General question about databases and applications

I have done some extensive research and reading on this subject over the last few weeks in response to an assertion made to me by someone I work with. The problem in a nutshell: is there any way to find out what and how applications use a database? Since that is a loaded question that definitely requires some explanation, here it is. My co-worker made the statement that it is possible to find out what columns and tables are changed by an application and in what way, without actually having access to the application source code or design documentation. For instance, our database is Oracle 8.1.7 running on a DEC Alpha box with DEC UNIX. The applications hit the database from client PCs running Win2K via a suite of different application programs. There are also database scripts that run periodically that make changes to the database directly. I believe
(without a lot of experience or knowledge to back it up) that in order
to find out what gets changed and how it gets changed during the running of an application, you need to look at the application source code to see what it is doing. It may be running stored procedures, SQL scripts, etc., but without either the source code or a design document that tells you what columns and tables the application changes, or what stored procedures or scripts are running, there is no way (that I am aware of) to know what gets changed and how.

I would welcome any questions or comments and if there are references
(book, online, etc.), I would appreciate those as well.

First time poster Received on Sat Dec 07 2002 - 09:04:57 CST