, Oracle applies your changes to the type itself and to all its
dependent schema objects, including subtypes of the type, other object types that have
the altered type as an attribute, and tables and columns of the altered type.
To change Customer_objtyp to add an attribute for a nested table of purchase
orders, several steps are needed:
1. Create a new type for a nested table of purchase orders
2. Alter Customer_objtyp to add a new attribute of the new type
3. In the Customer_objtab object table, name and scope the storage tables for the
newly added nested tables
– Upgrading the Customer_objtab object table for the new attribute actually
adds two levels of nested tables, one inside the other, because a purchase order
itself contains a nested table of line items.
– Both the purchase orders nested table and the line items nested table need to
be scoped so that they can contain primary key-based REFs. More on this in
the next section.

Figure A–7 Nested Tables in the Customer Object Type

Customer

1
N Purchase Order

1
N Line Item

When we are done with the preceding steps, information about customers and
purchase orders will be more logically related in our model, and we will be able to
query the customers table for all information about customers, purchase orders, and

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 Evolving Object Types

line items. We will also be able to insert a new purchase order for a new customer with
a single INSERT statement on the customers table.

Adding an Attribute to the Customer Type

Before we can add a nested table of purchase orders as an attribute of Customer_
objtyp, we need to define a type for this sort of nested table. The following statement
does this:

Example A–40 Create PurchaseOrderList_ntabtyp

CREATE TYPE PurchaseOrderList_ntabtyp AS TABLE OF PurchaseOrder_objtyp;
/

Now we can use an ALTER TYPE statement to add an attribute of this type to
Customer_objtyp:

Example A–41 Alter Customer_objtyp

ALTER TYPE Customer_objtyp
ADD ATTRIBUTE (PurchaseOrderList_ntab PurchaseOrderList_ntabtyp)
CASCADE;

If a type being altered has dependent types or tables, an ALTER TYPE statement on the
type needs to specify either CASCADE or INVALIDATE to say how to apply the change
to the dependents.
■ CASCADE performs validation checks on the dependents before applying a type
change. These checks confirm that the change does not entail doing something
illegal, such as dropping an attribute that is being used as a partitioning key of a
table. If a dependent fails validation, the type change aborts. On the other hand, if
all dependents validate successfully, the system goes ahead with whatever
changes to metadata and data are required to propagate the change to the type.
These can include automatically adding and dropping columns, creating storage
tables for nested tables, and so forth.
■ The INVALIDATE option skips the preliminary validation checks and directly
applies the type change to dependents. These are then validated the next time that
they are accessed. Altering a type this way is saves the time required to do the
validations, but if a dependent table cannot be validated later when someone tries
to access it, its data cannot be accessed until the table is made to pass the
validation.
We need to add scope for a REF column in each of the new nested tables of purchase
orders and line items that are added to the Customer_objtab table. For convenience,
first we rename the new tables from system-generated names to recognizable names.
Then, using the names we have given them, we can alter the storage tables to add
scope for their REF columns.
The reason we must do all this is that, in order for a column to store REFs to objects in
a table that bases its object identifiers on the primary key, the column must be scoped
to that table or have a referential constraint placed on it. Scoping a column to a
particular table declares that all REFs in the column are REFs to objects in that table.
This declaration is necessary because a primary key-based object identifier is
guaranteed unique only in the context of the particular table: it may not be unique
across all tables. If you try to insert a primary key-based REF, or user-defined REF, into
an unscoped column, you will get an error similar to:
cannot INSERT object view REF or user-defined REF

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-27

Evolving Object Types

Line items contain a REF to objects in table Stock_objtab, whose object identifier
uses the table's primary key. This is why we had to add scope for the REF column in
the storage table for the line items nested table in table PurchaseOrder_objtab
after we created that table. Now we have to do it again for the new nested table of line
items in table Customer_objtab.
We have to do the same again for the new nested table of purchase orders we are
adding in table Customer_objtab: a purchase order references a customer in the
table Customer_objtab, and object identifiers in this table are primary-key based as
well.
Using the following statement, we determine the names of the system-generated tables
so they can be renamed:
SELECT table_name, parent_table_name, parent_table_column FROM user_nested_tables;

The output is similar to the following:

TABLE_NAME PARENT_TABLE_NAME PARENT_TABLE_COLUMN
----------------------------- ----------------------------- ----------------------
SYSNTQOFArJyBTHu6iOMMKU4wHw== CUSTOMER_OBJTAB PURCHASEORDERLIST_NTAB
POLINE_NTAB PURCHASEORDER_OBJTAB LINEITEMLIST_NTAB
SYSNTZqu6IQItR++UAtgz1rMB8A== SYSNTQOFArJyBTHu6iOMMKU4wHw== LINEITEMLIST_NTAB

For convenience, rename the system-generated nested tables to appropriate names. For
example, using the system-generated names in the previous sample output:
ALTER TABLE "SYSNTQOFArJyBTHu6iOMMKU4wHw==" RENAME TO PO_List_nt;
ALTER TABLE "SYSNTZqu6IQItR++UAtgz1rMB8A==" RENAME TO Items_List_nt;

The process of renaming the system-generated nested tables can also be done
automatically with the following PL/SQL procedure:
DECLARE
nested_table_1 VARCHAR2(30);
nested_table_2 VARCHAR2(30);
cust_obj_table VARCHAR2(30) := 'CUSTOMER_OBJTAB';
BEGIN
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE ' SELECT table_name FROM user_nested_tables
WHERE parent_table_name = :1 ' INTO nested_table_1 USING cust_obj_table;
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE ' SELECT table_name FROM user_nested_tables
WHERE parent_table_name = :1 ' INTO nested_table_2 USING nested_table_1;
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'ALTER table "'|| nested_table_1 ||'" RENAME TO PO_List_nt';
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'ALTER table "'|| nested_table_2 ||'" RENAME TO Items_List_nt';
END;
/

The new storage tables are named PO_List_nt and Items_List_nt. The following
statements scope the REF columns in these tables to specific tables:

