Chapter 5

More SQL:
Complex
Queries,
Triggers,
Views, and
Schema
Modification
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley
Outline
 More Complex SQL Retrieval Queries
 Specifying Constraints as Assertions and
Action Triggers
 Views (Virtual Tables) in SQL
 Schema Change Statements in SQL

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 More Complex SQL Retrieval
Queries
 Additional features allow users to specify
more complex retrievals from database:
 Nested queries, joined tables, outer joins,
aggregate functions, and grouping

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Comparisons Involving NULL
and Three-Valued Logic
 Meanings of NULL
 Unknown value
 Unavailable or withheld value
 Not applicable attribute
 Each individual NULL value considered to
be different from every other NULL value
 SQL uses a three-valued logic:
 TRUE, FALSE, and UNKNOWN

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Comparisons Involving NULL
and Three-Valued Logic (cont’d.)

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Comparisons Involving NULL
and Three-Valued Logic (cont’d.)
 SQL allows queries that check whether an
attribute value is NULL
 IS or IS NOT NULL

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Nested Queries, Tuples,
and Set/Multiset Comparisons
 Nested queries
 Complete select-from-where blocks within
WHERE clause of another query
 Outer query
 Comparison operator IN
 Compares value v with a set (or multiset) of
values V
 Evaluates to TRUE if v is one of the elements in
V

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Nested Queries (cont’d.)

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Nested Queries (cont’d.)
 Use tuples of values in comparisons
 Place them within parentheses

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Nested Queries (cont’d.)
 Use other comparison operators to
compare a single value v
 = ANY (or = SOME) operator
• Returns TRUE if the value v is equal to some value
in the set V and is hence equivalent to IN
 Other operators that can be combined with ANY
(or SOME): >, >=, <, <=, and <>

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Nested Queries (cont’d.)
 Avoid potential errors and ambiguities
 Create tuple variables (aliases) for all tables
referenced in SQL query

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Correlated Nested Queries
 Correlated nested query
 Evaluated once for each tuple in the outer
query

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 The EXISTS and UNIQUE
Functions in SQL
 EXISTS function
 Check whether the result of a correlated
nested query is empty or not
 EXISTS and NOT EXISTS
 Typically used in conjunction with a correlated
nested query
 SQL function UNIQUE(Q)
 Returns TRUE if there are no duplicate tuple’s
in the result of query Q

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 EXISTS
 Used to check if sub-query returns any rows
 Ex. List the names of managers who have at least one
dependent.
Select Fname, Lname
From Employee
Where EXISTS (Select *
From Dependent
Where Ssn = Essn)
AND
EXISTS (Select *
From Department
Where Ssn = Mgr_ssn);
15
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Explicit Sets and Renaming of
Attributes in SQL
 Can use explicit set of values in WHERE
clause
 Use qualifier AS followed by desired new
name
 Rename any attribute that appears in the result
of a query

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Joined Tables in SQL and Outer
Joins
 Joined table
 Permits users to specify a table resulting from
a join operation in the FROM clause of a query
 The FROM clause in Q1A
 Contains a single joined table

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Joined Tables in SQL and Outer
Joins (cont’d.)
 Specify different types of join
 NATURAL JOIN
 Various types of OUTER JOIN
 NATURAL JOIN on two relations R and S
 No join condition specified
 Implicit EQUIJOIN condition for each pair of
attributes with same name from R and S

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Joined Tables in SQL and Outer
Joins (cont’d.)
 Inner join
 Default type of join in a joined table
 Tuple is included in the result only if a matching
tuple exists in the other relation
 LEFT OUTER JOIN
 Every tuple in left table must appear in result
 If no matching tuple
• Padded with NULL values for attributes of right table

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Joined Tables in SQL and Outer
Joins (cont’d.)
 RIGHT OUTER JOIN
 Every tuple in right table must appear in result
 If no matching tuple
• Padded with NULL values for the attributes of left
table
 FULL OUTER JOIN
 Can nest join specifications

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Aggregate Functions in SQL
 Used to summarize information from
multiple tuples into a single-tuple summary
 Grouping
 Create subgroups of tuples before
summarizing
 Built-in aggregate functions
 COUNT, SUM, MAX, MIN, and AVG
 Functions can be used in the SELECT
clause or in a HAVING clause
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Aggregate Functions in SQL
(cont’d.)
 NULL values discarded when aggregate
functions are applied to a particular column

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Grouping: The GROUP BY and
HAVING Clauses
 Partition relation into subsets of tuples
 Based on grouping attribute(s)
 Apply function to each such group
independently
 GROUP BY clause
 Specifies grouping attributes
 If NULLs exist in grouping attribute
 Separate group created for all tuples with a
NULL value in grouping attribute
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Grouping: The GROUP BY and
HAVING Clauses (cont’d.)
 HAVING clause
 Provides a condition on the summary
information

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Discussion and Summary of SQL
Queries

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Specifying Constraints as
Assertions and Actions Triggers
 CREATE ASSERTION
 Specify additional types of constraints outside
scope of built-in relational model constraints
 CREATE TRIGGER
 Specify automatic actions that database
system will perform when certain events and
conditions occur

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Specifying General Constraints
as Assertions in SQL
 CREATE ASSERTION
 Specify a query that selects any tuples that
violate the desired condition
 Use only in cases where it is not possible to
use CHECK on attributes and domains

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Introduction to Triggers in SQL
 CREATE TRIGGER statement
 Used to monitor the database
 Typical trigger has three components:
 Event(s)
 Condition
 Action

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Views (Virtual Tables) in SQL
 Concept of a view in SQL
 Single table derived from other tables
 Considered to be a virtual table

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Specification of Views in SQL
 CREATE VIEW command
 Give table name, list of attribute names, and a
query to specify the contents of the view

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Specification of Views in SQL
(cont’d.)
 Specify SQL queries on a view
 View always up-to-date
 Responsibility of the DBMS and not the user
 DROP VIEW command
 Dispose of a view

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 View Implementation, View
Update, and Inline Views
 Complex problem of efficiently
implementing a view for querying
 Query modification approach
 Modify view query into a query on underlying
base tables
 Disadvantage: inefficient for views defined via
complex queries that are time-consuming to
execute

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 View Implementation
 View materialization approach
 Physically create a temporary view table when
the view is first queried
 Keep that table on the assumption that other
queries on the view will follow
 Requires efficient strategy for automatically
updating the view table when the base tables
are updated

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 View Implementation (cont’d.)
 Incremental update strategies
 DBMS determines what new tuples must be
inserted, deleted, or modified in a materialized
view table

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 View Update and Inline Views
 Update on a view defined on a single table
without any aggregate functions
 Can be mapped to an update on underlying
base table
 View involving joins
 Often not possible for DBMS to determine
which of the updates is intended

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 View Update and Inline Views
(cont’d.)
 Clause WITH CHECK OPTION
 Must be added at the end of the view definition
if a view is to be updated
 In-line view
 Defined in the FROM clause of an SQL query

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Schema Change Statements in
SQL
 Schema evolution commands
 Can be done while the database is operational
 Does not require recompilation of the database
schema

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 The DROP Command
 DROP command
 Used to drop named schema elements, such
as tables, domains, or constraint
 Drop behavior options:
 CASCADE and RESTRICT
 Example:
 DROP SCHEMA COMPANY CASCADE;

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 The ALTER Command
 Alter table actions include:
 Adding or dropping a column (attribute)
 Changing a column definition
 Adding or dropping table constraints
 Example:
 ALTER TABLE COMPANY.EMPLOYEE ADD
COLUMN Job VARCHAR(12);
 To drop a column
 Choose either CASCADE or RESTRICT
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 The ALTER Command (cont’d.)
 Change constraints specified on a table
 Add or drop a named constraint

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Summary
 Complex SQL:
 Nested queries, joined tables, outer joins,
aggregate functions, grouping
 CREATE ASSERTION and CREATE
TRIGGER
 Views
 Virtual or derived tables

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe