Oracle Forms Developer – Form Builder Reference, Volume 1

Alias property
Description
Establishes an alias for the table that the data block is associated with.
Applies to table/columns associated with a data block
Set Form Builder
Default
The Data Block wizard sets the Alias property to the first letter of the table name. (For example, a table
named DEPT would have a default alias of D.)
Required/Optional required for Oracle8 tables that contain column objects or REFs
Usage Notes
For Oracle8 tables, SELECT statements that include column objects or REF columns must identify both
the table name and its alias, and must qualify the column name by using that alias as a prefix.
For example:
CREATE TYPE ADDRESS_TYPE AS OBJECT
(STREET VARCHAR2(30),
CITY VARCHAR2(30),
STATE VARCHAR2(2));
CREATE TABLE EMP
(EMPNO NUMBER,
ADDRESS ADDRESS_TYPE);
If the alias for this EMP table were E, then a SELECT statement would need to be qualified as follows:
SELECT EMPNO, E.ADDRESS.CITY FROM EMP E;
In this case, the alias is E. The column object ADDRESS.CITY is qualified with that alias, and the alias
is also given after the table name. (The column EMPNO, which is a normal relational column, requires
no such qualification.)
In most situations, Form Builder will handle this alias naming for you. It will establish an alias name at
design-time, and then automatically use the qualified name at runtime when it fetches the data from the
Oracle8 Server. You only need to concern yourself with this alias naming if you are doing such things as
coding a block WHERE clause.
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