<disappointment><playful mocking><genuine horror>
How can you work with a database when you can't find out what's in it (structurally) at varying angles of attack and granularity? I'm not trying to beat up on the product (mySQL), because it's obviously serving a number of people very well. But it's a disappointment to find out that this it doesn't hold up next to the real players. Saying that mySQL doesn't do views, etc. is kinda like saying "yeah well this bagel shop doesn't have cream cheese and lox"...
OK here's what I mean by metadata, with a very limited example</></></>
[tt]SQL> column type format a20
SQL> break on type skip 1
SQL> column object format a50
SQL> select
2 object_type "Type",
3 object_name "Object",
4 created
5 from
6 user_objects
7 order by 1,2
8 /
Foreign keys for Tables in MY_DATABASE
01-MAR-04
------------------------------------------------------------
Type Object CREATED
-------------------- -------------------------------------------------- ---------
INDEX PK_INS 14-JAN-04
UK_COU_INS_STA 16-JAN-04
UK_INS 15-JAN-04
PACKAGE PKG_EXCEPTIONS 03-JAN-04
PKSPEC_ERROR_HANDLING 03-JAN-04
TEST_IT 24-DEC-03
PACKAGE BODY 24-DEC-03
PROCEDURE 15-JAN-04
SEQUENCE STUDENT_ID 12-NOV-03
TABLE ATTENDANCE 12-NOV-03
AUTH 12-NOV-03
CK_LOG 14-JAN-04
COMPANY 12-NOV-03
COURSE 12-NOV-03
DEFO 14-JAN-04
ERROR_LOG 03-JAN-04
INSTRUCTOR 12-NOV-03
OFFERING 12-NOV-03
PLAN_TABLE 14-JAN-04
SITE 12-NOV-03
STUDENT 12-NOV-03
SUBJECT_AREA 12-NOV-03
TEST 14-JAN-04
VIEW BIEW_OBJECT_DEPENDENCIES 4-JAN-04
[/tt]
Turn your headache into my project!
Jeffrey R. Roberts
Insight Data Consulting
Access and SQL Server Development