1. Operations Guide
  2. Working with Data in a TimesTen Database
  3. Database Objects, Users and Owners

Database Objects, Users and Owners

A TimesTen database has several permanent and temporary objects. TimesTen authenticates users with passwords. By default, the login name that is being used to run the application becomes the owner of objects in the database.

The following sections describe the main TimesTen database objects, users and owners:

Database Objects

A TimesTen database has several permanent objects.

  • Tables. The primary objects of a TimesTen database are the tables that contain the application data. See Understanding Tables.

  • Materialized Views. Read-only tables that hold a summary of data selected from one or more "regular" TimesTen tables. See Understanding Materialized Views.

  • Views. Logical tables that are based on one or more tables called detail tables. A view itself contains no data. See Understanding Views.

  • Indexes. Indexes on one or more columns of a table may be created for faster access to tables. See Understanding Indexes.

  • Rows. Every table consists of 0 or more rows. A row is a formatted list of values. See Understanding Rows.

  • Synonyms. Aliases for a database object. Synonyms are often used for security and convenience, because they can be used to mask object name and object owner. See Understanding Synonyms.

  • System tables and views. System tables and views contain TimesTen metadata, such as a table of all tables. See System Tables and Understanding System Views.

There are also many temporary objects, including prepared commands, cursors and locks.

Database Users and Owners

TimesTen authenticates user names with passwords. Applications should choose one UID for the application itself because by default the login name that is being used to run the application becomes the owner of objects in the database.

If you omit the UID connection attribute in the connection string, TimesTen uses the current user's login name. TimesTen converts all user names to upper case characters. Ensure that you use the fully qualified name of a database object, for example owner.table_name, whenever you issue a SQL statement.

Users cannot access TimesTen databases as user SYS. TimesTen determines the user name by the value of the UID connection attribute, or if not present, then by the login name of the connected user. If a user's login is SYS, set the UID connection to override the login name.