Once you’ve installed ORDS, you need to REST-enable your schema before taking advantage of ORDS (I used to forget this step, but now it’s like second nature).
RESOURCES: I've discussed ORDS installation here and here. I'd check both pages if you're unfamiliar with it or want a refresher.
ORDS.ENABLE_SCHEMA / ADMIN_ORDS.ENABLE_SCHEMA
While logged into your database with SQLcl, you can issue the following commands to not only create a new user but grant them the required Roles (and the underlying Privileges) and REST-enable their schema (aka “ORDS-ifying” a schema):
/* Remember to remove the brackets when you run this code */
Create User [username] Identified By [password];
Grant Connect to [username];
Grant Resource to [username];
Grant Unlimited Tablespace to [newuser];
/* This PL/SQL procedure assumes you are logged in as the SYS.
If you are logged in as that new user, AND HAVE BEEN GRANTED
THE DBA ROLE, then you can execute the ORDS.ENABLE_SCHEMA
procedure */
Begin
ORDS_ADMIN.ENABLE_SCHEMA(p_schema = > '[username]');
End;
/
Create User [username] Identified By [password];
Grant Connect to [username];
Grant Resource to [username];
Grant Unlimited Tablespace to [newuser];
Begin
ORDS_ADMIN.ENABLE_SCHEMA(p_schema = > '[username]');
Commit;
End;
/
Automate because lazy
But even that is too much work for me, so I took a stab at automating this via an SQL script. As you can see, the above commands are simple and repeatable (a perfect candidate for automation). And since I’m constantly adding and dropping users for various reasons, copying and pasting code from an old blog or writing everything by hand gets annoying. Additional reasons for automating:
laziness
a desire to improve SQL and PL/SQL skills
an interest in scripting
I get easily distracted
The script
After about a day and a half, I have a working prototype script to call upon when I’m on the SQLcl command line. Here is what I came up with:
NOTE: If you just came here to remix the code, I have this in the scripts folder in my GitHub blog repo as well. Please feel free to sample it and/or roast it/me 🔥. But if you keep scrolling, I'll go into more detail section-by-section.
18-OCT-2023 UPDATE: I've slightly changed this code to include the Commit; command in the PL/SQL portion of the script. You'll see that reflected in line 44. Thanks René 🙌🏻!
INPUT
PROMPT Choose a new database username:
ACCEPT NEWUSER CHAR PROMPT 'Enter new user name hurrr:'
PROMPT Choose a temporary password for &&NEWUSER:
ACCEPT NEWPASS CHAR PROMPT 'Make it super secret:'
/*
I wish I could figure out a way to ONLY ask for username > check
that against existing database users > AND THEN allow a user to
continue with the 'choose password' step. I was only able to figure
out how to ask for the username and password AND THEN checks
against the database. I stole the code from this thread:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30710990/creating-an-oracle-user-if-it-doesnt-already-exist
Currently, its just extra steps for the user; kind of annoying. If you're
reading this and can figure out a way to get this working, let me know!
I'll make the change and attribute you in the comments :)
*/
Set Verify On
/*
You can refer to section 6.3.10.11 for more details on this
SET VERIFY OFF command
https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/23/sqpug/using-substitution-variables-sqlplus.html#GUID-3ACD41F3-A5A2-48D5-8E81-C29F9C14C865
*/
/*
The difference between using single and double ampersands:
https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/23/sqpug/using-substitution-variables-sqlplus.html#GUID-C6BE6E41-821F-413E-B4B1-56AAE4A46298
*/
Declare
check_if_user_exists Integer;
plsql_block VARCHAR2(500);
NEWUSER VARCHAR2(20) := '&&NEWUSER';
Begin
Select count(*) Into check_if_user_exists From dba_users Where username=NEWUSER;
If (check_if_user_exists = 0) Then
Execute Immediate 'Create User &&NEWUSER Identified By &&NEWPASS';
Execute Immediate 'Grant Connect To &&NEWUSER';
Execute Immediate 'Grant Resource To &&NEWUSER';
Execute Immediate 'Grant Unlimited Tablespace To &&NEWUSER';
plsql_block := 'Begin ORDS_ADMIN.ENABLE_SCHEMA(p_schema => :1); Commit; End;';
Execute Immediate plsql_block using NEWUSER;
End If;
End;
/
/*
The p_schema parameter is mandatory, that's why I'm including it.
If you omit the other parameters, the procedure will use the default
parameter values.
Learn more about this procedure here:
https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-rest-data-services/23.2/orddg/oracle-rest-data-services-administration-pl-sql-package-reference.html#GUID-459B8B6F-16EC-4FEC-9969-E8231668AD85
I was able to get this entire thing to work through trial-and-error,
while also using this for reference:
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/B13789_01/appdev.101/b10807/13_elems017.htm
*/
PROMPT
PROMPT
PROMPT Congrats 🎉 the user: &&NEWUSER, with the password: &&NEWPASS is now a bona fide database user 🙌🏻!
PROMPT Not only that, &&NEWUSER can log into Database Actions and REST-Enable their database objects too 😍!
PROMPT
PROMPT
PROMPT Click RETURN to return to the SQLcl prompt. And NEVER forget:
PAUSE "You're good enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it, people like you!"
PROPS: I owe much credit to this StackOverflow post and Jon Heller's and Mark Bobak's comments.
Breaking it down
Starting up podman
I’ll first start up podman and cd in the correct directory. “Correct” insomuch that this is where my ordsuserl.sql script lives.
ordsuser.sql, the script I’ll be working with.
Once my container status displays healthy, I’ll execute the ords serve command. This will launch ORDS in standalone mode (using the embedded Jetty server). I’ll use ORDS in a few minutes, so I should prepare it now.
Checking the container health.Issuing the ords serve command.ORDS is ready.
Prompting the user
I’ll then log into my podman container using the following string:
sql sys/password1234@//localhost:41465/ORCLPDB1 as sysdba
But why not the podman exec command?
NOTE: I'm logging in as SYS (I've since been informed you shouldn't really be doing this as SYS; in fact, it looks like you shouldn't be doing this as SYSTEM. Tom has some good comments in this post here.
Why am I not using the podman exec command here?
