Transaction Control Language

Transaction Control Language

These commands are used for controlling the state of the transaction they are fired from. Controlling a transaction includes capabilities of committing it, rolling back the changes, identifying the SAVEPOINTs to control the ROLLBACK, etc. The command belonging to this category are:-

COMMIT – used for making the changes permanent.
ROLLBACK – used for restoring the database to the previously COMMITted state.
SAVEPOINT – used for identifying a point to which the transaction can be rolled back if required of course before the transaction gets COMMITted.
SET TRANSACTION – used for modifying the properties of the current transaction like modifying the Isolation Level of the transaction.

1) COMMIT Command

->The commit command saves all transactions to the database since the last COMMIT or ROLLBACK command.

Syntax
commit [work];

The keyword commit is the only mandatory part of the syntax. Keyword work is optional; its only purpose is to make the command more user-friendly.

example
SQL>delete from emp
where
emp_age > 75;

->The above command deletes the records of those employee whose age is above 75 yrs. Though the changes are reflected on database they are not actually save as explained above they are stored in temporary area. To allow changes permanently on database commit command is used.

SQL> COMMIT WORK;

->The above command will made changes permanently on database, since last commit or rollback command was issued.
note here work is totally optional, it is just to make command more user friendly.

2) ROLLBACK Command

->The rollback command is the transactional control command used to undo transactions that have not already been saved to the database. The rollback command can only be used to undo transactions since the last COMMIT or ROLLBACK command was issued.

Syntax

SQL>rollback [work];

The keyword rollback is the only mandatory part of the syntax. Keyword work is optional; its only purpose is to make the command more user-friendly.

example

SQL>delete from emp
where
emp_age > 75;

->The above command deletes the records of those employee whose age is above 75 yrs. Though the changes are reflected on database they are not actually save as explained above they are stored in temporary area. To discards changes made on database rollback command is used.

SQL> ROLLBACK WORK;

->The above command will discards changes made on database,since last commit or rollback command was issued.
note here work is totally optional, it is just to make command more user friendly.

3) SAVEPOINT Command

->A savepoint is a point in a transaction that you can roll the transaction back to without rolling back the entire transaction.

->Practical example

consider that a person walking and after passing some distance the road is split into two tracks. The person were not sure to choose which track, so before randomly selecting one track he make a signal flag, so that if the track was not the right one he can rollback to signal flag and select the right track. In this example the signal flag becomes the savepoint. Explanatory figure is as under.

Syntax

SQL>SAVEPOINT

->Savepoint name should be explanatory.

example
->Before deleting the records of employee whose age is above 75, we are not sure that whether we are given work to actually delete the records of employee whose age is above 75yrs or 80yrs. So before proceding further we should create savepoint here if we are been order later than it might create loss of information.
SQL>savepoint orignally;

What is RDBMS?

RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System. RDBMS is the basis for SQL, and for all modern database systems like MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, Oracle, MySQL, and Microsoft Access.

A Relational database management system (RDBMS) is a database management system (DBMS) that is based on the relational model as introduced by E. F. Codd.
What is table?

The data in RDBMS is stored in database objects called tables. The table is a collection of related data entries and it consists of columns and rows.

Remember, a table is the most common and simplest form of data storage in a relational database. Following is the example of a CUSTOMERS table:

+—-+———-+—–+———–+———-+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+—-+———-+—–+———–+———-+
| 1 | suresh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | raju | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | chitra | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+—-+———-+—–+———–+———-+

What is field?

Every table is broken up into smaller entities called fields. The fields in the CUSTOMERS table consist of ID, NAME, AGE, ADDRESS and SALARY.

A field is a column in a table that is designed to maintain specific information about every record in the table.
What is record or row?

A record, also called a row of data, is each individual entry that exists in a table. For example there are 7 records in the above CUSTOMERS table. Following is a single row of data or record in the CUSTOMERS table:

+—-+———-+—–+———–+———-+
| 1 | suresh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
+—-+———-+—–+———–+———-+

A record is a horizontal entity in a table.

What is column?

