Overview of Managing Objects

You need to create tables, indexes, and possibly other database objects in a schema before you start developing your application. A schema is a collection of database objects. A schema is owned by a database user and has the same name as that user, such as the HR schema. Schema objects are logical structures created by users. Objects can define areas of the database to hold data, such as tables, or can consist of just a definition, such as views.

Tables are the basic database objects and contain all the user data. When creating a table, it is important that you define that data that you want to store in the table. You need to specify the datatype of the data and any restrictions on the range of values. See "Using Datatypes" and "Ensuring Data Integrity in Tables With Constraints".

This chapter discusses tables, indexes, views, sequences, and synonyms. Other database (schema) objects include functions, packages, procedures, and triggers. Functions, packages, and procedures are discussed in Using Procedures, Functions, and Packages. Triggers are discussed in Using Triggers.

You can create, view, and manipulate database objects in your schema with Object Browser or SQL. With Object Browser, the underlying SQL is generated for you. In this chapter, the examples use Object Browser.

This section contains the following topics: