Re: Newbie problems/laments

I'll try to address the ones I think I can handle.

x93aroor_at_wmich.edu writes:
|> 1) When I create a table and declare a field "Primary key" or "unique" I
|> expect it will not accept duplicates. Wrong! It will, unless I create a
|> "Unique index" for that field.
Oracle V6 accepts the integrity constraint syntax for portability purposes, but they are not enforced within the RDBMS engine. Oracle7 will enforce these constraints if they are enabled. In the case of your example, Oracle would create the unique index on the field for you. With Forms 3.0+, there is a way to have it find the constraints and enforce them from within the application.

|> 2)I am developing the tables, .sql scripts, forms, menus in Dos. Can I
|> migrate it to UNIX later? Is is simple? Where can I read on how to do this.
|> Any help/advise will be greatly apreciated.
In general, yes. SQL scripts should especially be easy to migrate. Just copy the file over. Tables can be exported to a file from one system and then imported into another (either over SQL*Net if available or after doing a binary transfer of the "expdat.dmp" file). There are ways to also migrate Forms and Menus applications but the details don't come to mind right now. One thing you might want to be concerned about is that in general, the Unix platforms have all moved to Oracle7 and possible versions of tools higher than what you have now (soon to be available if not already under Windows).

Doing the migration as well as the upgrade will add to the complexity, but a relatively straightforward upgrade/migration path is available for everything (i.e. issuing a set compatiblity V6 will allow SQL scripts to still run without modification and in many cases, one wouldn't even have to issue the set compatibility command at all).

Hope that helps.

Roderick Manalac
Oracle Corporation Received on Tue Oct 25 1994 - 22:19:50 CET