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Re: Are one row, one column tables "acceptable"?

From: Thomas T <T_at_T>
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 13:51:41 -0400
Message-ID: <3e945dad$1@rutgers.edu>


"Hans Forbrich" <forbrich_at_telusplanet.net> wrote in message news:3E934BB9.4B988E03_at_telusplanet.net...
> Thomas T wrote:
>
> > Hans, thanks for your ideas & opinions! I can't seem to find anything
in my
> > Oracle documentation, books -or- 8i EE CD, that mentions a domain table.
I
> > also can't find the messages in cdo.server that you referenced. Do you
> > happen to know the message ID of the discussion from the cdo.server
group?
> > Is the domain table something that came out with 9i? (I'm running 8i.)
>
> Domain encompasses the concept of 'range of valid values'. About once
every 3-6
> months, someone asks 'how do I handle a dynamic list of "lookup" value' or
'how
> do I optimize these n-hundred tables that only have 2-30 rows' or some
such.
> Then the discussion starts again about a 'central universal look up table'
or a
> 'doamin table', etc. You will not see it in the docco, but virtually
every
> experienced programmer/DBA has created at least 1 variant.
>
> The concept, in it's simplest form is a table whose columns are of the
form
> (domain_or_way__the_code_should_be_used varchar(n), actual_code_value
> varchar(n2), meaningful_description_of_code varchar(n3)). effective_date
and
> expiry_date are also occasionally added. Then all these little lookup
tables
> can be put into one master 'domain' table, and the original little table
> replicated using a view that extracts the codes based on the
> domain_or_way__the_code_should_be_used column.
>
> Last time we discussed was about 2 weeks ago - sorry I can't remember the
thread
> name.

Thanks for the information! (I originally thought "domain" referred to TCP/IP naming conventions, and not a mathematical domain. That might explain why my internet search was turning up some pointless results!) I'll go search the cdo.server newsgroup for that information; it does sound like an interesting option.

> > Would it be wise, for backup/recovery reasons, to create a tablespace
that
> > is read-only? AFAIK, Oracle doesn't back up such a tablespace. Or, is
that
> > the idea behind a static table? Any idea as to how small of a
tablespace I
> > should create? Can I create a tablespace of 1 block size (8k)?
> >
>
> You create the tablespace, update the data, take a backup, then set it
read
> only. The backup is valid because you have set the tablespace read-only,
and
> you do not need to back it up again until you 'set it read/write, update
the
> data, take a ...'

Good point; even if the tablespace got trashed, an old backup would suffice. After all, the data isn't changing! :)

Thanks,

-Thomas Received on Wed Apr 09 2003 - 12:51:41 CDT

Original text of this message

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