Example A–42 Add Scope for REF to Nested Tables

ALTER TABLE PO_List_nt ADD (SCOPE FOR (Cust_Ref) IS Customer_objtab);
ALTER TABLE Items_List_nt ADD (SCOPE FOR (Stock_ref) IS Stock_objtab);

There is just one more thing to do before inserting purchase orders for customers in
Customer_objtab. An actual nested table of PurchaseOrderList_ntabtyp must
be instantiated for each customer in the table.
When a column is added to a table for a new attribute, column values for existing rows
are initialized to NULL. This means that each existing customer's nested table of

A-28 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Evolving Object Types

purchase orders is atomically NULL—there is no actual nested table there, not even an
empty one. Until we instantiate a nested table for each customer, attempts to insert
purchase orders will get an error similar to:
reference to NULL table value
The following statement prepares the column to hold purchase orders by updating
each row to contain an actual nested table instance:

Example A–43 Update Customer_objtab

UPDATE Customer_objtab c
SET c.PurchaseOrderList_ntab = PurchaseOrderList_ntabtyp();

In the preceding statement, PurchaseOrderList_ntabtyp() is a call to the nested

table type's constructor method. This call, with no purchase orders specified, creates
an empty nested table.

Working with Multilevel Collections

At this point, we have evolved the type Customer_objtyp to add a nested table of
purchase orders, and we have set up the table Customer_objtab so that it is ready to
store purchase orders in the nested table. Now we are ready to insert purchase orders
into Customer_objtab.
There are two purchase orders already in table PurchaseOrder_objtab. The
following two statements copy these into Customer_objtab:

Example A–44 Insert Purchase Orders into Customer_objtab

INSERT INTO TABLE (
SELECT c.PurchaseOrderList_ntab
FROM Customer_objtab c
WHERE c.CustNo = 1
)
SELECT VALUE(p)
FROM PurchaseOrder_objtab p
WHERE p.Cust_Ref.CustNo = 1;

INSERT INTO TABLE (

SELECT c.PurchaseOrderList_ntab
FROM Customer_objtab c
WHERE c.CustNo = 2
)
SELECT VALUE(p)
FROM PurchaseOrder_objtab p
WHERE p.Cust_Ref.CustNo = 2;

Inserting into Nested Tables

Each of the preceding INSERT statements has two main parts: a TABLE expression that
specifies the target table of the insert operation, and a SELECT that gets the data to be
inserted. The WHERE clause in each part picks out the customer object to receive the
purchase orders (in the TABLE expression) and the customer whose purchase orders
are to be selected (in the subquery that gets the purchase orders).
The WHERE clause in the subquery uses dot notation to navigate to the CustNo
attribute: p.Cust_Ref.CustNo. Note that a table alias p is required whenever you
use dot notation. To omit it and say instead Cust_Ref.CustNo would produce an
error.

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-29

Evolving Object Types

Another thing to note about the dot notation in this WHERE clause is that we are able to
navigate to the CustNo attribute of a customer right through the Cust_Ref REF
attribute of a purchase order. SQL (though not PL/SQL) implicitly dereferences a REF
used with the dot notation in this way.
The TABLE expression in the first part of the INSERT statement tells the system to treat
the collection returned by the expression as a table. The expression is used here to
select the nested table of purchase orders for a particular customer as the target of the
insert.
In the second part of the INSERT statement, the VALUE() function returns selected
rows as objects. In this case, each row is a purchase order object, complete with its own
collection of line items. Purchase order rows are selected from one table of type
PurchaseOrder_objtyp for insertion into another table of that type.
The preceding INSERT statements use the customer-reference attribute of
PurchaseOrder_objtyp to identify the customer to whom each of the existing
purchase orders belongs. However, now that all the old purchase orders are copied
from the purchase orders table into the upgraded Customer_objtab, this
customer-reference attribute of a purchase order is obsolete. Now purchase orders are
stored right in the customer object itself.
The following ALTER TYPE statement evolves PurchaseOrder_objtyp to drop the
customer-reference attribute. The statement also drops the ShipToAddr_obj attribute
as redundant, assuming that the shipping address is always the same as the customer
address.

Example A–45 Alter PurchaseOrder_objtyp

ALTER TYPE PurchaseOrder_objtyp
DROP ATTRIBUTE Cust_ref,
DROP ATTRIBUTE ShipToAddr_obj
CASCADE;

This time we were able to use the CASCADE option to let the system perform
validations and make all necessary changes to dependent types and tables.

Inserting a New Purchase Order with Line Items

The previous INSERT example showed how to use the VALUE() function to select and
insert into the nested table of purchase orders an existing purchase order object
complete with its own nested table of line items. The following example shows how to
insert a new purchase order that has not already been instantiated as a purchase order
object. In this case, the purchase order's nested table of line items must be instantiated,
as well as each line item object with its data. Line numbers are shown on the left for
reference.

Example A–46 Insert into LineItemList_ntabtyp with VALUE()

INSERT INTO TABLE ( /* Line 1 */
SELECT c.PurchaseOrderList_ntab /* Line 2 */
FROM Customer_objtab c /* Line 3 */
WHERE c.CustName = 'John Nike' /* Line 4 */
) /* Line 5 */
VALUES (1020, SYSDATE, SYSDATE + 1, /* Line 6 */
LineItemList_ntabtyp( /* Line 7 */
LineItem_objtyp(1, MAKE_REF(Stock_objtab, 1004), 1, 0), /* Line 8 */
LineItem_objtyp(2, MAKE_REF(Stock_objtab, 1011), 3, 5), /* Line 9 */
LineItem_objtyp(3, MAKE_REF(Stock_objtab, 1535), 2, 10) /* Line 10 */
) /* Line 11 */

A-30 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Evolving Object Types

); /* Line 12 */

Lines 1-5 use a TABLE expression to select the nested table to insert into—namely, the
nested table of purchase orders for customer John Nike.
The VALUES clause (lines 6-12) contains a value for each attribute of the new purchase
order, namely:
PONo
OrderDate
ShipDate
LineItemList_ntab

