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22 Triggers

This chapter discusses triggers, which are procedures stored in PL/SQL or Java that run (fire)
implicitly whenever a table or view is modified or when some user actions or database system
actions occur.

This chapter contains the following topics:

 Introduction to Triggers

 Parts of a Trigger

 Types of Triggers

 Trigger Execution

Introduction to Triggers

You can write triggers that fire whenever one of the following operations occurs:

1. DML statements (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) on a particular table or view, issued by any user

2. DDL statements (CREATE or ALTER primarily) issued either by a particular schema/user or by

any schema/user in the database

3. Database events, such as logon/logoff, errors, or startup/shutdown, also issued either by a

particular schema/user or by any schema/user in the database

Triggers are similar to stored procedures. A trigger stored in the database can include SQL and
PL/SQL or Java statements to run as a unit and can invoke stored procedures. However, procedures
and triggers differ in the way that they are invoked. A procedure is explicitly run by a user,
application, or trigger. Triggers are implicitly fired by Oracle when a triggering event occurs, no
matter which user is connected or which application is being used.

Figure 22-1 shows a database application with some SQL statements that implicitly fire several
triggers stored in the database. Notice that the database stores triggers separately from their
associated tables.
Figure 22-1 Triggers

Description of the illustration cncpt076.gif

A trigger can also call out to a C procedure, which is useful for computationally intensive operations.

The events that fire a trigger include the following:

 DML statements that modify data in a table (INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE)

 DDL statements

 System events such as startup, shutdown, and error messages

 User events such as logon and logoff

Note:

Oracle Forms can define, store, and run triggers of a different sort. However, do
not confuse Oracle Forms triggers with the triggers discussed in this chapter.

See Also:

o Chapter 24, " SQL, PL/SQL, and Java" for information on the

similarities of triggers to stored procedures

o "The Triggering Event or Statement "

How Triggers Are Used

Triggers supplement the standard capabilities of Oracle to provide a highly customized database
management system. For example, a trigger can restrict DML operations against a table to those
issued during regular business hours. You can also use triggers to:

 Automatically generate derived column values

 Prevent invalid transactions

 Enforce complex security authorizations

 Enforce referential integrity across nodes in a distributed database

  Enforce complex business rules

 Provide transparent event logging

 Provide auditing

 Maintain synchronous table replicates

 Gather statistics on table access

 Modify table data when DML statements are issued against views

 Publish information about database events, user events, and SQL statements to subscribing
applications

See Also:

Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals for examples of

trigger uses

Some Cautionary Notes about Triggers

Although triggers are useful for customizing a database, use them only when necessary. Excessive
use of triggers can result in complex interdependencies, which can be difficult to maintain in a large
application. For example, when a trigger fires, a SQL statement within its trigger action potentially
can fire other triggers, resulting in cascading triggers. This can produce unintended effects. Figure
22-2 illustrates cascading triggers.

Figure 22-2 Cascading Triggers

Description of the illustration cncpt077.gif

Triggers Compared with Declarative Integrity Constraints

You can use both triggers and integrity constraints to define and enforce any type of integrity rule.
However, Oracle strongly recommends that you use triggers to constrain data input only in the
following situations:

 To enforce referential integrity when child and parent tables are on different nodes of a
distributed database

 To enforce complex business rules not definable using integrity constraints

 When a required referential integrity rule cannot be enforced using the following integrity
constraints:
 o NOT NULL, UNIQUE

o PRIMARY KEY

o FOREIGN KEY

o CHECK

o DELETE CASCADE

o DELETE SET NULL

See Also:

"How Oracle Enforces Data Integrity " for more information about integrity
constraints

Parts of a Trigger

A trigger has three basic parts:

 A triggering event or statement

 A trigger restriction

 A trigger action

Figure 22-3 represents each of these parts of a trigger and is not meant to show exact syntax. The
sections that follow explain each part of a trigger in greater detail.

Figure 22-3 The REORDER Trigger

Description of the illustration cncpt078.gif

The Triggering Event or Statement

A triggering event or statement is the SQL statement, database event, or user event that causes a
trigger to fire. A triggering event can be one or more of the following:

 An INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement on a specific table (or view, in some cases)

 A CREATE, ALTER, or DROP statement on any schema object

 A database startup or instance shutdown

 A specific error message or any error message

  A user logon or logoff

For example, in Figure 22-3, the triggering statement is:

... UPDATE OF parts_on_hand ON inventory ...

This statement means that when the parts_on_hand column of a row in the inventory table is

updated, fire the trigger. When the triggering event is an UPDATE statement, you can include a
column list to identify which columns must be updated to fire the trigger. You cannot specify a
column list for INSERT and DELETE statements, because they affect entire rows of information.

