Paradigma Software Blog

There are three new kind of queries specially designed  for recursive (hierarchical) tables.

Such kind of tables are widely used. It could be human relationships, threaded forums and anything which might be described as tree-like data.

There are few common SQL ways to operate with such structures but all of them are too far from perfect.

Valentina introduces special kind of query which looks much more clear, natural and readable.

Syntax:
vext_recursive_table         -- v4.1
    :   {ANCESTORS | BROTHERS | DESCENDANTS} OF vext_root_objects
        [{TO|ON} LEVEL UINT] USING link_name [WITH {ROOT | ROOTS}]

vext_root_objects
    :   UINT
    |   variable_name
    |   ( search_condition )

Examples:

ANCESTORS OF (RecID IN(4,5)) ON LEVEL 1 USING l1
BROTHERS OF 4 ON LEVEL 2 USING l1
SELECT * FROM (ANCESTORS OF (RecID IN(4,5)) ON LEVEL 1 USING l1)  WHERE f1 = 'Branch2'

See also:

* WIKI: Valentina SQL Reference: Hierarchical (Recursive) Queries for description of exact syntax of these commands and examples.

* WIKI: Article Hierarchical (Recursive) Queries in Valentina SQL

Such kind of trigger may be applied to views only. It could be used for insert, update and delete operations as usual.

Example:

CREATE TRIGGER trigger1
INSTEAD OF INSERT ON v1
FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
INSERT INTO t2 VALUES( 1 );
END ;

“trigger1” will be fired on attempt to insert record in the view “v1”.
Starting from v 4.1 you may use ‘NEW’ and ‘OLD’ descriptors within this kind of trigger.
Views are always read-only – so using the trigger is a nature way to overcome this restriction.

Example:

CREATE TABLE t1 (f1 LONG, f2 TEXT(1024));
CREATE VIEW v1 AS SELECT * FROM t1;
CREATE TRIGGER trigger1
INSTEAD OF INSERT ON v1
FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
INSERT INTO t1 VALUES( NEW.f1, NEW.f2 );
END ;

—
INSERT INTO v1 VALUES ( 1, ‘abc’);

SELECT * FROM v1;
————-
f1 f2
————-
1 abc
————-