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Trigger
Trigger is a statement that a system executes automatically when there is any
modification to the database.

A trigger in MySQL is a set of SQL statements that reside in a system catalog. It is a special
type of stored procedure that is invoked automatically in response to an event. Each
trigger is associated with a table, which is activated on any DML statement such as INSERT,
UPDATE, or DELETE.

A trigger is called a special procedure because it cannot be called directly like a stored
procedure. The main difference between the trigger and procedure is that a trigger is called
automatically when a data modification event is made against a table. In contrast, a stored
procedure must be called explicitly.

Generally, triggers are of two types according to the SQL standard: row-level triggers and
statement-level triggers.

Row-Level Trigger: It is a trigger, which is activated for each row by a triggering statement
such as insert, update, or delete. For example, if a table has inserted, updated, or deleted
multiple rows, the row trigger is fired automatically for each row affected by
the insert, update, or delete statement.

Statement-Level Trigger: It is a trigger, which is fired once for each event that occurs on a
table regardless of how many rows are inserted, updated, or deleted.

Why we need/use triggers in MySQL

We need/use triggers in MySQL due to the following features:

o Triggers help us to enforce business rules.

o Triggers help us to validate data even before they are inserted or updated.
o Triggers help us to keep a log of records like maintaining audit trails in tables.
o SQL triggers provide an alternative way to check the integrity of data.
o Triggers provide an alternative way to run the scheduled task.
o Triggers increases the performance of SQL queries because it does not need to compile each
time the query is executed.
o Triggers reduce the client-side code that saves time and effort.
o Triggers help us to scale our application across different platforms.
o Triggers are easy to maintain.
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Types of Triggers in MySQL

We can define the maximum six types of actions or events in the form of triggers:

1. Before Insert: It is activated before the insertion of data into the table.
2. After Insert: It is activated after the insertion of data into the table.
3. Before Update: It is activated before the update of data in the table.
4. After Update: It is activated after the update of the data in the table.
5. Before Delete: It is activated before the data is removed from the table.
6. After Delete: It is activated after the deletion of data from the table.

When we use a statement that does not use INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE query to change
the data in a table, the triggers associated with the trigger will not be invoked.

Benefits of using triggers in business:

• Faster application development. Because the database stores triggers, you do not
have to code the trigger actions into each database application.

• Global enforcement of business rules. Define a trigger once and then reuse it for any
application that uses the database.

• Easier maintenance. If a business policy changes, you need to change only the
corresponding trigger program instead of each application program.

• Improve performance in client/server environment. All rules run on the server before
the result returns.

Limitations of Using Triggers in MySQL

o MySQL triggers do not allow to use of all validations; they only provide extended
validations. For example, we can use the NOT NULL, UNIQUE, CHECK and FOREIGN
KEY constraints for simple validations.
o Triggers are invoked and executed invisibly from the client application. Therefore, it
isn't easy to troubleshoot what happens in the database layer.
o Triggers may increase the overhead of the database server.
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Naming Conventions
Naming conventions are the set of rules that we follow to give appropriate unique names. It
saves our time to keep the work organize and understandable. Therefore, we must use a
unique name for each trigger associated with a table. However, it is a good practice to
have the same trigger name defined for different tables.

The following naming convention should be used to name the trigger in MySQL:

(BEFOR | AFTER) table_name (INSERT | UPDATE | DELETE)

Thus,

Trigger Activation Time: BEFORE | AFTER

Trigger Event: INSERT | UPDATE | DELETE

Syntax : -

Delimiter //
CREATE TRIGGER trigger_name
(AFTER | BEFORE) (INSERT | UPDATE | DELETE)
ON table_name FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
--variable declarations
--trigger code
END; //

We assume that you are habituated with "MySQL Stored Procedures". You can use the
following statements of MySQL procedure in triggers:

• Compound statements (BEGIN / END)

• Variable declaration (DECLARE) and assignment (SET)

• Flow-of-control statements (IF, CASE, WHILE, LOOP, WHILE, REPEAT, LEAVE, ITERATE)

• Condition declarations

• Handler declarations
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The show trigger statement contains several columns in the result set. Let us explain each
column in detail.

o Trigger :- It is the name of the trigger that we want to create and must be unique
within the schema.

