Is there a function in PL/SQL that can count the number of n subtypes of a table (supertype)?
I've tried the following:
select
count(distinct value(t1))
from table t1;
select
count(distinct treat(value(t1))
from table t1;
Basically, if a table has 6 subtypes, I would like a query that could output 6.
Oracle Setup:
CREATE TYPE parent_type AS OBJECT( id NUMBER ) NOT FINAL;
CREATE TYPE child1_type UNDER parent_type ( c1 NUMBER );
CREATE TYPE child2_type UNDER parent_type ( c2 NUMBER ) NOT FINAL;
CREATE TYPE child3_type UNDER child2_type ( c3 NUMBER );
CREATE TABLE test_data ( value parent_type );
INSERT INTO test_data ( value )
SELECT parent_type( 1 ) FROM DUAL UNION ALL
SELECT child1_type( 2, 1 ) FROM DUAL UNION ALL
SELECT child1_type( 3, 1 ) FROM DUAL UNION ALL
SELECT child1_type( 4, 1 ) FROM DUAL UNION ALL
SELECT child2_type( 5, 2 ) FROM DUAL UNION ALL
SELECT child2_type( 6, 2 ) FROM DUAL UNION ALL
SELECT child3_type( 7, 3, 1 ) FROM DUAL UNION ALL
SELECT child3_type( 8, 3, 1 ) FROM DUAL UNION ALL
SELECT child3_type( 9, 3, 1 ) FROM DUAL;
Query 1:
If you know the type hierarchy then you can build a query manually using the fact that TREAT( object AS type )
will return NULL
if the object you are passing is not of that type and can use a CASE
statement and start from the leaves of the hierarchy tree and process the types from deepest inheritance depth through to the parent type:
SELECT COUNT( DISTINCT
CASE
WHEN TREAT( value AS child3_type ) IS NOT NULL
THEN 'child3_type' -- deepest subtype
WHEN TREAT( value AS child2_type ) IS NOT NULL
THEN 'child2_type' -- supertype of child3_type, subtype of parent_type
WHEN TREAT( value AS child1_type ) IS NOT NULL
THEN 'child1_type' -- subtype of parent_type
ELSE 'parent_type'
END
) AS num_types
FROM test_data
Query 2:
If you have access to the SYS.ANYDATA
type then you can get the type of the object:
SELECT COUNT(
DISTINCT
SYS.ANYDATA.getTypeName(
SYS.ANYDATA.convertObject( value )
)
) AS num_types
FROM test_data
Output:
Both give the same output:
| NUM_TYPES | | --------: | | 4 |
db<>fiddle here