Line 6 of the INSERT statement specifies values for the three purchase order attributes
PONo, OrderDate, and ShipDate.
Only attribute values are given; no purchase order constructor is specified. You do not
need to explicitly specify a purchase order constructor to instantiate a purchase order
instance in the nested table because the nested table is declared to be a nested table of
purchase orders. If you omit a purchase order constructor, the system instantiates a
purchase order automatically. You can, however, specify the constructor if you want to,
in which case the VALUES clause will look like this:
INSERT INTO TABLE (
SELECT c.PurchaseOrderList_ntab
FROM Customer_objtab c
WHERE c.CustName = 'John Nike'
)
VALUES (
PurchaseOrder_objtyp(1025, SYSDATE, SYSDATE + 1,
LineItemList_ntabtyp(
LineItem_objtyp(1, MAKE_REF(Stock_objtab, 1004), 1, 0),
LineItem_objtyp(2, MAKE_REF(Stock_objtab, 1011), 3, 5),
LineItem_objtyp(3, MAKE_REF(Stock_objtab, 1535), 2, 10)
)
)
)

Lines 7-11 instantiate and supply data for a nested table of line items. The constructor
method LineItemList_ntabtyp(…) creates an instance of such a nested table that
contains three line items.
The line item constructor LineItem_objtyp() creates an object instance for each
line item. Values for line item attributes are supplied as arguments to the constructor.
The MAKE_REF function creates a REF for the Stock_ref attribute of a line item. The
arguments to MAKE_REF are the name of the stock table and the primary key value of
the stock item there that we want to reference. We can use MAKE_REF here because
object identifiers in the stock table are based on the primary key: if they were not, we
would have to use the REF function in a subquery to get a REF to a row in the stock
table.

Querying Multilevel Nested Tables

You can query a top-level nested table column by naming it in the SELECT list like any
other top-level (as opposed to embedded) column or attribute, but the result is not
very readable. For instance, the following query selects the nested table of purchase
orders for John Nike:

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-31

Evolving Object Types

Example A–47 Query Customer_objtab for Customer John Nike

SELECT c.PurchaseOrderList_ntab
FROM Customer_objtab c
WHERE CustName = 'John Nike';

The query produces a result similar to the following:

PURCHASEORDERLIST_NTAB(PONO, ORDERDATE, SHIPDATE, LINEITEMLIST_NTAB(LINEITEMNO,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PURCHASEORDERLIST_NTABTYP(PURCHASEORDER_OBJTYP(2001, '25-SEP-01', '20-MAY-97', L
INEITEMLIST_NTABTYP(LINEITEM_OBJTYP(10, 00004A038A00468ED552CE6A5803ACE034080020
B8C8340000001426010001000100290000000000090600812A00078401FE0000000B03C20B050000
...

For humans, at least, you probably want to display the instance data in an unnested
form and not to show the REFs at all. TABLE expressions—this time in the FROM clause
of a query—can help you do this.
For example, the query in Example A–48 selects the PO number, order date, and
shipdate for all purchase orders belonging to John Nike:

Example A–48 Query Customer_objtab Using TABLE Expression

SELECT p.PONo, p.OrderDate, p.Shipdate
FROM Customer_objtab c, TABLE(c.PurchaseOrderList_ntab) p
WHERE c.CustName = 'John Nike';

PONO ORDERDATE SHIPDATE

------- --------- ---------
2001 25-SEP-01 26-SEP-01
1020 25-SEP-01 26-SEP-01

A TABLE expression takes a collection as an argument and can be used like a SQL table
in SQL statements. In the preceding query, listing the nested table of purchase orders
in a TABLE expression in the FROM clause enables us to select columns of the nested
table just as if they were columns of an ordinary table. The columns are identified as
belonging to the nested table by the table alias they use: p. As the example shows, a
TABLE expression in the FROM clause can have its own table alias.
Inside the TABLE expression, the nested table is identified as a column of customer
table Customer_objtab by the customer table's own table alias c. Note that the table
Customer_objtab appears in the FROM clause before the TABLE expression that
refers to it. This ability of a TABLE expressions to make use of a table alias that occurs
to the left of it in the FROM clause is called left correlation. It enables you to daisy-chain
tables and TABLE expressions—including TABLE expressions that make use of the
table alias of another TABLE expression. In fact, this is how you are able to select
columns of nested tables that are embedded in other nested tables.
Here, for example, is a query that selects information about all line items for PO
number 1020:

Example A–49 Query Customer_objtab for Purchase Order 1020

SELECT p.PONo, i.LineItemNo, i.Stock_ref.StockNo, i.Quantity, i.Discount
FROM Customer_objtab c, TABLE(c.PurchaseOrderList_ntab) p,
TABLE(p.LineItemList_ntab) i
WHERE p.PONo = 1020;

PONO LINEITEMNO STOCK_REF.STOCKNO QUANTITY DISCOUNT

A-32 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Evolving Object Types

----- ---------- ----------------- ---------- ----------

1020 1 1004 1 0
1020 2 1011 3 5
1020 3 1535 2 10

The query uses two TABLE expressions, the second referring to the first. Line item
information is selected from the inner nested table that belongs to purchase order
number 1020 in the outer nested table.
Notice that no column from the customer table occurs in either the SELECT list or the
WHERE clause. The customer table is listed in the FROM clause solely to provide a
starting point from which to access the nested tables.
Here is a variation on the preceding query. This version shows that you can use the *
wildcard to specify all columns of a TABLE expression collection:
SELECT p.PONo, i.*
FROM Customer_objtab c, TABLE(c.PurchaseOrderList_ntab) p,
TABLE(p.LineItemList_ntab) i
WHERE p.PONo = 1020;

Type Inheritance and Substitutable Columns

Suppose that we deal with a lot of our larger, regular customers through an account
manager. We would like to add a field for the ID of the account manager to the
customer record for these customers.
Earlier, when we wanted to add an attribute for a nested table of purchase orders, we
evolved the customer type itself. We could do that again to add an attribute for
account manager ID, or we could create a subtype of the customer type and add the
attribute only in the subtype. Which should we do?
To make this kind of decision, you need to consider whether the proposed new
attribute can be meaningfully and usefully applied to all instances of the base type—to
all customers, in other words—or only to an identifiable subclass of the base type.
All customers have purchase orders, so it was appropriate to alter the type itself to add
an attribute for them. But not all customers have an account manager; in fact, it
happens that only our corporate customers do. So, instead of evolving the customer
type to add an attribute that will not be meaningful for customers in general, it makes
more sense to create a new subtype for the special kind of customer that we have
identified and to add the new attribute there.