A triggering event can specify multiple SQL statements:

... INSERT OR UPDATE OR DELETE OF inventory ...

This part means that when an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement is issued against

the inventory table, fire the trigger. When multiple types of SQL statements can fire a trigger, you
can use conditional predicates to detect the type of triggering statement. In this way, you can create
a single trigger that runs different code based on the type of statement that fires the trigger.

Trigger Restriction

A trigger restriction specifies a Boolean expression that must be true for the trigger to fire. The
trigger action is not run if the trigger restriction evaluates to false or unknown. In the example, the
trigger restriction is:

new.parts_on_hand < new.reorder_point

Consequently, the trigger does not fire unless the number of available parts is less than a present
reorder amount.

Trigger Action

A trigger action is the procedure (PL/SQL block, Java program, or C callout) that contains the SQL
statements and code to be run when the following events occur:

 A triggering statement is issued.

 The trigger restriction evaluates to true.

Like stored procedures, a trigger action can:

 Contain SQL, PL/SQL, or Java statements

 Define PL/SQL language constructs such as variables, constants, cursors, exceptions

  Define Java language constructs

 Call stored procedures

If the triggers are row triggers, the statements in a trigger action have access to column values of the
row being processed by the trigger. Correlation names provide access to the old and new values for
each column.

Types of Triggers

This section describes the different types of triggers:

 Row Triggers and Statement Triggers

 BEFORE and AFTER Triggers

 INSTEAD OF Triggers

 Triggers on System Events and User Events

Row Triggers and Statement Triggers

When you define a trigger, you can specify the number of times the trigger action is to be run:

 Once for every row affected by the triggering statement, such as a trigger fired by
an UPDATE statement that updates many rows

 Once for the triggering statement, no matter how many rows it affects

Row Triggers

A row trigger is fired each time the table is affected by the triggering statement. For example, if
an UPDATE statement updates multiple rows of a table, a row trigger is fired once for each row
affected by the UPDATEstatement. If a triggering statement affects no rows, a row trigger is not run.

Row triggers are useful if the code in the trigger action depends on data provided by the triggering
statement or rows that are affected. For example, Figure 22-3 illustrates a row trigger that uses the
values of each row affected by the triggering statement.

Statement Triggers

A statement trigger is fired once on behalf of the triggering statement, regardless of the number of
rows in the table that the triggering statement affects, even if no rows are affected. For example, if
a DELETE statement deletes several rows from a table, a statement-level DELETE trigger is fired only
once.

Statement triggers are useful if the code in the trigger action does not depend on the data provided
by the triggering statement or the rows affected. For example, use a statement trigger to:

 Make a complex security check on the current time or user

 Generate a single audit record

BEFORE and AFTER Triggers

When defining a trigger, you can specify the trigger timing—whether the trigger action is to be run
before or after the triggering statement. BEFORE and AFTER apply to both statement and row
triggers.

BEFORE and AFTER triggers fired by DML statements can be defined only on tables, not on views.
However, triggers on the base tables of a view are fired if an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement
is issued against the view. BEFORE and AFTER triggers fired by DDL statements can be defined only
on the database or a schema, not on particular tables.

See Also:

 "INSTEAD OF Triggers "

 "Triggers on System Events and User Events "  for information about
how BEFORE and AFTER triggers can be used to publish information
about DML and DDL statements

BEFORE Triggers

BEFORE triggers run the trigger action before the triggering statement is run. This type of trigger is
commonly used in the following situations:

 When the trigger action determines whether the triggering statement should be allowed to
complete. Using a BEFORE trigger for this purpose, you can eliminate unnecessary
processing of the triggering statement and its eventual rollback in cases where an exception
is raised in the trigger action.

 To derive specific column values before completing a

triggering INSERT or UPDATE statement.

AFTER Triggers

AFTER triggers run the trigger action after the triggering statement is run.

Trigger Type Combinations

Using the options listed previously, you can create four types of row and statement triggers:

 BEFORE statement trigger

Before executing the triggering statement, the trigger action is run.

 BEFORE row trigger
Before modifying each row affected by the triggering statement and before checking appropriate
integrity constraints, the trigger action is run, if the trigger restriction was not violated.

 AFTER statement trigger

After executing the triggering statement and applying any deferred integrity constraints, the trigger
action is run.

 AFTER row trigger

After modifying each row affected by the triggering statement and possibly applying appropriate
integrity constraints, the trigger action is run for the current row provided the trigger restriction was
not violated. UnlikeBEFORE row triggers, AFTER row triggers lock rows.