If you’ve seen my latest post on podman ports and networking, this command contradicts that entire article. There are actually two ways (maybe more, if I’m unaware) you can connect to your Oracle database in a podman container. The first way is to simultaneously hop on over to the container and sign in from inside that container. Your connection string would look like this:
podman exec -it 21entdb sql sys/password1234@//localhost:1521/ORCLPDB1 as sysdba
The second option is to sign in remotely like I’m doing in this current example:
This is analogous to when you SSH into a machine remotely. I should have mentioned it in this recent YUM/Oracle Linux post. Still, when you create a Compute Instance, you can later SSH into that Instance and perform actions like you usually would in the Terminal or the Command Prompt. But instead of being on your own machine, you’re on a remote machine. Ports are very confusing (for me, at least), so please read that podman ports post.
When you use the exec command, consider yourself on another computer on the Linux operating system. Once there, you must log in using the 1521 port because that is where the database’s TNS Listener (deep dive on Oracle database connection) is. However, when you are outside that container (i.e., that machine’s Linux OS), you need to use your local port (in this case, 41465) because it essentially acts as a proxy or a pass-through to the container’s 1521 port. Savvy 🏴☠️?
DISCLAIMER: This my best-effort attempt at explaining this confusing concept. It is subject to change. But I really want people to take advantage of our tools in the Oracle Container Registry, so I hope this helps!
Hath connected to the database
Once I’m in, I can call upon my script to quickly create a new user and REST-enable their schema (recall, I “cd” into the correct directory in an earlier step). The syntax:
@ordsuser.sql
MORE SQLcl: You can read the different SQL, SQLcl, and PL/SQL commands here.
After pressing Return/Enter, a prompt will appear; this is what it looks like on the “front end”:
Notice the prompts in those first four lines.
HINT: I would also spend some time here, learning about the PROMPT, ACCEPT, and INPUT commands. Yes, this comes from the SQL*Plus documentation, but this works as you'd expect in SQLcl.
Meanwhile, here is the corresponding section in the script:
The first section of the SQL script.
Once I enter the password and press Enter/Return on my keyboard, the rest of the script is automatically executed using the provided username and passwordas substitution variables for the rest of the script! There is an in-depth explanation in the docs here, but you should grab the code and tinker with it to see how everything interacts and works together.
NOTE: The Set Verify On command displays the changes made from the original PL/SQL procedure and the updated PL/SQL procedure (with the updated username and password). It isn't necessary, but I wanted to provide some feedback to a user.
PL/SQL procedure
Assuming the user (i.e., the one you selected) doesn’t exist, the PL/SQL procedure should execute without issues. In the following image, you can see what is happening in real time:
A new user is created with the assigned username and password
That user is granted the Connect and Resource roles
The schema is then REST-enabled using the ORDS_ADMIN.ENABLE_SCHEMA PL/SQL procedure
Why NEWUSER in the Declare block?
Yeah, good question. At a minimum, you need to include the p_schema in the ORDS_ADMIN.ENABLE_SCHEMA procedure. Read up on that here. But, I wanted the username to remain in lowercase since that will later be used for my schema’s URIs (e.g., http://localhost:8080/ords/ordstest/emp/).
So I quickly taught myself/attempted a crash course on define variables and bind arguments; most of what I learned came from this EXECUTE IMMEDIATE documentation. And that’s why you see this in lines 25 and 34 of the code:
NEWUSER VARCHAR2(20) := '&&NEWUSER';
/* as well as */
ORDS_ADMIN.ENABLE_SCHEMA(p.schema => :1);
You can see the interaction between lines 25 and 34.
And on the front end, courtesy of the Set Verify On command, you’ll see that updated block of code:
The username and password fields are updated.
Feedback
I’ll then provide myself (or the user) with helpful feedback (along with words of encouragement). Once satisfied, I can click the Return/Enter key to exit the script and sign in to Database Actions as that new user.
The end of the script, after pressing Return/Enter.Exiting from SQLcl.
The corresponding section in the script looks like this:
I’m cheating by adding PROMPT to give line breaks.
Sign-in to Database Actions
Now, I can navigate to the Database Actions sign-in page at localhost:8080/ords/sql-developer. If I wanted to, I could also navigate to the newly introduced landing page at http://localhost:8080/ords/_/landing (obviously, depending on your deployment, this address will differ).
The landing page you’ve probably seen before.Signing in with the ordtest user I created with the script.This is our recently introduced landing page with more options.
SQL Worksheet then the proof
I’ll head to a SQL Worksheet, select All Objects in the Navigator tab, and a clean schema ready to take on the world!
Navigating to a SQL Worksheet.Selecting All Objects in the Navigator Tab.
Summary
And this marks the end of today’s lesson. So what did we learn?
You can execute SQL scripts directly from the SQLcl command line.
My script is cool, but I wish I could verify if a user exists sooner (I end up forcing the user to go through that password step).
The script has no exception handling (I’m giving myself a pass on this since I’m just now getting into PL/SQL).
Spend some time with the documentation on one screen and your script on another. After some time, you can actually understand how everything interacts.
One final thought. My process required a lot of trial and error, but seeing how everything flows and works is entertaining.
Please sample/remix my code; it’s located in my GitHub blog repo. Make it better, and let me know what you come up with! And be sure to check out ORDS and SQLcl 😍!
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The other day, I wrote about how I had to start from scratch on my podman containers 😢. I’m now at the step where I need to reinstall ORDS in these two new database containers (21c and 23c). And since I’m doing this install yet again, I figured I would point out some things I’ve learned while doing this with podman containers. This post isn’t meant to be all-inclusive; I’m simply highlighting the areas that gave me the most trouble.
Lettuce begin
My assumptions are that you’ve downloaded the ORDS zip file or from a Yum repository (how-to article here). You’ve also set the ORDS configuration folder path and the ORDS product folder path (both are necessary steps for ORDS pre-installation). You can read up on that step here.
The ORDS Interactive Installer
Here, I’m installing ORDS with the Interactive Installer.
Do this with the ords install command
The fine print
NOTE: For a vanilla installation, most of the default prompts are correct. But for working with a podman container, I do not believe all the default settings will work (at least, this has been my experience).
The ORDS Interactive Installer will prompt you with the default settings, where appropriate. You’ll notice the Choose [value]: convention. These settings are okay to use in many steps, but if you mindlessly follow them in specific steps, you might end up with the incorrect ORDS installation for your particular use case.