o Event :- It is the type of operation name that invokes the trigger. It can be either
INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE operation.

o Table :- It is the name of the table to which the trigger belongs.

o Statement :- It is the body of the trigger that contains logic for the trigger when it
activates.

o Timing :- It is the activation time of the trigger, either BEFORE or AFTER. It indicates
that the trigger will be invoked before or after each row of modifications occurs on

the table.

o Created :- It represents the time and date when the trigger is created.

o sql_mode :- It displays the SQL_MODE when the trigger is executed.

o Definer :- It is the name of a user account that created the trigger and should be in

the 'user_name'@'host_name' format.

o Character_set_client :- It was the session value of the character_set_client system

variable when the trigger was created.

o Collation_connection :- It was the session value of the character_set_client system

variable when the trigger was created.

o Database Collation :- It determines the rules that compare and order the character

string. It is the collation of the database with which the trigger belongs.
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create table course(

course_id int,
course_desc varchar(50),
course_mentor varchar(50),
course_price int,
course_discount int,
create_date date
);

delimiter //
create trigger course_before_insert
before insert
on course for each row
begin
set new.create_date = sysdate();
end; //

insert into course (course_id, course_desc, course_mentor, course_price, course_discount)

values
(101, 'DA', 'MJ', 5000, 1000),
(104, 'DS', 'HR', 5500, 700),
(178, 'BD', 'HS', 7000, 2500);

select * from course;

course_id course_desc course_mentor course_price course_discount create_date

101 DA MJ 5000 1000 28-08-2023
104 DS HR 5500 700 28-08-2023
178 BD HS 7000 2500 28-08-2023

create table course1(

course_id int,
course_desc varchar(50),
course_mentor varchar(50),
course_price int,
course_discount int,
create_date date,
user_info varchar(50)
);
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delimiter //
create trigger course_before_insert1
before insert
on course1 for each row
begin
declare user_val varchar(50);
set new.create_date = sysdate();
select user() into user_val;
set new.user_info = user_val;
end; //

insert into course1 (course_id, course_desc, course_mentor, course_price, course_discount)

values
(101, 'DA', 'MJ', 5000, 1000),
(104, 'DS', 'HR', 5500, 700),
(178, 'BD', 'HS', 7000, 2500);

select * from course1;

course_id course_desc course_mentor course_price course_discount create_date user_info

101 DA MJ 5000 1000 28-08-2023 root@localhost
104 DS HR 5500 700 28-08-2023 root@localhost
178 BD HS 7000 2500 28-08-2023 root@localhost

create table course2(

course_id int,
course_desc varchar(50),
course_mentor varchar(50),
course_price int,
course_discount int,
create_date date,
user_info varchar(50)
);

create table ref_course(

record_insert_date date,
record_insert_user varchar(50)
);
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delimiter //
create trigger course_before_insert2
before insert
on course2 for each row
begin
declare user_val varchar(50);
set new.create_date = sysdate();
select user() into user_val;
set new.user_info = user_val;
insert into ref_course values(sysdate(), user_val);
end; //

insert into course2 (course_id, course_desc, course_mentor, course_price, course_discount)

values
(101, 'DA', 'MJ', 5000, 1000),
(104, 'DS', 'HR', 5500, 700),
(178, 'BD', 'HS', 7000, 2500);

select * from ref_course;

record_insert_date record_insert_user
28-08-2023 root@localhost
28-08-2023 root@localhost
28-08-2023 root@localhost

create table test1

(
c1 varchar(50),
c2 date,
c3 int
);

create table test2

(
c1 varchar(50),
c2 date,
c3 int
);
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create table test3

(
c1 varchar(50),
c2 date,
c3 int
);

insert into test1 values

('John', sysdate(), 109803);

delimiter //
create trigger to_update_others
before insert
on test1 for each row
begin
insert into test2 values('MRA', sysdate(), 78786);
insert into test3 values('MRA', sysdate(), 78786);
end; //

select * from test1;

c1 c2 c3
John 28-08-2023 109803
John 28-08-2023 109803

select * from test2;

c1 c2 c3
MRA 28-08-2023 78786

select * from test3;

c1 c2 c3
MRA 28-08-2023 78786

Update and delete :-

delimiter //
create trigger to_update_others_table
before insert
on test1 for each row
begin
update test2 set c1 = 'abc' where c1 = 'MRA';
delete from test3 where c1 = 'MRA';
end; //
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insert into test1 values('wood' ,sysdate(), 7728);

select * from test1;

select * from test2;
select * from test3;

AFTER DELETE

The AFTER DELETE Trigger in MySQL is invoked automatically whenever a delete event is fired on the
table.