You can have multiple triggers of the same type for the same statement for any given table. For
example, you can have two BEFORE statement triggers for UPDATE statements on
the employees table. Multiple triggers of the same type permit modular installation of applications
that have triggers on the same tables. Also, Oracle materialized view logs use AFTER row triggers, so
you can design your own AFTER row trigger in addition to the Oracle-defined AFTER row trigger.

You can create as many triggers of the preceding different types as you need for each type of DML
statement, (INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE).

See Also:

Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals for examples of

trigger applications

INSTEAD OF Triggers

INSTEAD OF triggers provide a transparent way of modifying views that cannot be modified directly
through DML statements (INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE). These triggers are
called INSTEAD OF triggers because, unlike other types of triggers, Oracle fires the trigger instead of
executing the triggering statement.

You can write normal INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements against the view and

the INSTEAD OF trigger is fired to update the underlying tables appropriately. INSTEAD OF triggers
are activated for each row of the view that gets modified.

Modify Views

Modifying views can have ambiguous results:

 Deleting a row in a view could either mean deleting it from the base table or updating some
values so that it is no longer selected by the view.
  Inserting a row in a view could either mean inserting a new row into the base table or
updating an existing row so that it is projected by the view.

 Updating a column in a view that involves joins might change the semantics of other
columns that are not projected by the view.

Object views present additional problems. For example, a key use of object views is to represent
master/detail relationships. This operation inevitably involves joins, but modifying joins is inherently
ambiguous.

As a result of these ambiguities, there are many restrictions on which views are modifiable.
An INSTEAD OF trigger can be used on object views as well as relational views that are not otherwise
modifiable.

A view is inherently modifiable if data can be inserted, updated, or deleted without

using INSTEAD OF triggers and if it conforms to the restrictions listed as follows. Even if the view is
inherently modifiable, you might want to perform validations on the values being inserted, updated
or deleted. INSTEAD OF triggers can also be used in this case. Here the trigger code performs the
validation on the rows being modified and if valid, propagate the changes to the underlying tables.

INSTEAD OF triggers also enable you to modify object view instances on the client-side through OCI.
To modify an object materialized by an object view in the client-side object cache and flush it back to
the persistent store, you must specify INSTEAD OF triggers, unless the object view is inherently
modifiable. However, it is not necessary to define these triggers for just pinning and reading the
view object in the object cache.

See Also:

 Chapter 27, " Object Datatypes and Object Views"

 Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide

 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals  for an

example of an INSTEAD OF trigger

Views That Are Not Modifiable

If the view query contains any of the following constructs, the view is not inherently modifiable and
you therefore cannot perform inserts, updates, or deletes on the view:

 Set operators

 Aggregate functions

 GROUP BY, CONNECT BY, or START WITH clauses
  The DISTINCT operator

 Joins (however, some join views are updatable)

If a view contains pseudocolumns or expressions, you can only update the view with
an UPDATE statement that does not refer to any of the pseudocolumns or expressions.

See Also:

"Updatable Join Views "

INSTEAD OF Triggers on Nested Tables

You cannot modify the elements of a nested table column in a view directly with the TABLE clause.
However, you can do so by defining an INSTEAD OF trigger on the nested table column of the view.
The triggers on the nested tables fire if a nested table element is updated, inserted, or deleted and
handle the actual modifications to the underlying tables.

See Also:

 Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals

 Oracle Database SQL Reference for information on

the CREATE TRIGGER statement

Triggers on System Events and User Events

You can use triggers to publish information about database events to subscribers. Applications can
subscribe to database events just as they subscribe to messages from other applications. These
database events can include:

 System events

o Database startup and shutdown

o Server error message events

 User events

o User logon and logoff

o DDL statements (CREATE, ALTER, and DROP)

o DML statements (INSERT, DELETE, and UPDATE)

Triggers on system events can be defined at the database level or schema level.
The DBMS_AQ package is one example of using database triggers to perform certain actions. For
example, a database shutdown trigger is defined at the database level:

CREATE TRIGGER register_shutdown

ON DATABASE

SHUTDOWN

BEGIN

...

DBMS_AQ.ENQUEUE(...);

...

END;

Triggers on DDL statements or logon/logoff events can also be defined at the database level or
schema level. Triggers on DML statements can be defined on a table or view. A trigger defined at the
database level fires for all users, and a trigger defined at the schema or table level fires only when
the triggering event involves that schema or table.

Event Publication

Event publication uses the publish-subscribe mechanism of Oracle Streams Advanced Queuing.
A queue serves as a message repository for subjects of interest to various subscribers. Triggers use
the DBMS_AQ package to enqueue a message when specific system or user events occur.