A column is a vertical entity in a table that contains all information associated with a specific field in a table.

For example, a column in the CUSTOMERS table is ADDRESS, which represents location description and would consist of the following:

+———–+
| ADDRESS |
+———–+
| Ahmedabad |
| Delhi |
| Kota |
| Mumbai |
| Bhopal |
| MP |
| Indore |
+—-+——+

What is NULL value?

A NULL value in a table is a value in a field that appears to be blank, which means a field with a NULL value is a field with no value.

It is very important to understand that a NULL value is different than a zero value or a field that contains spaces. A field with a NULL value is one that has been left blank during record creation.
SQL Constraints:

Constraints are the rules enforced on data columns on table. These are used to limit the type of data that can go into a table. This ensures the accuracy and reliability of the data in the database.

Constraints could be column level or table level. Column level constraints are applied only to one column where as table level constraints are applied to the whole table.

Following are commonly used constraints available in SQL:

NOT NULL Constraint: Ensures that a column cannot have NULL value.
DEFAULT Constraint: Provides a default value for a column when none is specified.
UNIQUE Constraint: Ensures that all values in a column are different.
PRIMARY Key: Uniquely identified each rows/records in a database table.
FOREIGN Key: Uniquely identified a rows/records in any another database table.
CHECK Constraint: The CHECK constraint ensures that all values in a column satisfy certain conditions.
INDEX: Use to create and retrieve data from the database very quickly.

Data Integrity:

The following categories of the data integrity exist with each RDBMS:

Entity Integrity: There are no duplicate rows in a table.
Domain Integrity: Enforces valid entries for a given column by restricting the type, the format, or the range of values.
Referential integrity: Rows cannot be deleted, which are used by other records.
User-Defined Integrity: Enforces some specific business rules that do not fall into entity, domain or referential integrity.

Database Normalization:

Database normalization is the process of efficiently organizing data in a database. There are two reasons of the normalization process:

Eliminating redundant data, for example, storing the same data in more than one tables.

Ensuring data dependencies make sense.

Both of these are worthy goals as they reduce the amount of space a database consumes and ensure that data is logically stored. Normalization consists of a series of guidelines that help guide you in creating a good database structure.

Normalization guidelines are divided into normal forms; think of form as the format or the way a database structure is laid out. The aim of normal forms is to organize the database structure so that it complies with the rules of first normal form, then second normal form, and finally third normal form.

It’s your choice to take it further and go to fourth normal form, fifth normal form, and so on, but generally speaking, third normal form is enough.

i.First Normal Form (1NF)
ii.Second Normal Form (2NF)
iii.Third Normal Form (3NF)

First normal form (1NF) sets the very basic rules for an organized database:

Define the data items required, because they become the columns in a table. Place related data items in a table.
Ensure that there are no repeating groups of data.
Ensure that there is a primary key.

First Rule of 1NF:

You must define the data items. This means looking at the data to be stored, organizing the data into columns, defining what type of data each column contains, and finally putting related columns into their own table.

For example, you put all the columns relating to locations of meetings in the Location table, those relating to members in the MemberDetails table, and so on.

Second Rule of 1NF:

The next step is ensuring that there are no repeating groups of data. Consider we have the following table:

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(
ID INT NOT NULL,
NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,
AGE INT NOT NULL,
ADDRESS CHAR (25),
ORDERS VARCHAR(155)
);

So if we populate this table for a single customer having multiple orders, then it would be something as follows:

+—-+———-+—–+———–+———-+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | ORDERS |
+—-+———-+—–+———–+———-+
|100 | suresh | 36 |MUMBAI | NOKIA2230|
|100 | suresh | 36 |MUMBAI | MICROMAX |
|100 | SURESHk | 36 MUMBAI | SAMSUNG |
|+—-+———-+—–+———–+———

But as per 1NF, we need to ensure that there are no repeating groups of data. So let us break above table into two parts and join them using a key as follows:

CUSTOMERS table:

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(
ID INT NOT NULL,
NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,
AGE INT NOT NULL,
ADDRESS CHAR (25),
PRIMARY KEY (ID)
);