Creating a Subtype
You can create a subtype under a base type only if the base type allows subtypes.
Whether a type can be subtyped depends on the type's FINAL property. By default,
new types are created as FINAL. This means that they are the last of the series and
cannot have subtypes created under them. To create a type that can be subtyped, you
must specify NOT FINAL in the CREATE TYPE statement as we did when we created
the customer type.
You define a subtype by using a CREATE TYPE statement with the UNDER keyword.
The following statement creates a new subtype Corp_Customer_objtyp under
Customer_objtyp. The type is created as NOT FINAL so that it can have subtypes if
we want to add them later.

Example A–50 Create Corp_Customer_objtyp

CREATE TYPE Corp_Customer_objtyp UNDER Customer_objtyp

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-33

Evolving Object Types

(account_mgr_id NUMBER(6) ) NOT FINAL;

/

When you use a CREATE TYPE statement to create a new subtype, you list only the
new attributes and methods that you are adding. The subtype inherits all existing
attributes and methods from its base type, so these do not need to be specified. The
new attributes and methods are added after the inherited ones. For example, the
complete list of attributes for the new Corp_Customer_objtyp subtype looks like
this:
CustNo
CustName
Address_obj
Phonelist_var
PurchaseOrderList_ntab
Account_mgr_id

By default, you can store instances of a subtype in any column or object table that is of
any base type of the subtype. This ability to store subtype instances in a base type slot
is called substitutability. Columns and tables are substitutable unless they have been
explicitly declared to be NOT SUBSTITUTABLE. The system automatically adds new
columns for subtype attributes and another, hidden column for the type ID of the
instance stored in each row.
Actually, it is possible to create a subtype of a FINAL type, but first you must use an
ALTER TYPE statement to evolve the type from a FINAL type to a NOT FINAL one. If
you want existing columns and tables of the altered type to be able to store instances
of new subtypes, specify the CASCADE option CONVERT TO SUBSTITUTABLE in the
ALTER TYPE statement. See "Type Evolution" on page 7-5.

Inserting Subtypes
If a column or object table is substitutable, you can insert into it not only instances of
the declared type of the column or table but also instances of any subtype of the
declared type. In the case of table Customer_objtab, this means that the table can be
used to store information about all kinds of customers, both ordinary and corporate.
However, there is one important difference in the way information is inserted for a
subtype: you must explicitly specify the subtype's constructor. Use of the constructor is
optional only for instances of the declared type of the column or table.
For example, the following statement inserts a new ordinary customer, William Kidd.

Example A–51 Insert Data for Ordinary Customer

INSERT INTO Customer_objtab
VALUES (
3, 'William Kidd',
Address_objtyp('43 Harbor Drive', 'Redwood Shores', 'CA', '95054'),
PhoneList_vartyp('415-555-1212'),
PurchaseOrderList_ntabtyp()
);

The VALUES clause contains data for each Customer_objtyp attribute but omits the
Customer_objtyp constructor. The constructor is optional here because the declared
type of the table is Customer_objtyp. For the nested table attribute, the constructor
PurchaseOrderList_ntabtyp() creates an empty nested table, but no data is
specified for any purchase orders.

A-34 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Evolving Object Types

Here is a statement that inserts a new corporate customer in the same table. Note the
use of the constructor Corp_Customer_objtyp() and the extra data value 531 for
the account manager ID:

Example A–52 Insert Data for Corporate Customer

INSERT INTO Customer_objtab
VALUES (
Corp_Customer_objtyp( -- Subtype requires a constructor
4, 'Edward Teach',
Address_objtyp('65 Marina Blvd', 'San Francisco', 'CA', '94777'),
PhoneList_vartyp('415-555-1212', '416-555-1212'),
PurchaseOrderList_ntabtyp(), 531
)
);

The following statements insert a purchase order for each of the two new customers.
Unlike the statements that insert the new customers, the two statements that insert
purchase orders are structurally the same except for the number of line items in the
purchase orders:

Example A–53 Insert Purchase Order for Ordinary Customer

INSERT INTO TABLE (
SELECT c.PurchaseOrderList_ntab
FROM Customer_objtab c
WHERE c.CustName = 'William Kidd'
)
VALUES (1021, SYSDATE, SYSDATE + 1,
LineItemList_ntabtyp(
LineItem_objtyp(1, MAKE_REF(Stock_objtab, 1535), 2, 10),
LineItem_objtyp(2, MAKE_REF(Stock_objtab, 1534), 1, 0)
)
);

Example A–54 Insert Purchase Order for Corporate Customer

INSERT INTO TABLE (
SELECT c.PurchaseOrderList_ntab
FROM Customer_objtab c
WHERE c.CustName = 'Edward Teach'
)
VALUES (1022, SYSDATE, SYSDATE + 1,
LineItemList_ntabtyp(
LineItem_objtyp(1, MAKE_REF(Stock_objtab, 1011), 1, 0),
LineItem_objtyp(2, MAKE_REF(Stock_objtab, 1004), 3, 0),
LineItem_objtyp(3, MAKE_REF(Stock_objtab, 1534), 2, 0)
)
);

Querying Substitutable Columns

A substitutable column or table can contain data of several data types. This enables
you, for example, to retrieve information about all kinds of customers with a single
query of the customers table. But you can also retrieve information just about a
particular kind of customer, or about a particular attribute of a particular kind of
customer.
The following examples show some useful techniques for getting the information you
want from a substitutable table or column.