See Also:

 Oracle Streams Advanced Queuing User's Guide and Reference

 PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference

Event Attributes

Each event allows the use of attributes within the trigger text. For example, the database startup
and shutdown triggers have attributes for the instance number and the database name, and the
logon and logoff triggers have attributes for the user name. You can specify a function with the same
name as an attribute when you create a trigger if you want to publish that attribute when the event
occurs. The attribute's value is then passed to the function or payload when the trigger fires. For
triggers on DML statements, the :OLD column values pass the attribute's value to the :NEW column
value.

System Events

System events that can fire triggers are related to instance startup and shutdown and error
messages. Triggers created on startup and shutdown events have to be associated with the
database. Triggers created on error events can be associated with the database or with a schema.

 STARTUP triggers fire when the database is opened by an instance. Their attributes include
the system event, instance number, and database name.

 SHUTDOWN triggers fire just before the server starts shutting down an instance. You can use
these triggers to make subscribing applications shut down completely when the database
shuts down. For abnormal instance shutdown, these triggers cannot be fired. The attributes
of SHUTDOWN triggers include the system event, instance number, and database name.

 SERVERERROR triggers fire when a specified error occurs, or when any error occurs if no
error number is specified. Their attributes include the system event and error number.

User Events

User events that can fire triggers are related to user logon and logoff, DDL statements, and DML
statements.

Triggers on LOGON and LOGOFF Events

LOGON and LOGOFF triggers can be associated with the database or with a schema. Their attributes
include the system event and user name, and they can specify simple conditions
on USERID and USERNAME.

 LOGON triggers fire after a successful logon of a user.

 LOGOFF triggers fire at the start of a user logoff.

Triggers on DDL Statements

DDL triggers can be associated with the database or with a schema. Their attributes include the
system event, the type of schema object, and its name. They can specify simple conditions on the
type and name of the schema object, as well as functions like USERID and USERNAME. DDL triggers
include the following types of triggers:

 BEFORE CREATE and AFTER CREATE triggers fire when a schema object is created in the

database or schema.

 BEFORE ALTER and AFTER ALTER triggers fire when a schema object is altered in the

database or schema.

 BEFORE DROP and AFTER DROP triggers fire when a schema object is dropped from the

database or schema.
Triggers on DML Statements

DML triggers for event publication are associated with a table. They can be
either BEFORE or AFTER triggers that fire for each row on which the specified DML operation occurs.
You cannot use INSTEAD OF triggers on views to publish events related to DML statements—instead,
you can publish events using BEFORE or AFTER triggers for the DML operations on a view's
underlying tables that are caused by INSTEAD OF triggers.

The attributes of DML triggers for event publication include the system event and the columns
defined by the user in the SELECT list. They can specify simple conditions on the type and name of
the schema object, as well as functions (such as UID, USER, USERENV, and SYSDATE),
pseudocolumns, and columns. The columns can be prefixed by :OLD and :NEW for old and new
values. Triggers on DML statements include the following triggers:

 BEFORE INSERT and AFTER INSERT triggers fire for each row inserted into the table.

 BEFORE UPDATE and AFTER UPDATE triggers fire for each row updated in the table.

 BEFORE DELETE and AFTER DELETE triggers fire for each row deleted from the table.

See Also:

o "Row Triggers "

o "BEFORE and AFTER Triggers "

o Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide -

Fundamentals for more information about event publication
using triggers on system events and user events

Trigger Execution

A trigger is in either of two distinct modes:

Trigger
Mode Definition

Enabled An enabled trigger runs its trigger action if a triggering statement is issued and the
trigger restriction (if any) evaluates to true.

Disabled A disabled trigger does not run its trigger action, even if a triggering statement is
issued and the trigger restriction (if any) would evaluate to true.

For enabled triggers, Oracle automatically performs the following actions:

  Oracle runs triggers of each type in a planned firing sequence when more than one trigger is
fired by a single SQL statement. First, statement level triggers are fired, and then row level
triggers are fired.

 Oracle performs integrity constraint checking at a set point in time with respect to the
different types of triggers and guarantees that triggers cannot compromise integrity
constraints.

 Oracle provides read-consistent views for queries and constraints.

 Oracle manages the dependencies among triggers and schema objects referenced in the
code of the trigger action

 Oracle uses two-phase commit if a trigger updates remote tables in a distributed database.

 Oracle fires multiple triggers in an unspecified, random order, if more than one trigger of the
same type exists for a given statement; that is, triggers of the same type for the same
statement are not guaranteed to fire in any specific order.