This table would have the following record:

ID NAME AGE ADDRESS

100 | suresh | 36 | MUMBAI

ORDERS table:

CREATE TABLE ORDERS(
ID INT NOT NULL,
CUSTOMER_ID INT NOT NULL,
ORDERS VARCHAR(155),
PRIMARY KEY (ID)
);

This table would have the following records:

ID CUSTOMER_ID ORDERS

10 100 NOKIA2230
11 100 MICROMAX
12 100 SAMSUNG

Third Rule of 1NF:

The final rule of the first normal form, create a primary key for each table which we have already created.

ii.Second Normal Form (2NF)

Second normal form states that it should meet all the rules for 1NF and there must be no partial dependences of any of the columns on the primary key:

Consider a customer-order relation and you want to store customer ID, customer name, order ID and order detail, and date of purchase:

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(
CUST_ID INT NOT NULL,
CUST_NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,
ORDER_ID INT NOT NULL,
ORDER_DETAIL VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,
SALE_DATE DATETIME,
PRIMARY KEY (CUST_ID, ORDER_ID)
);

This table is in first normal form, in that it obeys all the rules of first normal form. In this table, the primary key consists of CUST_ID and ORDER_ID. Combined, they are unique assuming same customer would hardly order same thing.

However, the table is not in second normal form because there are partial dependencies of primary keys and columns. CUST_NAME is dependent on CUST_ID, and there’s no real link between a customer’s name and what he purchased. Order detail and purchase date are also dependent on ORDER_ID, but they are not dependent on CUST_ID, because there’s no link between a CUST_ID and an ORDER_DETAIL or their SALE_DATE.

To make this table comply with second normal form, you need to separate the columns into three tables.

First, create a table to store the customer details as follows:

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(
CUST_ID INT NOT NULL,
CUST_NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (CUST_ID)
);

Next, create a table to store details of each order:

CREATE TABLE ORDERS(
ORDER_ID INT NOT NULL,
ORDER_DETAIL VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (ORDER_ID)
);

Finally, create a third table storing just CUST_ID and ORDER_ID to keep track of all the orders for a customer:

CREATE TABLE CUSTMERORDERS(
CUST_ID INT NOT NULL,
ORDER_ID INT NOT NULL,
SALE_DATE DATETIME,
PRIMARY KEY (CUST_ID, ORDER_ID)
);

iii.Third Normal Form (3NF)

A table is in third normal form when the following conditions are met:

It is in second normal form.

All nonprimary fields are dependent on the primary key.

The dependency of nonprimary fields is between the data. For example, in the below table, street name, city, and state are unbreakably bound to the zip code.

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(
CUST_ID INT NOT NULL,
CUST_NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,
DOB DATE,
STREET VARCHAR(200),
CITY VARCHAR(100),
STATE VARCHAR(100),
ZIP VARCHAR(12),
EMAIL_ID VARCHAR(256),
PRIMARY KEY (CUST_ID)
);

The dependency between zip code and address is called a transitive dependency. To comply with third normal form, all you need to do is move the Street, City, and State fields into their own table, which you can call the Zip Code table:

CREATE TABLE ADDRESS(
ZIP VARCHAR(12),
STREET VARCHAR(200),
CITY VARCHAR(100),
STATE VARCHAR(100),
PRIMARY KEY (ZIP)
);

Next, alter the CUSTOMERS table as follows:

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(
CUST_ID INT NOT NULL,
CUST_NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,
DOB DATE,
ZIP VARCHAR(12),
EMAIL_ID VARCHAR(256),
PRIMARY KEY (CUST_ID)
);

The advantages of removing transitive dependencies are mainly twofold. First, the amount of data duplication is reduced and therefore your database becomes smaller.

The second advantage is data integrity. When duplicated data changes, there’s a big risk of updating only some of the data, especially if it’s spread out in a number of different places in the database. For example, if address and zip code data were stored in three or four different tables, then any changes in zip codes would need to ripple out to every record in those three or four tables.

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