Re: Workaround for > 1000 columns?

On Mon, 12 Jun 2000 19:01:08 GMT, carlona_at_georgetown.edu wrote:

>Hey, guys. I seem to have a problem.
>
>Oracle has decided that I don't need a table with more than 1000
>columns, and rather than give me enough rope to hang my database and the
>computer it runs on, it won't let me create one. I feel I have just
>such a need, however, and splitting it into two tables would be a major
>hassle, especially from a user's perspective (having >1000 variables is
>bad enough without having to look for which table the right variable is
>in).
>

Have you thought about turning it into a row-oriented rather than column-oriented table.

For instance, instead of this:

ID
Value1
Value2
Value3
Value4
Value5
etc.

Try this:

ID
Var_Name
Value

Then instead of each element having 1 row and 1000 columns you'd have 1000 rows. You can use a max(decode()) statement to create a view looking just like the table you're trying to create.

Performance *might* be pretty decent too ... Oracle handles many small rows very well.

Worth a try anyway.

Chris Received on Mon Jun 12 2000 - 00:00:00 CDT