Restrictions
o We can access the OLD rows but cannot update them in the AFTER DELETE trigger.
o We cannot access the NEW rows. It is because there are no NEW row exists.
o We cannot create an AFTER DELETE trigger on a VIEW.

delimiter //

create trigger after_delete_trigger

after delete

on test1 for each row

begin

insert into test3 values('After_delete', sysdate(), 57547);

end; //

select * from test1;

delete from test1 where c1 = 'wood';

select * from test1;
select * from test3;

c1 c2 c3
After_delete 28-08-2023 57547

BEFORE DELETE
BEFORE DELETE Trigger in MySQL is invoked automatically whenever a delete operation is
fired on the table.
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delimiter //
create trigger before_delete_trigger
before delete
on test1 for each row
begin
insert into test3 values('After_delete', sysdate(), 57547);
end; //
delete from test1 where c1 = 'john';
select * from test3;

Observation :- Before Delete

create table test11
(
c1 varchar(50),
c2 date,
c3 int
);

create table test12

(
c1 varchar(50),
c2 date,
c3 int
);

delimiter //
create trigger before_delete_trigger_observation1

before delete
on test11 for each row

begin
insert into test12(c1,c2,c3) values(old.c1,old.c2, old.c3);

end; //
insert into test11 values('Aligarh' ,sysdate(), 5346);
insert into test11 values('Delhi' ,sysdate(), 3528);
insert into test11 values('Agra' ,sysdate(), 7756);
insert into test11 values('Noida' ,sysdate(), 8928);
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select * from test11;

c1 c2 c3
Aligarh 28-08-2023 5346
Delhi 28-08-2023 3528
Agra 28-08-2023 7756
Noida 28-08-2023 8928

delete from test11 where c1 = 'Agra';

select * from test12;

c1 c2 c3
Agra 28-08-2023 7756

Observation :- After Delete

delimiter //
create trigger after_delete_trigger_observation2
after delete
on test11 for each row
begin
insert into test12(c1,c2,c3) values(old.c1,old.c2, old.c3);
end; //

delete from test11 where c1 = 'Agra';

select * from test12;

c1 c2 c3
Agra 28-08-2023 7756

delete from test11 where c1 = 'Aligarh';

select * from test12;

c1 c2 c3
Agra 28-08-2023 7756
Aligarh 28-08-2023 5346
Aligarh 28-08-2023 5346
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AFTER UPDATE TRIGGER

The AFTER UPDATE trigger in MySQL is invoked automatically whenever an UPDATE event is
fired on the table associated with the triggers.

delimiter //
create trigger after_update_trigger_

after update
on test11 for each row

begin
insert into test12(c1,c2,c3) values(old.c1,old.c2, old.c3);

end; //

select * from test11;

c1 c2 c3
Delhi 28-08-2023 3528
Noida 28-08-2023 8928

update test11 set c1 = 'New York' where c1 = 'Delhi';

select * from test11;

c1 c2 c3
New York 28-08-2023 3528
Noida 28-08-2023 8928

select * from test12;

c1 c2 c3
Agra 28-08-2023 7756
Aligarh 28-08-2023 5346
Aligarh 28-08-2023 5346
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BEFORE UPDATE

BEFORE UPDATE Trigger in MySQL is invoked automatically whenever an update operation

is fired on the table associated with the trigger

delimiter //
create trigger before_update_trigger_
before update
on test11 for each row
begin
insert into test12(c1,c2,c3) values(new.c1,new.c2, new.c3);
end; //

select * from test11;

update test11 set c1 = 'Rome' where c1 = 'Noida';

select * from test11;

c1 c2 c3
New York 28-08-2023 3528
Rome 28-08-2023 8928

select * from test12;

c1 c2 c3
Agra 28-08-2023 7756
Aligarh 28-08-2023 5346
Aligarh 28-08-2023 5346
Rome 28-08-2023 8928