|
Line |
Important Points |
|
1 |
The table has a unique name, from one to 30 characters. It is stored in Oracle Database 10g's data dictionary in uppercase. |
|
2 |
The ID column is numeric with anywhere from one to eight digits. The application that creates and keeps track of parts may insist that the first character of the ID be a digit between 1 and 9. Since the field is defined as numeric, if the leading digit were a 0, the part ID would only be seven digits long. |
|
3 |
The manufacturer_code is the only manufacturer information stored in part_master. Further information about who made the product is in a related table—hence, the terminology relational database. |
|
4 |
inception, being a date field, contains a date and time specification, though it will display with a default month abbreviation and a two-character year unless some manual manipulation is performed (for example, 12-NOV-05). |
|
5 |
description is a free form field with a variable length of up to 30 characters. |
|
6 |
unit_price can accommodate up to four integer and two decimal digits. |
|
7 |
in_stock is a one-character flag of sorts—thus, the system designers can decide to use an indicator like a ''1" or "X" to represent items that are in stock. Notice how this is the only one of seven fields in the PART_MASTER table that can be left blank. |
|
TABLE 1-2. part_master Table Definitions |