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-35

Evolving Object Types

The query in Example A–55 uses a WHERE clause that contains an IS OF predicate to
filter out customers that are not some kind of corporate customer. In other words, the
query returns all kinds of corporate customers but does not return instances of any
other kind of customer:

Example A–55 Selecting All Corporate Customers and Their Subtypes

SELECT c.*
FROM Customer_objtab c
WHERE VALUE(c) IS OF (Corp_Customer_objtyp);

The query in Example A–56 is similar to the preceding one except that it adds the
ONLY keyword in the IS OF predicate to filter out any subtypes of Corp_Customer_
objtyp. Rows are returned only for instances whose most specific type is Corp_
Customer_objtyp.

Example A–56 Selecting All Corporate Customers with No Subtypes

SELECT p.PONo
FROM Customer_objtab c, TABLE(c.PurchaseOrderList_ntab) p
WHERE VALUE(c) IS OF (ONLY Corp_Customer_objtyp);

The query in Example A–57 uses a TABLE expression to get purchase order numbers
(from the nested table of purchase orders). Every kind of customer has this attribute,
but the WHERE clause confines the search just to corporate customers:

Example A–57 Selecting PONo Just for Corporate Customers

SELECT p.PONo
FROM Customer_objtab c, TABLE(c.PurchaseOrderList_ntab) p
WHERE VALUE(c) IS OF (Corp_Customer_objtyp);

The query in Example A–58 returns data for account manager ID. This is an attribute
possessed only by the corporate customer subtype: the declared type of the table lacks
it. In the query the TREAT() function is used to cause the system to try to regard or
treat each customer as a corporate customer in order to access the subtype attribute
Account_mgr_id:

Example A–58 Selecting a Subtype Attribute Using the TREAT Function

SELECT CustName, TREAT(VALUE(c) AS Corp_Customer_objtyp).Account_mgr_id
FROM Customer_objtab c
WHERE VALUE(c) IS OF (ONLY Corp_Customer_objtyp);

TREAT() is necessary in Example A–58 because Account_mgr_id is not an attribute

of the table's declared type Customer_objtyp. If you simply list the attribute in the
SELECT list as if it were, a query like the one in Example A–59 will return the error
invalid column name error. This is so even with a WHERE clause that excludes all
but instances of Corp_Customer_objtyp. The WHERE clause is not enough here
because it merely excludes rows from the result.

Example A–59 Selecting a Subtype Attribute Without the TREAT Function

-- Following statement returns error, invalid column name for Account_mgr_id
SELECT CustName, Account_mgr_id
FROM Customer_objtab c
WHERE VALUE(c) IS OF (ONLY Corp_Customer_objtyp);

A-36 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Evolving Object Types

Every substitutable column or object table has an associated hidden type-ID column
that identifies the type of the instance in each row. You can look up the type ID of a
type in the USER_TYPES catalog view.
The function SYS_TYPEID() returns the type ID of a particular instance. The query in
Example A–60 uses SYS_TYPEID() and a join on the USER_TYPES catalog view to
return the type name of each customer instance in the table Customer_objtab:

Example A–60 Discovering the Type of Each Instance

SELECT c.CustName, u.TYPE_NAME
FROM Customer_objtab c, USER_TYPES u
WHERE SYS_TYPEID(VALUE(c)) = u.TYPEID;

--------------------------------- ---------------------
Jean Nance CUSTOMER_OBJTYP
John Nike CUSTOMER_OBJTYP
William Kidd CUSTOMER_OBJTYP
Edward Teach CORP_CUSTOMER_OBJTYP

For more information on SYS_TYPEID(), VALUE(), and TREAT(), see "Functions

and Operators Useful with Objects" on page 2-28.

Sample Application Using Object-Relational Features A-37

Evolving Object Types

A-38 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Object-Relational Features

 Index

A CAST function, 2-29

character length semantics
Active Server Pages, 4-7 object types, 2-2
ActiveX, 4-7 COLLECT function, 3-16
ADMIN OPTION collections
with EXECUTE ANY TYPE, 6-2 assigning, 2-27
aggregate functions comparing, 3-9, 3-14
See user-defined aggregate functions constructing, 1-10
aliases creating, 3-1
required for tables, 2-6 datatypes
ALTER ANY TYPE privilege, 6-1 DML on, 3-12
See also privileges DML on multilevel, 3-13
ALTER TABLE, 7-14 multilevel, 3-7, 8-8
See also object types, evolving constructing, 3-9
ALTER TYPE statement, 4-14, 7-12 creating, 3-9
See also object types, evolving creating with REFs, 8-15
ANYDATA datatype, 7-19, 8-27 object views containing, 5-6
ANYDATASET datatype, 7-19 nested tables, 3-3
ANYTYPE datatype, 7-19 querying, 3-10, 8-8
arrays, A-17 See also varrays, nested tables
size of VARRAYs, 3-2 substitutable elements, 2-23
variable (VARRAYs), 3-2 substituting in, 2-21
ASP, 4-7 supported datatypes, 1-10
assignments variable arrays (VARRAYs), 3-2
across object types, 2-26 column objects
collections, 2-27 versus row objects, 8-1
objects and REFs to objects, 2-26 COLUMN_VALUE keyword, 3-8
atomic nulls, 2-1 columns
attributes column objects, 1-7
leaf-level, 7-1 hidden, 7-2, 7-4
leaf-level scalar, 7-1 indexes on column objects, 2-4
modifying, 7-10 qualifying in queries, 2-5
of object types, 1-4 qualifying names in queries, 2-6
comparisons
B collections, 2-28, 3-14
methods, 2-8, A-12, A-24
bind variables
object types, 2-28
object types, 4-2
REFs, 2-28
compilation
C of object types, 6-5
caches COMPRESS clause
object cache, 4-2, 4-5, 5-3, 6-4 nested tables, 8-12
object views, 5-3 constraints, A-16
capture avoidance rule, 2-6 object tables, 2-3
CARDINALITY function, 3-16 on Oracle objects, 8-24
REFs, 8-6

Index-1
 SCOPE FOR constraint, A-21 implicit, 1-9, A-13
constructor methods, 1-5, 1-6, 2-11, 7-2 dot notation
literal invocation of, 2-11 using with methods, 2-8
constructors DROP ANY TYPE privilege, 6-1
attribute values, 7-15 See also privileges
calling user-defined, 7-17 DROP TYPE statement, 6-6
methods, 2-11 dump files
overloading, 7-16 Export and Import, 6-11
overriding, 7-16 dynamic method dispatch, 2-20
system defined, 7-15
type evolution, 7-15
E
user-defined, 7-15
with NEW keyword, 7-15 equal and not equal conditions
COUNT attribute of collection types, A-13 nested tables, 3-14
CREATE ANY TYPE privilege, 6-1 evolution
See also privileges object types, 1-6
CREATE INDEX statement Excel, 4-7
object types, 2-4 EXECUTE ANY TYPE privilege, 6-1, 6-2
CREATE TABLE statement See also privileges
column object example, 1-5 EXECUTE privilege
object table example, 1-6 object types, 6-2
object table examples, 2-3 See also privileges
CREATE TRIGGER statement Export utility
object table example, 2-4 object types, 6-11
CREATE TYPE privilege, 6-1 EXTERNAL NAME phrase, 4-12
See also privileges
CREATE TYPE statement, 8-29 F
collection types, 1-10
dependent types, 6-4 features
example, 3-3 new, xxi
nested tables, 3-3 files
object types, 1-3, 1-5, A-8 Export and Import dump file, 6-11
varrays, 3-2, A-10 FINAL keyword, 2-14
creating object types, 1-3 modifying finality, 7-10, 8-26
creating VARRAYs FORCE keyword, 5-13
containing references to LOBs, 3-6 FORCE option, 6-6
CURSOR expression, 2-29 foreign keys
representing many-to-one entity relationship
with, A-5
D function-based indexes
dangling REFs, 1-9 on type methods, 8-21
database administrators (DBAs)
DBA role, 6-1 G
database links
and object types, 2-7 GRANT option for EXECUTE privilege, 6-2
datatypes granting
array types, 3-2 execute object type, 6-2
nested tables, 3-3 guidelines
See also object types comparison methods, 2-10
transient and generic, 7-19
DBA role I
user-defined types, 6-1
implicit dereferencing, 1-9, A-13
DEFAULT clause, 3-2
Import utility
default values
object types, 6-11
collections, 3-2
IN condition, 3-14
object types, 3-2
incomplete object types, 6-5
DELETE privilege
indexes
for object tables, 6-3, 6-4
nested table, 3-4
DEREF function, 2-29
object types, 2-4
dereferencing, 1-9, A-13
on REFs, 2-4

Index-2
 type-discriminant column, 7-4 member methods, 1-5, 2-7
index-organized tables member procedures
storing nested tables as, 3-8, 8-11 with SELF IN OUT NOCOPY, 8-21
inheritance, 1-6 methods, A-12
See type inheritance choosing a language for, 8-18
inheriting methods, 2-18 comparison, A-12, A-24
inner capture, 2-6 comparison methods, 2-8
INSERT privilege in a type hierarchy, 2-10
for object tables, 6-3, 6-4 constructor, 1-6
instances constructor methods, 7-2
object type, 1-3 literal invocation, 2-11
objects, 1-5 constructors, 1-5, 2-11
INSTANTIABLE keyword dot notation, 2-8
CREATE TYPE, 2-17 dropping, 7-10
modifying instantiability, 7-10 dynamic method dispatch, 2-20
INSTEAD OF triggers execution privilege for, 6-2
nested tables, 5-9 final, 2-14
invoker-rights function-based indexes, 8-21
object types, 8-22 guidelines for comparison, 2-10
IS A SET condition, 3-15 inheriting, 2-18
IS EMPTY condition, 3-15 instantiability, 2-17
IS NOT A SET condition, 3-15 invoking, 2-8
IS OF type predicate, 2-29 map, 2-9, 8-5, A-11, A-24
map for comparing objects, 2-9
map required for collections, 3-14
J
member, 1-5, 2-7
Java object types, 1-5, 2-7
object storage, 4-12 of object types, 1-4
Oracle JDBC and Oracle objects, 4-10 order, 2-9, 8-5, A-11, A-14
Oracle SQLJ and Oracle objects, 4-10 overloading, 2-14, 2-18
with Oracle objects, 4-9 overriding, 2-14, 2-18, 2-19
JDBC PL/SQL, 4-2
See Oracle JDBC redefining, 2-19
JPublisher, 4-11 restrictions on overriding, 2-19
SELF parameter, 2-7
K static, 1-5, 2-11, 8-20
multilevel collections
keys See collections, multilevel
foreign keys, A-5 MULTISET EXCEPT operator, 3-16
MULTISET INTERSECT operator, 3-16
L multiset operations
with nested tables, 3-15
leaf-level attributes, 7-1
MULTISET UNION operator, 3-17
scalar, 7-1
literal invocation
constructor methods, 2-11 N
locators name resolution
returning nested tables as, 7-23, 8-13, 8-14, A-20 object types, 2-5
using a hint, 8-14 narrowing, 2-27, 2-32
locks nested cursor, A-25
object level locking, 4-2 nested tables, 3-3, 8-10
adding to an object, 7-7
M COMPRESS clause, 8-12
creating, 3-1
managing
creating indexes on, 8-13
object types, 6-1
equal and not equal conditions, 3-14
map methods, 8-5, A-11, A-24
in an index-organized table, 3-8, 8-11
comparing collections, 3-14
indexes, 2-4, 3-4
for comparing objects, 2-9
INSTEAD OF triggers, 5-9
materialized views, 8-24
multiset operations, 3-15
MEMBER condition, 3-15