Select the type of installation
For instance, in the “Enter a number to select the type of installation” step, I’m prompted with the [1] option. For me, that is incorrect; I need to choose [2].
Option [2] I choose you!
Database pool to update or create
Things can get tricky here, too. In this step, I WILL choose option [1], but in the next step, I WILL NOT selectthe default settings (read on about host names, ports, and service names).
This default string is simply an example; with podman you may not be using 1521 as the port.
Selecting the database connection type
And here’s why I won’t use the default settings. It’s because I have mapped the ports to/from my podman containers like this:
My 21entdb container is set up such that my computer sends and receives podman container traffic on port 41465. Meanwhile, my podman container is set up so that it will send and receive data on port 1521 (which is the default port for Oracle’s TNS Listener).
Another way of looking at this is to imagine port 41465 is sort of spoofing port 1521. Ehh..maybe it’s better to think of it like a pass-through, a proxy, a go-between if you will…but more on this in a second.
Demystifying the connection string
Here, I’ll test both ports, the Container (ORCLCDB) and Pluggable (ORCLPDB1) databases, with various connection strings.
QUESTION: How do I even know my options are ORCLCDB or ORCLPDB1? Well, I learned about them in the container registry documentation.
Using port 1521
First, let’s see what happens when I try to log into my database with SQLcl, using 1521 as the port:
Attempting in the Container databaseAttempting in the Pluggable database
Nothing! Initially, for me, this made no sense! And that’s because, in my mind 1521is the port that you would expect to connect with! This whole network business was confounding! That was until I realized that you have to use your computer’s port to connect to the podman container (which is listening on port 1521).
Using the port podman assigned to you
Ah-ha! Now, if you make that slight change to the ports, you can connect to your Container (ORCLCDB) and Pluggable (ORCLPDB1) databases.
We’re sys-dba’ing now, babyyyy 🍾!
Does this help? Do you have a better understanding of why your port might not be 1521?
Host, port, and service names
You can probably keep the localhost default selection. When it comes to the listen port selection, I must choose 41465 and not1521. And for the database service name, you could choose ORCLCDB (i.e. Oracle Container Database), but we recommend installing ORDS into a Pluggable Database (read up on this in our ORDS Best Practices). Here you see me do just that; ORCLPDB1 is the ORDS default, but I wanted to highlight why this is the default.
Provide database user
In this step, I’m supplying the username and password of a user with the necessary privileges to log into the database to complete the ORDS installation. In this case, unsurprisingly, it is the SYS user (the default). We also have an ORDS Installer Privileges script you can execute if you’d rather grant another user privileges to install, upgrade, repair, and uninstall ORDS. You can find more details on that script here.
A great example showing how the JDBC driver is using the host, port, and service name values you provided.
Enabling features
This isn’t the final ORDS install step; this is just the last step I wanted to point out. The default here is also [1]. And I think you should keep it like that, here’s why. When you select [1], you’ll also give users access to Database Actions – the Graphical User Interface (which shares much in common with the SQL Developer desktop client). Once you start using Database Actions, it’s hard to stop.
Don’t ask any questions; select option [1].
NOTE: You'll also be enabling the REST-enabled SQL service (as well as the Database API). I recently wrote about the ORDS REST-Enabled SQL Service; it's very cool, and you should check out that article here.
The end
Aaanndd, that’s my time. They’re flashing the lights, so I have to get off the stage 🙁. Hopefully, this note will be helpful when you create some containers from images on the Oracle Container Registry. And if you think you might like to tinker with ORDS, bookmark this post so you can refer to it later!
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You’re working with podman containers (maybe like me – the ones from the Oracle Container Registry), and when you execute the podman ps command, you see something like this in the standard output:
A container status of unhealthy
In this case, I already had another container with an Oracle 21c database; that one washealthy. I previously wrote up a tutorial on how I did that here. But when I attempted to create another container with the Oracle 23c Free database, this is where things went sideways. This new container would constantly display an unhealthy status 😭 (not working).
Why am I even doing this? Well, we have a bunch of cool new ORDS features that take advantage of the 23c database, and we want to start showcasing that more. It would be nice to be able to show this in containers.
Digging deeper
Issue the podman logs (not log, duh) command for this particular container. Very few details are revealed (technically, it does reveal relevant information, I just need to figure out what I’m looking at here).
That ORA-12752 error message is…an error message.
You can clearly see that the database starts to provision, and then it just craps out1. I’ll spare you most of how we (I write “we” because this stuff is never really resolved by just one person) fixed this issue. But we finally figured it out; I’ll include some brief background. If you don’t care and want to see the resolution, then 👇🏼
1craps out is a technical term used by only the upper-most echelon of technical masters and internet luminaries.
Looking back, that Using default pga_aggregate_limit of 2048 MB line makes A LOT more sense now.
About podman machines
When you initiate a Podman machine, the default CPU and memory settings are 1 and 2048 MB (or 2,147,483,648 Bytes), respectively. I don’t see this in the documentation anywhere, but it is consistent with my assumptions when I created a second test podman machine with the default settings.
The test machine with default settings
After a ton of reading online, tinkering with podman volumes, pouring through the open issues in the podman and Oracle container GitHub repositories, and bugging the hell out of Gerald, we finally figured out the problem. Gerald, quite astutely, asked to see my output from the podman info command.
REMEMBER...this is the output from the original default configuration of my podman machine. The one where I already had a 21c database container. So, briefly ignore that test podman machine.
I included line numbers so you could more easily scan. Again, this output is from when I had a default podman machine. With this machine, I also had a 21c database container with a volume attached to it. I HAVE NO IDEA what the implications are of attaching volumes to containers (as far as memory is concerned)! I also don’t know what it does to the memory of the Linux virtual machine (what your podman machine actually is) 😬.
A closer look at the machine configuration
Take a look at lines 39 and 40; you’ll see
memFree: 1351737344
memTotal: 2048716800
1351737344 Bytes equals 1.35 GB, while 2048716800 is equivalent to 2 GB. That is consistent with what you see in the podman machine’s default settings. And given that I have a 21c database container with a volume attached, that used memory (696979456 or 0.7 GB) could, at least partly, be attributed to the existing container.
Aaaand…that earlier default pga_aggregate_limit of 2048 MB (read more here) line further supports the assumption that insufficient memory (in the podman machine) is the culprit. The way I read it, that database could consume as much as 2 GB of memory.
So, how could I expect to create another container of equal size in a machine that is only large enough to support one container?!
Myself
Resolving the unhealthy issue
Well, after completely removing my podman machine, I re-initiated a new one with the following parameters (docs here):
podman machine init --cpus=2 --memory=4096
NOTE: podman memory allocation is done in Megabytes. So 4096 Megabytes is equal to 4 Gigabytes.
I then recreated two separate volumes, 21cvol, and 23freevol. From there, I created a container for the 21c database using the following command (sorry, I didn’t get a screenshot of this one):
podman run -d --name 21entbd -p :1521 -v 21cvol:/opt/oracle/oradata container-registry.oracle.com/database/enterprise:latest
And then another for the 23c database:
podman run -d --name 23freedb -p :1521 -v 23freevol:/opt/oracle/oradata container-registry.oracle.com/database/free:latest
And FINALLY, as you can see in the following image, both containers show a healthy status!
NOTE: I've yet to sign into either of these databases, and I still have to reinstall ORDS in each. So if you are following along, this is where I leave you.
Inspecting the new machine
And just for fun, I inspected the sole podman machine (after removing that temporary test machine) to review its configuration.
In conclusion
After about a week, I’m NOW ready to start working in the 23c container. We have some great new functionality and other ORDS stuff planned, too. I plan to start sharing that here!
One more thing
I’m bringing these findings up with the Oracle Container Registry team. I’ll probably share with the podman squad too. I feel I’m not alone in having trouble figuring out what the hell is going on under the covers.
If you found this useful, please share the post! This one is more of a Public Service Announcement than anything else. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is when you can’t figure out why something isn’t working.
Hey, I hope this expedites your misery, though 🙃!
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I promise this post will connect back to an overarching theme. But for now, I want to show how you can take a SQL query and use that in combination with the ORDS REST-Enabled SQL Service to request data from a database table.
The SQL query
Here is the SQL query I’m using:
select * from (
select noc, sport
from olympic_medal_winners
)
pivot (min('X') for sport in (
'Archery' as arc, 'Athletics' as ath, 'Hockey' as hoc,
'Judo' as jud, 'Sailing' as sai, 'Wrestling' as wre
)
)
order by noc
fetch first 7 rows only
The SQL Script
Please feel free to cheat like me and steal this same script from the Live SQL site (direct link here). And if you can’t be bothered to do that, the script in its entirety, can be found at the bottom of the post.
PAUSE: Shout out to Chris Saxon for conceiving this. And putting in the real work. I'm both too lazy and too dumb to come up with this on my own.
The demo
Let’s assume you’ve created the table and inserted all the same data. Now, you can take a SQL query (use the same one as me, or don’t, I don’t care 😑) and run it in an SQL Worksheet (like I did here):
Coooool dude...you did a thing I already know how to do!
That’s what you’ll end up with. It’s actually a pretty neat printout; I didn’t even know you could do this! But, I want to take that SQL query and demonstrate how you can do this with the ORDS REST-Enabled SQL service.
Disclaimer
I’m performing this demo locally. I have a Podman container running with an Oracle database therein (one I grabbed from our Oracle Container Registry). I’ve also installed ORDS in this database and used my ORDSTEST user (the same setup as in my original Podman/ORDS how-to post).
About the REST-Enabled SQL Service
How do I set this service up? When you first install ORDS, if you enable Database Actions, you are also enabling this REST-Enabled SQL Service. You’ll see it in this step in the ORDS Interactive Installer:
Enter a number to select additional feature(s) to enable:
[1] Database Actions (Enables all features)
[2] REST Enabled SQL and Database API
[3] REST Enabled SQL
[4] Database API
[5] None
Choose [1]:
See it? If you select [1], then you are also enabling features [2], [3], and [4].
PRO TIP: Basically, if you can sign into Database Actions, then you're good. You're all set.
Long story short. You are taking that whacky SQL from the above example (something that would take me a week to come up with on my own) and passing it as a payload in a POST request to your REST-Enabled SQL Service 🤖 endpoint.
Since I am doing this locally, my REST-Enabled SQL Service endpoint looks like this:
You should see something similar; your REST-enabled schema alias will differ however
Next, with my Terminal open (and ORDS running, duh!) I’ll issue the following command:
Ah-ha! You probably noticed that the --data-binaryoption references a separate sportCountryMatrix.sql file. That’s because our docs recommend using an SQL file for multi-line SQL statements (like my example). I bet you could pass in this multi-line statement via the command line, but that seems unnecessarily challenging. Plus, I KNOW this works.
A quick review of the directory setup
I want to quickly review how I created this file, mostly remaining in Terminal. I first created a new ordsSqlService directory on my desktop. Then, I made an empty sportCountryMatrix.sql file.
Using VIM, I opened that file, pasted my choice SQL statement, saved it, and exited. I wanted to mention this because when I executed that cURL command, it worked because Iwas in the same directory as the SQL file!
Here are some screenshots of me going through those steps. You’ll see me creating the file but then also using the cat command so that I can double-check the contents of the .sql file.
And now, back to the cURL command. After issuing the command, here is the response to the POST request:
I know the response isn’t the most readable, but I can figure that out another time. (I have something else planned as a follow-up to this post). But it’s all there, trust me (I’m a doctor)!
Also, this blog post was about 50% me messing around and 50% reminding YOU that ORDS is capable of this (right out of the box, with the correct switches turned on). So, hopefully, you get the gist 😄.
Takeaways
Let me close this out with some final thoughts…
If you can sign into Database Actions, then you can take advantage of the REST-Enabled SQL Service
I haven’t explored how to pretty print the JSON response so it is more readable (and yes, I tried piping in | json_pp; it didn’t work)
Update on #2…I actually did figure this out. Read about that here.
You have to use your database username and password; this isn’t ideal for two reasons:
Security
Resource consumption (Basic Authentication can become costly, quick)
You can take pretty much any SQL query and turn it into a “Resource”
For instance, if you are an analyst, you can take that SQL query, save it as a file, and pass it in your cURL command to get precisely what you want.
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-- REM Script: Pivot and unpivot examples using Olympic data
-- REM Examples of pivoting and unpivoting data. Uses a subset of -- the results from the Rio Olympics as a data source.
-- For further explanation of the scripts, read the following blog -- post:
-- https://blogs.oracle.com/sql/entry/how_to_convert_rows_to
create table olympic_medal_winners (
olympic_year int,
sport varchar2( 30 ),
gender varchar2( 1 ),
event varchar2( 128 ),
medal varchar2( 10 ),
noc varchar2( 3 ),
athlete varchar2( 128 )
);
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Archery','M','Men''s Individual','Gold','KOR','KU Bonchan');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Archery','M','Men''s Individual','Silver','FRA','VALLADONT Jean-Charles');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Archery','M','Men''s Individual','Bronze','USA','ELLISON Brady');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Archery','M','Men''s Team','Gold','KOR','Republic of Korea');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Archery','M','Men''s Team','Bronze','AUS','Australia');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Archery','M','Men''s Team','Silver','USA','United States');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Artistic Gymnastics','M','Men''s Floor Exercise','Gold','GBR','WHITLOCK Max');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Artistic Gymnastics','M','Men''s Floor Exercise','Bronze','BRA','MARIANO Arthur');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Artistic Gymnastics','M','Men''s Floor Exercise','Silver','BRA','HYPOLITO Diego');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Artistic Gymnastics','M','Men''s Horizontal Bar','Gold','GER','HAMBUECHEN Fabian');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Artistic Gymnastics','M','Men''s Horizontal Bar','Bronze','GBR','WILSON Nile');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Artistic Gymnastics','M','Men''s Horizontal Bar','Silver','USA','LEYVA Danell');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Athletics','M','Men''s 10,000m','Gold','GBR','FARAH Mohamed');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Athletics','M','Men''s 10,000m','Bronze','ETH','TOLA Tamirat');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Athletics','M','Men''s 10,000m','Silver','KEN','TANUI Paul Kipngetich');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Athletics','M','Men''s 100m','Gold','JAM','BOLT Usain');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Athletics','M','Men''s 100m','Silver','USA','GATLIN Justin');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Athletics','M','Men''s 100m','Bronze','CAN','DE GRASSE Andre');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Badminton','M','Men''s Doubles','Gold','CHN','Zhang');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Badminton','M','Men''s Doubles','Bronze','GBR','Langridge');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Badminton','M','Men''s Doubles','Bronze','GBR','Ellis');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Badminton','M','Men''s Doubles','Silver','MAS','Tan');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Badminton','M','Men''s Doubles','Silver','MAS','Goh');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Badminton','M','Men''s Doubles','Gold','CHN','Fu');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Beach Volleyball','M','Men','Gold','BRA','Cerutti');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Beach Volleyball','M','Men','Gold','BRA','Oscar Schmidt');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Beach Volleyball','M','Men','Silver','ITA','Nicolai');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Beach Volleyball','M','Men','Silver','ITA','Lupo');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Beach Volleyball','M','Men','Bronze','NED','Meeuwsen');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Beach Volleyball','M','Men','Bronze','NED','Brouwer');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Boxing','M','Men''s Bantam (56kg)','Gold','CUB','RAMIREZ Robeisy');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Boxing','M','Men''s Bantam (56kg)','Bronze','UZB','AKHMADALIEV Murodjon');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Boxing','M','Men''s Bantam (56kg)','Bronze','RUS','NIKITIN Vladimir');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Boxing','M','Men''s Bantam (56kg)','Silver','USA','STEVENSON Shakur');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Boxing','M','Men''s Fly (52kg)','Gold','UZB','ZOIROV Shakhobidin');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Boxing','M','Men''s Fly (52kg)','Bronze','CHN','HU Jianguan');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Canoe Slalom','M','Canoe Double (C2) Men','Gold','SVK','PETER Skantar');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Canoe Slalom','M','Canoe Double (C2) Men','Bronze','FRA','GAUTHIER Klauss');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Canoe Slalom','M','Canoe Double (C2) Men','Bronze','FRA','MATTHIEU Peche');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Canoe Slalom','M','Canoe Double (C2) Men','Silver','GBR','RICHARD Hounslow');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Canoe Slalom','M','Canoe Double (C2) Men','Silver','GBR','DAVID Florence');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Canoe Slalom','M','Canoe Double (C2) Men','Gold','SVK','LADISLAV Skantar');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Canoe Sprint','M','Men''s Canoe Double 1000m','Gold','GER','Brendel');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Canoe Sprint','M','Men''s Canoe Double 1000m','Bronze','UKR','Mishchuk');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Canoe Sprint','M','Men''s Canoe Double 1000m','Bronze','UKR','Ianchuk');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Canoe Sprint','M','Men''s Canoe Double 1000m','Silver','BRA','Queiroz dos Santos');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Canoe Sprint','M','Men''s Canoe Double 1000m','Silver','BRA','de Souza Silva');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Canoe Sprint','M','Men''s Canoe Double 1000m','Gold','GER','Vandrey');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Cycling Road','M','Men''s Individual Time Trial','Gold','SUI','CANCELLARA Fabian');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Cycling Road','M','Men''s Individual Time Trial','Bronze','GBR','FROOME Christopher');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Cycling Road','M','Men''s Individual Time Trial','Silver','NED','DUMOULIN Tom');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Cycling Road','M','Men''s Road Race','Gold','BEL','VAN AVERMAET Greg');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Cycling Road','M','Men''s Road Race','Silver','DEN','FUGLSANG Jakob');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Cycling Road','M','Men''s Road Race','Bronze','POL','MAJKA Rafal');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Cycling Track','M','Men''s Keirin','Gold','GBR','KENNY Jason');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Cycling Track','M','Men''s Keirin','Bronze','MAS','AWANG Azizulhasni');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Cycling Track','M','Men''s Keirin','Silver','NED','BUCHLI Matthijs');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Cycling Track','M','Men''s Omnium','Gold','ITA','VIVIANI Elia');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Cycling Track','M','Men''s Omnium','Bronze','DEN','HANSEN Lasse Norman');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Cycling Track','M','Men''s Omnium','Silver','GBR','CAVENDISH Mark');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Diving','M','Men''s 10m Platform','Gold','CHN','CHEN Aisen');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Diving','M','Men''s 10m Platform','Bronze','USA','BOUDIA David');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Diving','M','Men''s 10m Platform','Silver','MEX','SANCHEZ German');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Diving','M','Men''s 3m Springboard','Gold','CHN','CAO Yuan');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Diving','M','Men''s 3m Springboard','Silver','GBR','LAUGHER Jack');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Diving','M','Men''s 3m Springboard','Bronze','GER','HAUSDING Patrick');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Equestrian','X','Dressage Individual','Gold','GBR','DUJARDIN Charlotte');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Equestrian','X','Dressage Individual','Bronze','GER','BRORING-SPREHE Kristina');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Equestrian','X','Dressage Individual','Silver','GER','WERTH Isabell');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Equestrian','X','Dressage Team','Gold','GER','Germany');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Equestrian','X','Dressage Team','Bronze','USA','United States');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Equestrian','X','Dressage Team','Silver','GBR','Great Britain');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Fencing','M','Men''s Foil Individual','Gold','ITA','GAROZZO Daniele');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Fencing','M','Men''s Foil Individual','Silver','USA','MASSIALAS Alexander');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Fencing','M','Men''s Foil Individual','Bronze','RUS','SAFIN Timur');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Fencing','M','Men''s Foil Team','Gold','RUS','Russian Federation');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Fencing','M','Men''s Foil Team','Bronze','USA','United States');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Fencing','M','Men''s Foil Team','Silver','FRA','France');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Handball','M','Men','Gold','DEN','Denmark');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Handball','M','Men','Silver','FRA','France');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Handball','M','Men','Bronze','GER','Germany');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Handball','W','Women','Gold','RUS','Russian Federation');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Handball','W','Women','Silver','FRA','France');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Handball','W','Women','Bronze','NOR','Norway');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Hockey','M','Men','Gold','ARG','Argentina');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Hockey','M','Men','Silver','BEL','Belgium');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Hockey','M','Men','Bronze','GER','Germany');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Hockey','W','Women','Gold','GBR','Great Britain');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Hockey','W','Women','Silver','NED','Netherlands');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Hockey','W','Women','Bronze','GER','Germany');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Judo','M','Men +100 kg','Gold','FRA','RINER Teddy');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Judo','M','Men +100 kg','Bronze','BRA','SILVA Rafael');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Judo','M','Men +100 kg','Bronze','ISR','SASSON Or');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Judo','M','Men +100 kg','Silver','JPN','HARASAWA Hisayoshi');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Judo','M','Men -100 kg','Gold','CZE','KRPALEK Lukas');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Judo','M','Men -100 kg','Bronze','FRA','MARET Cyrille');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Modern Pentathlon','M','Men''s Individual','Gold','RUS','LESUN Alexander');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Modern Pentathlon','M','Men''s Individual','Silver','UKR','TYMOSHCHENKO Pavlo');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Modern Pentathlon','M','Men''s Individual','Bronze','MEX','HERNANDEZ USCANGA Ismael Marcelo');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Modern Pentathlon','W','Women''s Individual','Gold','AUS','ESPOSITO Chloe');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Modern Pentathlon','W','Women''s Individual','Silver','FRA','CLOUVEL Elodie');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Modern Pentathlon','W','Women''s Individual','Bronze','POL','NOWACKA Oktawia');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Rhythmic Gymnastics','W','Group All-Around','Gold','RUS','Russian Federation');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Rhythmic Gymnastics','W','Group All-Around','Bronze','BUL','Bulgaria');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Rhythmic Gymnastics','W','Group All-Around','Silver','ESP','Spain');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Rhythmic Gymnastics','W','Individual All-Around','Gold','RUS','MAMUN Margarita');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Rhythmic Gymnastics','W','Individual All-Around','Silver','RUS','KUDRYAVTSEVA Yana');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Rhythmic Gymnastics','W','Individual All-Around','Bronze','UKR','RIZATDINOVA Ganna');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Rowing','M','Lightweight Men''s Double Sculls','Gold','FRA','Azou');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Rowing','M','Lightweight Men''s Double Sculls','Bronze','NOR','Brun');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Rowing','M','Lightweight Men''s Double Sculls','Bronze','NOR','Strandli');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Rowing','M','Lightweight Men''s Double Sculls','Silver','IRL','O''Donovan');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Rowing','M','Lightweight Men''s Double Sculls','Silver','IRL','O''Donovan');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Rowing','M','Lightweight Men''s Double Sculls','Gold','FRA','Houin');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Sailing','M','470 Men','Gold','CRO','Fantela');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Sailing','M','470 Men','Bronze','GRE','Kagialis');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Sailing','M','470 Men','Bronze','GRE','Mantis');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Sailing','M','470 Men','Silver','AUS','Ryan');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Sailing','M','470 Men','Silver','AUS','Belcher');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Sailing','M','470 Men','Gold','CRO','Marenic');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Swimming','M','Men''s 100m Backstroke','Gold','USA','MURPHY Ryan');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Swimming','M','Men''s 100m Backstroke','Bronze','USA','PLUMMER David');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Swimming','M','Men''s 100m Backstroke','Silver','CHN','XU Jiayu');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Swimming','M','Men''s 100m Breaststroke','Gold','GBR','PEATY Adam');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Swimming','M','Men''s 100m Breaststroke','Bronze','USA','MILLER Cody');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Swimming','M','Men''s 100m Breaststroke','Silver','RSA','VAN DER BURGH Cameron');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Table Tennis','M','Men''s Singles','Gold','CHN','MA Long');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Table Tennis','M','Men''s Singles','Bronze','JPN','MIZUTANI Jun');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Table Tennis','M','Men''s Singles','Silver','CHN','ZHANG Jike');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Table Tennis','M','Men''s Team','Gold','CHN','China');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Table Tennis','M','Men''s Team','Bronze','GER','Germany');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Table Tennis','M','Men''s Team','Silver','JPN','Japan');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Taekwondo','M','Men +80kg','Gold','AZE','ISAEV Radik');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Taekwondo','M','Men +80kg','Bronze','KOR','CHA Dongmin');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Taekwondo','M','Men +80kg','Bronze','BRA','SIQUEIRA Maicon');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Taekwondo','M','Men +80kg','Silver','NIG','ISSOUFOU ALFAGA Abdoulrazak');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Taekwondo','M','Men -58kg','Gold','CHN','ZHAO Shuai');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Taekwondo','M','Men -58kg','Silver','THA','HANPRAB Tawin');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Tennis','M','Men''s Doubles','Gold','ESP','Lopez');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Tennis','M','Men''s Doubles','Bronze','USA','Johnson');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Tennis','M','Men''s Doubles','Bronze','USA','Sock');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Tennis','M','Men''s Doubles','Silver','ROU','Tecau');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Tennis','M','Men''s Doubles','Silver','ROU','Mergea');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Tennis','M','Men''s Doubles','Gold','ESP','Nadal');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Trampoline Gymnastics','M','Men','Gold','BLR','HANCHAROU Uladzislau');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Trampoline Gymnastics','M','Men','Silver','CHN','DONG Dong');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Trampoline Gymnastics','M','Men','Bronze','CHN','GAO Lei');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Trampoline Gymnastics','W','Women','Gold','CAN','MACLENNAN Rosannagh');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Trampoline Gymnastics','W','Women','Silver','GBR','PAGE Bryony');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Trampoline Gymnastics','W','Women','Bronze','CHN','LI Dan');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Triathlon','M','Men','Gold','GBR','BROWNLEE Alistair');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Triathlon','M','Men','Silver','GBR','BROWNLEE Jonathan');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Triathlon','M','Men','Bronze','RSA','SCHOEMAN Henri');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Triathlon','W','Women','Gold','USA','JORGENSEN Gwen');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Triathlon','W','Women','Silver','SUI','SPIRIG HUG Nicola');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Triathlon','W','Women','Bronze','GBR','HOLLAND Vicky');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Volleyball','M','Men','Gold','BRA','Brazil');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Volleyball','M','Men','Silver','ITA','Italy');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Volleyball','M','Men','Bronze','USA','United States');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Volleyball','W','Women','Gold','CHN','China');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Volleyball','W','Women','Silver','SRB','Serbia');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Volleyball','W','Women','Bronze','USA','United States');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Water Polo','M','Men','Gold','SRB','Serbia');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Water Polo','M','Men','Silver','CRO','Croatia');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Water Polo','M','Men','Bronze','ITA','Italy');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Water Polo','W','Women','Gold','USA','United States');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Water Polo','W','Women','Silver','ITA','Italy');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Water Polo','W','Women','Bronze','RUS','Russian Federation');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Weightlifting','M','Men''s +105kg','Gold','GEO','TALAKHADZE Lasha');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Weightlifting','M','Men''s +105kg','Bronze','GEO','TURMANIDZE Irakli');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Weightlifting','M','Men''s +105kg','Silver','ARM','MINASYAN Gor');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Weightlifting','M','Men''s 105kg','Gold','UZB','NURUDINOV Ruslan');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Weightlifting','M','Men''s 105kg','Bronze','KAZ','ZAICHIKOV Alexandr');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Weightlifting','M','Men''s 105kg','Silver','ARM','MARTIROSYAN Simon');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Wrestling','M','Men''s Freestyle 125 kg','Gold','TUR','AKGUL Taha');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Wrestling','M','Men''s Freestyle 125 kg','Bronze','BLR','SAIDAU Ibrahim');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Wrestling','M','Men''s Freestyle 125 kg','Bronze','GEO','PETRIASHVILI Geno');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Wrestling','M','Men''s Freestyle 125 kg','Silver','IRI','GHASEMI Komeil Nemat');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Wrestling','M','Men''s Freestyle 57 kg','Gold','GEO','KHINCHEGASHVILI Vladimer');
Insert into olympic_medal_winners (OLYMPIC_YEAR,SPORT,GENDER,EVENT,MEDAL,NOC,ATHLETE) values (2016,'Wrestling','M','Men''s Freestyle 57 kg','Bronze','AZE','ALIYEV Haji');
-- This pivots the results by medal. But the columns not listed
-- in the pivot form an implicit group by. So this gives the
-- medal total per athlete per event.
select * from olympic_medal_winners
pivot ( count(*) for medal in (
'Gold' gold, 'Silver' silver, 'Bronze' bronze
))
order by noc
fetch first 6 rows only;
-- To overcome the problem in the previous statement,
-- his selects just the columns you need in the subquery.
-- But some events have multiple people who win the
-- same medal - e.g. doubles tennis. This pivot
-- counts rows in the table, not individual events.
select * from (
select noc, medal from olympic_medal_winners
)
pivot ( count(*) for medal in (
'Gold' gold, 'Silver' silver, 'Bronze' bronze
))
order by 2 desc, 3 desc, 4 desc
fetch first 5 rows only;
-- This solves the over counting problem in the
-- previous statement. It does this by finding the
-- distinct values for sport, event and gender
-- then counting the results.
select * from (
select noc, medal, sport, event, gender
from olympic_medal_winners
)
pivot ( count(distinct sport ||'#'|| event ||'#'||gender ) for medal in (
'Gold' gold, 'Silver' silver, 'Bronze' bronze
))
order by 2 desc, 3 desc, 4 desc
fetch first 5 rows only;
-- You can have many functions in the pivot.
-- Oracle generates a column for each function
-- per value in the in clause. This finds the
-- gold medal winning countries. For each it shows:
-- - The number of different events these were won in
-- - The number of different sports thy were won in
-- - The names of the athlete or team who won each medal
-- Finally it filters to only show those countries
-- that won at least two gold medals.
select * from (
select noc, medal, sport, event, gender, athlete
from olympic_medal_winners
)
pivot (
count( distinct sport ||'#'|| event ||'#'|| gender ) medals,
count( distinct sport ) sports,
listagg( athlete, ',') within group (order by athlete) athletes
for medal in ( 'Gold' gold )
)
where gold_medals > 1
order by gold_medals, gold_sports, noc
fetch first 5 rows only;
-- This is similar to the previous query.
-- But it finds those countries whose IOC code starts with D.
select * from (
select noc, medal, sport, event, gender, athlete
from olympic_medal_winners
)
pivot (
count( distinct sport ||'#'|| event ||'#'|| gender ) medals,
count( distinct sport ) sports,
listagg( athlete, ',') within group (order by athlete) athletes
for medal in ( 'Gold' gold )
)
where noc like 'D%'
order by gold_medals;
-- This produces a matrix, sports across the
-- top countries down the side. There's an X
-- for each sport that country has a row in the table for.
select * from (
select noc, sport
from olympic_medal_winners
)
pivot (min('X') for sport in (
'Archery' as arc, 'Athletics' as ath, 'Hockey' as hoc,
'Judo' as jud, 'Sailing' as sai, 'Wrestling' as wre
)
)
order by noc
fetch first 7 rows only;
-- This is the old school, pre Oracle Database
-- 11g method for pivoting data.
select noc,
count ( case when medal = 'Gold' then 1 end ) gold_medals,
count ( case when medal = 'Silver' then 1 end ) silver_medals,
count ( case when medal = 'Bronze' then 1 end ) bronze_medals
from olympic_medal_winners
group by noc
order by 2 desc, 3 desc, 4 desc
fetch first 5 rows only;
-- An example of how to build the pivot clause
-- values dynamically.