The Execution Model for Triggers and Integrity Constraint Checking

A single SQL statement can potentially fire up to four types of triggers:

 BEFORE row triggers

 BEFORE statement triggers

 AFTER row triggers

 AFTER statement triggers

A triggering statement or a statement within a trigger can cause one or more integrity constraints to
be checked. Also, triggers can contain statements that cause other triggers to fire (cascading
triggers).

Oracle uses the following execution model to maintain the proper firing sequence of multiple
triggers and constraint checking:

1. Run all BEFORE statement triggers that apply to the statement.

2. Loop for each row affected by the SQL statement.

a. Run all BEFORE row triggers that apply to the statement.

b. Lock and change row, and perform integrity constraint checking. (The lock is not
released until the transaction is committed.)

c. Run all AFTER row triggers that apply to the statement.

3. Complete deferred integrity constraint checking.

4. Run all AFTER statement triggers that apply to the statement.

The definition of the execution model is recursive. For example, a given SQL statement can cause
a BEFORE row trigger to be fired and an integrity constraint to be checked. That BEFORE row trigger,
in turn, might perform an update that causes an integrity constraint to be checked and
an AFTER statement trigger to be fired. The AFTER statement trigger causes an integrity constraint to
be checked. In this case, the execution model runs the steps recursively, as follows:

Original SQL statement issued.

1. BEFORE row triggers fired.

a. AFTER statement triggers fired by UPDATE in BEFORE row trigger.

i. Statements of AFTER statement triggers run.

ii. Integrity constraint checked on tables changed by AFTER statement triggers.

b. Statements of BEFORE row triggers run.

c. Integrity constraint checked on tables changed by BEFORE row triggers.

2. SQL statement run.

3. Integrity constraint from SQL statement checked.

There are two exceptions to this recursion:

 When a triggering statement modifies one table in a referential constraint (either the
primary key or foreign key table), and a triggered statement modifies the other, only the
triggering statement will check the integrity constraint. This allows row triggers to enhance
referential integrity.

 Statement triggers fired due to DELETE CASCADE and DELETE SET NULL are fired before and

after the user DELETE statement, not before and after the individual enforcement
statements. This prevents those statement triggers from encountering mutating errors.

An important property of the execution model is that all actions and checks done as a result of a SQL
statement must succeed. If an exception is raised within a trigger, and the exception is not explicitly
handled, all actions performed as a result of the original SQL statement, including the actions
performed by fired triggers, are rolled back. Thus, integrity constraints cannot be compromised by
triggers. The execution model takes into account integrity constraints and disallows triggers that
violate declarative integrity constraints.

For example, in the previously outlined scenario, suppose that the integrity constraint is violated. As
a result of this violation, all changes made by the SQL statement, the fired BEFORE row trigger, and
the fired AFTERstatement trigger are rolled back.

Note:
 Although triggers of different types are fired in a specific order, triggers of the
same type for the same statement are not guaranteed to fire in any specific
order. For example, allBEFORE row triggers for a single UPDATE statement may
not always fire in the same order. Design your applications so they do not rely
on the firing order of multiple triggers of the same type.

Data Access for Triggers

When a trigger is fired, the tables referenced in the trigger action might be currently undergoing
changes by SQL statements in other users' transactions. In all cases, the SQL statements run within
triggers follow the common rules used for standalone SQL statements. In particular, if an
uncommitted transaction has modified values that a trigger being fired either needs to read (query)
or write (update), then the SQL statements in the body of the trigger being fired use the following
guidelines:

 Queries see the current read-consistent materialized view of referenced tables and any data
changed within the same transaction.

 Updates wait for existing data locks to be released before proceeding.

Storage of PL/SQL Triggers

Oracle stores PL/SQL triggers in compiled form, just like stored procedures. When
a CREATE TRIGGER statement commits, the compiled PL/SQL code, called P code (for pseudocode), is
stored in the database and the source code of the trigger is flushed from the shared pool.

See Also:

PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference for more information about compiling and
storing PL/SQL code

Execution of Triggers

Oracle runs a trigger internally using the same steps used for procedure execution. The only subtle
difference is that a user has the right to fire a trigger if he or she has the privilege to run the
triggering statement. Other than this, triggers are validated and run the same way as stored
procedures.

See Also:

PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference for more information about stored

 procedures

Dependency Maintenance for Triggers

Like procedures, triggers depend on referenced objects. Oracle automatically manages the
dependencies of a trigger on the schema objects referenced in its trigger action. The dependency
issues for triggers are the same as those for stored procedures. Triggers are treated like stored
procedures. They are inserted into the data dictionary.

See Also:

Chapter 6, " Dependencies Among Schema Objects "

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