When queried, virtual columns appear to be normal table columns, but their values are derived rather than being stored on disc. The syntax for defining a virtual column is listed below.
| column_name [datatype] [GENERATED ALWAYS] AS (expression) [VIRTUAL] |
| CREATE TABLE employees ( id NUMBER, first_name VARCHAR2(10), last_name VARCHAR2(10), salary NUMBER(9,2), comm1 NUMBER(3), comm2 NUMBER(3), salary1 AS (ROUND(salary*(1+comm1/100),2)), salary2 NUMBER GENERATED ALWAYS AS (ROUND(salary*(1+comm2/100),2)) VIRTUAL, CONSTRAINT employees_pk PRIMARY KEY (id) ); INSERT INTO employees (id, first_name, last_name, salary, comm1, comm2) VALUES (1, 'JOHN', 'DOE', 100, 5, 10); INSERT INTO employees (id, first_name, last_name, salary, comm1, comm2) VALUES (2, 'JAYNE', 'DOE', 200, 10, 20); COMMIT; |
Querying the table shows the inserted data plus the derived commission-based salaries.
| SELECT * FROM employees; ID FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME SALARY COMM1 COMM2 SALARY1 SALARY2 ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- 1 JOHN DOE 100 5 10 105 110 2 JAYNE DOE 200 10 20 220 240 2 rows selected. |
[DBA | ALL | USER]_TAB_COLUMNS views.
| COLUMN data_default FORMAT A50 SELECT column_name, data_default FROM user_tab_columns WHERE table_name = 'EMPLOYEES'; COLUMN_NAME DATA_DEFAULT ------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- ID FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME SALARY COMM1 COMM2 SALARY1 ROUND("SALARY"*(1+"COMM1"/100),2) SALARY2 ROUND("SALARY"*(1+"COMM2"/100),2) 8 rows selected. |
Notes and restrictions on virtual columns include:
- Indexes defined against virtual columns are equivalent to function-based indexes.
- Virtual columns can be referenced in the WHERE clause of updates and deletes, but they cannot be manipulated by DML.
- Tables containing virtual columns can still be eligible for result caching.
- Functions in expressions must be deterministic at the time of table creation, but can subsequently be recompiled and made non-deterministic without invalidating the virtual column. In such cases the following steps must be taken after the function is recompiled:
- Constraint on the virtual column must be disabled and re-enabled.
- Indexes on the virtual column must be rebuilt.
- Materialized views that access the virtual column must be fully refreshed.
- The result cache must be flushed if cached queries have accessed the virtual column.
- Table statistics must be regathered.
- Virtual columns are not supported for index-organized, external, object, cluster, or temporary tables.
- The expression used in the virtual column definition has the following restrictions:
- It cannot refer to another virtual column by name.
- It can only refer to columns defined in the same table.
- If it refers to a deterministic user-defined function, it cannot be used as a partitioning key column.
- The output of the expression must be a scalar value. It cannot return an Oracle supplied datatype, a user-defined type, or LOB or LONG RAW.
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