Views in Oracle-8

Hi all!

I need some information concerning view capabilities in Oracle-8. Questions to true Oracle-8 gurus (I am familiar with Oracle-7):

1. Is it possible to use method invocations in view definitions? Which SQL clause (select, from, where, group by, order by, etc.) can involve method invocations?
2. Does Oracle-8 support stored methods, i.e. method stored in a database (on the same principle as stored procedures)?
3. Is it possible to define recursive views (given a relation parents-children, define the view "ancestor")?
4. Is it possible to define views with parameters? If so, which is the method of transmission: call-by-value, call-by-name, other? Is it possible to pass an SQL query as a parameter?

If the answer to the first question is positive, I have several other questions:

5. Which language can be used to write methods that are to be

    invoked in views: PL/SQL, SQL3, Java, C++, other? 6. Can the programmer use in view definitions methods with side

    effects, i.e. methods working with own local variables, methods     changing the database state, etc.?
7. Does the view mechanism support polymorphism (dynamic binding)? 8. Are queries involving views (having method invocations) optimized?

    Which methods are used (query modification, caching results of     method invocations, others)?
9. Are views having method invocations updateable? Are view updating

    rules the same as in Oracle-7?
10. Does the view mechanism support the so-called "check option"?

    Does it work for updates of views having method invocations?

I also welcome answers to some of the above questions. Thank you in advance,
Regards,
Kaz Received on Mon Jul 26 1999 - 04:24:23 CDT