In addition to the basic tables and indexes in a DBEnvironment,
ALLBASE/SQL lets you create database objects known as constraints,
procedures, and rules, which provide for a high degree of data
consistency and integrity inside the DBEnvironment
without the need for extensive application programming. Constraints
define conditions on the rows of a table;
procedures define sequences of SQL statements
that can be stored in the DBEnvironment and applied as a
group either through rules or through execution by specific users; and
rules let you define complex relationships among tables by
tying specific procedures to particular kinds of data manipulation on tables.
Together, these tools let you store many of your organization's
business rules in the DBEnvironment itself, reducing the need for
application code.
This chapter presents the following topics:
Using Integrity Constraints