Tables

You can perform the following operations on a table by right-clicking the table name in the Connections navigator and selecting an item from the menu:

• Open: Opens the table in the right panel.

• Table: Table actions include Rename, Copy (create a copy using a different name), Drop (delete the table), Truncate (delete existing data without affecting the table definition), Lock (set the table lock mode: row share, exclusive, and so on), Comment (descriptive comment explaining the use or purpose of the table), Parallel (change the default degree of parallelism for queries and DML on the table), No Parallel (specify serial execution), Count Rows (return the number of rows), and Generate Table API (generate statements for a PL/SQL procedure to perform operations on the table).

• Column: Column actions include Comment (descriptive comment about a column), Add, Drop, Rename and Normalize.

• Index: Options include Create (create an index on specified columns), Create Text (create an Oracle Text index on a column), Create Text (create a function-based index on a column), and Drop.

• Constraint: Options include Enable or Disable Single, Drop (delete a constraint), Add Check (add a check constraint), Add Foreign Key, and Add Unique.

• Statistics: Options include Gather Statistics (compute exact table and column statistics and store them in the data dictionary) and Validate Structure (verifies the integrity of each data block and row, and for an index-organized table also generates the optimal prefix compression count for the primary key index on the table). Statistics are used by the Oracle Database optimizer to choose the execution plan for SQL statements that access analyzed objects.

• Storage: Options include Shrink Table (shrink space in a table, for segments in tablespaces with automatic segment management) and Move Table (to another tablespace). The Shrink Table options include Compact (only defragments the segment space and compacts the table rows for subsequent release, but does not readjust the high water mark and does not release the space immediately) and Cascade (performs the same operations on all dependent objects of the table, including secondary indexes on index-organized tables).

• Trigger: Options include Create, Create PK from Sequence (create a before-insert trigger to populate the primary key using values from a specified sequence), Enable or Disable All, Enable or Disable Single, and Drop (delete the trigger).

You can perform the following operations on a column in a table by right-clicking the column name in the Connections navigator and selecting an item from the menu:

• Rename: Renames the column.

• Drop: Deletes the column (including all data in that column) from the table.

• Comment: Adds a descriptive comment about the column.

• Encrypt (for Oracle Database Release 10.2 and higher, and only if the Transparent Data Encryption feature is enabled for the database): Displays a dialog box in which you specify a supported encryption algorithm to be used for encrypting all data in the column. Current data and subsequently inserted data are encrypted.

• Decrypt (for Oracle Database Release 10.2 and higher, and only if the Transparent Data Encryption feature is enabled for the database): Decrypts data in the column that had been encrypted, and causes data that is subsequently inserted not to be encrypted.

• Normalize: Creates a new table using the distinct values in the specified column. You must specify names for the new table and its primary key column, as well as a sequence name and trigger name.