Index-3
 querying, 3-10, A-11 variable arrays (VARRAYs), 3-2
unnesting results, 3-10 column objects, 1-7
returning as locators, 8-13, 8-14, A-20 column objects versus row objects, 8-1
specifying a storage name, 7-7 comparing, 2-28
specifying storage in a tablespace, 3-4 comparison methods for, 2-8, A-12, A-24
storage, 3-7, 8-11, A-19 constructor methods, 1-6
uniqueness in, A-19 constructor methods for, 2-11, 7-2
updating in views, 5-9 creating, 1-3, 1-5
versus VARRAY, A-11 creating subtypes of, 2-15
versus varrays, A-10 database key features, 1-3
NESTED_TABLE_GET_REFS hint, 8-14 dependencies, 6-4
NESTED_TABLE_ID keyword, 3-8, 8-13, A-19 dependents, 6-4, 7-5
NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS initialization evolution, 1-6
parameter, 2-3 evolving, 7-5, 8-26
NOCOPY compiler hint design considerations, 8-25
methods, 2-8 SQLJ types, 4-14
performance issues, 8-21 example of privileges, 6-2
use with member procedures, 8-21 Export and Import, 6-11
use with SELF, 2-8, 8-21 final, 8-26
NOT FINAL keyword, 2-14 FINAL or NOT FINAL, 2-14
NOT MEMBER condition, 3-15 in columns, 5-3
nulls incomplete, 6-5
atomic, 2-1 incomplete types, 6-4
object types, 2-1 indexes on column objects, 2-4
indexing, 7-4
inheritance, 1-6, 2-12
O
instances, 1-3
object cache instantiable, 2-17
object views, 5-3 invoker-rights, 8-22
OCI, 4-2 key features, 1-2
privileges, 6-4 locking in cache, 4-2
Pro*C, 4-5 managing, 6-1
object identifiers, 1-7, 8-4, A-16 methods, 2-7
column and index, 8-4 methods in PL/SQL, 4-2
for object types, 7-2 methods of, 1-4, A-12
primary-key based, 8-5 mutually dependent, 6-4
REFs, 8-4 name resolution, 2-5
storage, 8-4 nested tables, 3-3
object instances, 1-3, 1-5 not final, 8-26
comparing, 2-28 not instantiable, 2-17
object tables, 1-6, 8-4, A-14 nulls, 2-1
constraints, 2-3 object references, 5-7
deleting values, A-25 Oracle type translator, 4-6
indexes, 2-4 performance tuning, 6-9
inserting values, A-22 privileges, 6-1
querying, A-24 recompiling, 6-6
replicating, 8-23 remote access to, 2-7, 5-10
row objects, 1-7 row objects, 1-7
triggers, 2-4 row objects and object identifiers, 5-5
virtual object tables, 5-1 schema privileges, 6-1
object types, 1-1 See also type inheritance
adding a nested table attribute, 7-7 specializing, 1-6
advantages, 1-1 SQLJ types, 4-12
altering a type, 7-7 storage, 7-1
assignments across, 2-26 substituting, 2-21
attributes of, 1-4 subtypes, 2-12
character length semantics, 2-2 synonyms, 6-7
collection objects, 5-5 table aliases, 2-6
collections, 3-1 tools, 6-10
nested tables, 3-3 triggers, 2-4

Index-4
 use of table aliases, 2-6 OraCollection interface, 4-9
utilities, 6-11 ORAData interface, 4-13
variable arrays (VARRAYs), 3-2 OraObject interface, 4-8
views, 1-7 OraRef interface, 4-9
object views, 1-7, 5-1 order methods, 2-9, 8-5, A-11, A-14
advantages of, 5-1 OTT, 4-6
circular references, 5-12 overloading
defining, 5-2 methods, 2-14, 2-18
hierarchies, 5-14, 8-27 user-defined constructors, 7-16
privileges, 5-21 overloading methods, 2-18
querying in, 5-20 overriding
modeling relationships, 5-8, 5-11 methods, 2-14
multilevel collections in, 5-6 user-defined constructors, 7-16
nested tables, 5-9 overriding methods, 2-18
null objects in, 5-4
OIDs with, 5-7
P
REFs to, 5-7
replicating, 8-23 parallel query
updating through INSTEAD OF triggers, 5-9 objects, 8-26
OBJECT_ID pseudocolumn, 2-22 restrictions for Oracle objects, 8-26
OBJECT_VALUE pseudocolumn, 2-22 view objects, 8-26
object-relational model, A-1 partitioning
advantages, 1-1 tables containing Oracle objects, 7-22
comparing objects, 8-5 pkREFs, 7-3
constraints, 8-24 PL/SQL
database key features, 1-3 bind variables
design considerations, 8-1 object types, 4-2
embedded objects, A-17 object views, 5-3
key features, 1-2 using with objects, 1-7
methods, 1-5, 2-7 polymorphism, 2-12, 8-27
partitioning, 7-22 See also substitutability
programmatic environments for, 4-1, 4-9 POWERMULTISET function, 3-17
replication, 8-23 POWERMULTISET_BY_CARDINALITY
OCCI, 4-6 function, 3-18
OCI pragma RESTRICT_REFERENCES, A-12
associative access, 4-2 primary-key-based REFs, 7-3
for Oracle objects privileges
building a program, 4-4 acquired by role on object types, 6-1
navigational access, 4-3 ALTER ANY TYPE on object types, 6-1
object cache, 4-3 checked when pinning object types, 6-4
OCIObjectFlush, 5-3 column level for object tables, 6-4
OCIObjectPin, 5-3 CREATE ANY TYPE on object types, 6-1
OIDs, 1-7 DELETE on object types, 6-3
See object identifiers DROP ANY TYPE on object types, 6-1
Oracle C++ Call Interface, 4-6 EXECUTE ANY TYPE on object types, 6-1, 6-2
Oracle JDBC EXECUTE ANY TYPE on object types with
accessing Oracle object data, 4-10 ADMIN OPTION, 6-2
Oracle objects EXECUTE on object types, 6-2
See object-relational model EXECUTE on object types with GRANT
Oracle Objects for OLE option, 6-2
OraCollection interface, 4-9 INSERT on object types, 6-3
OraObject interface, 4-8 object types in types or tables, 6-2
OraRef interface, 4-9 object types with CREATE TYPE, 6-1
support of object-relational features, 4-7 object types with DELETE, 6-4
Oracle SQLJ object types with INSERT, 6-4
creating custom Java classes, 4-11 object types with SELECT, 6-4
data mapping for Oracle objects, 4-10 object types with UPDATE, 6-4
JPublisher, 4-11 on object types, 6-1
support for Oracle objects, 4-10 SELECT on object types, 6-3
Oracle type translator (OTT), 4-6 system on object types, 6-1

Index-5
 UNDER ANY TYPE on object types, 6-1 S
UNDER ANY VIEW on object types, 6-1
UPDATE on object types, 6-3 schemas
Pro*C object datatypes, 4-2
embedded SQL with user-defined datatypes, 4-5 object types, 1-4
object cache, 4-5 qualifying column names, 2-6
Pro*C/C++ SCOPE FOR constraint, A-21
associative access, 4-5 scoped REFs, 1-8, 7-3
converting between Oracle and C types, 4-6 SELECT privilege
navigational access, 4-5 for object tables, 6-3, 6-4
user-defined datatypes, 4-2 SELF parameter
programmatic environments methods, 2-7
for Oracle objects, 4-1, 4-9 SET function, 3-18
SQL
support for object types, 4-1
Q user-defined datatypes, 4-1
queries OCI, 4-2
set membership, 8-14 SQLData interface, 4-13
unnesting, 8-8 SQLJ
varrays, 8-10 See Oracle SQL
SQLJ object types, 4-9, 8-28
creating, 4-13
R mapping Java classes, 4-13
recompilation See also object types, Oracle SQLJ
object types, 6-6 static methods, 1-5, 2-11
redefining storage
methods, 2-19 column objects, 8-2
REF attributes, 2-5 nested tables, 7-3
REF columns, 2-5 object tables, 7-1
REF function, 2-31 REFs, 7-3
references, 1-8 STORE AS clause, A-19
references See REFs SUBMULTISET condition, 3-14
REFs, 1-8 substitutability, 2-21
comparing, 2-28 attributes, 2-21
constraints on, 2-5, 8-6 collections, 2-21
constructing from object identifiers, 7-2, A-23 column and row, 2-21, 7-4
dangling, 1-9, 2-5 constraining, 2-25
dereferencing of, 1-9, A-13 dependencies, 6-6
for rows of object views, 5-2 modifying, 2-25
implicit dereferencing of, 1-9, A-13 narrowing, 2-27
indexes on, 2-4 OBJECT_ID, 2-22
indexing, 8-7 OBJECT_VALUE, 2-22
object identifiers restrictions on modifying, 2-26
obtaining, 1-9 turning off, 2-24
pinning, 5-3, 6-4 views, 2-21
scoped, 1-8, 2-5, 7-3, 8-6 views and, 8-27
size of, 7-3 widening, 2-26
storage, 8-6 substitutable columns
substitutability, 2-21, 2-23 dropping subtypes, 2-24
use of table aliases, 2-6 subtypes
WITH ROWID option, 8-8 creating, 2-14
remote databases dropping in substitutable columns, 2-24
using with object types, 2-7 hierarchy, 2-12
RESOURCE role indexing attributes of, 7-4
user-defined types, 6-1, 6-2 object types, 2-12
roles specializing, 8-26
DBA role, 6-1 with supertype attribute, 2-22
RESOURCE role, 6-1, 6-2 supertypes
row objects, 1-7 attribute of subtype, 2-22
storage, 8-4 base in hierarchy, 2-12
synonyms

Index-6
 object types, 6-7 updates
SYS_TYPEID function, 2-31, 7-4 object views, 5-9
SYS.ANYDATA, 7-19 user-defined aggregate functions, 7-22
SYS.ANYDATASET, 7-19 user-defined constructors, 7-15
SYS.ANYTYPE, 7-19 user-defined datatypes
system privileges See also user-defined types
ADMIN OPTION, 6-2 See object types
object types, 6-1 user-defined types
See also privileges and remote databases, 2-7
See also object-relational model
See object types
T
USING clause, 4-12
TABLE
function, 2-32
TABLE expressions, 3-10, 8-8
V
tables validation
aliases, 2-6 failure, 7-11
constraints on object tables, 2-3 object types, 7-9
functions, 2-32 VALUE function, 2-33
indexes on nested tables, 2-4 variables
indexes on object tables, 2-4 bind variables
nested tables, 3-3 object types, 4-2
object object variables, 5-3
See object tables varrays, 3-2
object tables, 1-6 accessing, 8-10
virtual, 5-1 creating, 3-1
qualifying column names, 2-5, 2-6 creating VARRAYs, 3-6
triggers on object tables, 2-4 increasing the number of elements, 3-6
TREAT function, 2-22, 2-27, 2-30, 2-32, 7-4 querying, 8-10
triggers See also arrays, collections
INSTEAD OF triggers storage, 3-5, 8-9
object views and, 5-9 updating, 8-10
object types, 2-4 versus nested tables, A-10, A-11
type dependencies, 6-6 views
type evolution object, 1-7
See object types See also object views
type hierarchies, 1-6, 2-12 substitutability, 2-21
methods in, 2-10 updatability, 5-9
type inheritance Visual Basic, 4-7
finality, 2-14
instantiability, 2-17
W
methods, 2-18
object types, 2-12 widening
See inheritance and substitutability, 2-26
specializing subtypes, 2-12
typeids, 2-31, 7-4
types
See datatypes, object types

U
UNDER ANY TYPE privilege, 6-1
See also privileges
UNDER ANY VIEW privilege, 6-1
See also privileges
UNDER keyword
CREATE TYPE, 2-14
unnesting queries, 8-8
UPDATE privilege
for object tables, 6-3, 6-4

Index-7
Index-8