-- Note that when you do this the number of
-- columns can change between runs. So the
-- execute and fetch routine will be far
-- more complex in a real world scenario!
declare
sql_stmt clob;
pivot_clause clob;
begin
select listagg('''' || sport || ''' as "' || sport || '"', ',') within group (order by sport)
into pivot_clause
from (select distinct sport from olympic_medal_winners);
sql_stmt := 'select * from (select noc, sport from olympic_medal_winners)
pivot (count(*) for sport in (' || pivot_clause || '))';
dbms_output.put_line( sql_stmt );
execute immediate sql_stmt;
end;
/
-- The XML keyword dynamically builds the
-- list of values to pivot. But you get the
-- results in XML! Each "column" is an
-- element in this document.
select * from (
select noc, sport
from olympic_medal_winners
)
pivot xml (count(*) medal_winners for sport in (
select sport
from olympic_medal_winners
where sport like 'A%')
)
where rownum = 1;
-- This previous example gave every country
-- at least one medal in every sport! To
-- avoid this, you need to count a column
-- which will be null if the country
-- didn't win in a particular event.
select * from (
select noc, sport, athlete
from olympic_medal_winners
)
pivot xml (count(athlete) medal_winners for sport in (
select sport
from olympic_medal_winners
where sport like 'A%')
)
where rownum = 1;
-- This creates the final medal table
-- for the unpivot example below.
create table olympic_medal_tables as
select * from (
select noc, medal, sport, event, gender
from olympic_medal_winners
)
pivot ( count(distinct sport ||'#'|| event ||'#'||gender ) for medal in (
'Gold' gold_medals, 'Silver' silver_medals, 'Bronze' bronze_medals
))
order by 2 desc, 3 desc, 4 desc;
-- Unpivot takes the columns and
-- converts them back to rows.
select * from olympic_medal_tables
unpivot (medal_count for medal_colour in (
gold_medals as 'GOLD',
silver_medals as 'SILVER',
bronze_medals as 'BRONZE'
))
order by noc
fetch first 6 rows only;
drop table olympic_medal_tables purge;
create table olympic_medal_tables as
select * from (
select noc, medal, sport, event, gender
from olympic_medal_winners
)
pivot ( count(distinct sport ||'#'|| event ||'#'||gender ) medals,
count(distinct sport) sports
for medal in (
'Gold' gold, 'Silver' silver, 'Bronze' bronze
))
order by 2 desc, 4 desc, 6 desc;
-- You can unpivot two or more columns
-- to a single row. To do this, provide a
-- list of the columns you want to combine.
-- You then get a column for each in the results.
select * from olympic_medal_tables
unpivot ((medal_count, sport_count) for medal_colour in (
(gold_medals, gold_sports) as 'GOLD',
(silver_medals, silver_sports) as 'SILVER',
(bronze_medals, bronze_sports) as 'BRONZE'
))
fetch first 9 rows only;
drop table olympic_medal_tables purge;
create table olympic_medal_tables as
select * from (
select noc, medal, sport, event, gender, athlete
from olympic_medal_winners
)
pivot ( count(distinct sport ||'#'|| event ||'#'||gender ) medals,
listagg(athlete, ',') within group (order by athlete) athletes
for medal in (
'Gold' gold, 'Silver' silver, 'Bronze' bronze
))
order by 2 desc, 4 desc, 6 desc;
-- Another example of unpivoting multiple columns.
-- This time with a list of athletes.
select * from olympic_medal_tables
unpivot ((medal_count, athletes) for medal_colour in (
(gold_medals, gold_athletes) as 'GOLD',
(silver_medals, silver_athletes) as 'SILVER',
(bronze_medals, bronze_athletes) as 'BRONZE'
))
where medal_colour = 'GOLD'
and medal_count = 2
order by noc
fetch first 3 rows only;
-- This first unpivots the results to get the
-- list of athletes won two gold medals. It
-- then uses XML tokenization to split
-- the list into a row per person.
with rws as (
select * from olympic_medal_tables
unpivot ((medal_count, athletes) for medal_colour in (
(gold_medals, gold_athletes) as 'GOLD',
(silver_medals, silver_athletes) as 'SILVER',
(bronze_medals, bronze_athletes) as 'BRONZE'
))
where medal_colour = 'GOLD'
and medal_count = 2
)
select noc, athlete
from rws, xmltable (
'if (contains($X,",")) then ora:tokenize($X,"\,") else $X'
passing athletes as X
columns athlete varchar2(4000) path '.'
)
order by 1, 2
fetch first 6 rows only;
-- This creates the table of medals won by
-- each country per sport for use in the
-- examples below.
create table olympic_country_sport_medals as
select * from (
select noc, sport
from olympic_medal_winners
)
pivot (count(sport) for sport in (
'Athletics' as ath, 'Artistic Gymnastics' as gym, 'Cycling Track' as cyc,
'Boxing' as box, 'Sailing' as sai
)
)
order by 1;
-- This switches the rows and columns over
-- aka a transpose. It does so by chaining
-- a pivot followed by an unpivot.
select * from olympic_country_sport_medals
pivot (
sum(ath) ath, sum(box) box, sum(gym) gym, sum(sai) sai, sum(cyc) cyc
for noc in ('BRA' BRA, 'CHN' CHN, 'DEN' DEN, 'ESP' ESP, 'ETH' ETH, 'GRE' GRE )
)
unpivot (
(BRA, CHN, DEN, ESP, ETH, GRE ) for sport in (
(BRA_ATH, CHN_ATH, DEN_ATH, ESP_ATH, ETH_ATH, GRE_ATH) as 'Athletics',
(BRA_GYM, CHN_GYM, DEN_GYM, ESP_GYM, ETH_GYM, GRE_GYM) as 'Artistic Gym',
(BRA_BOX, CHN_BOX, DEN_BOX, ESP_BOX, ETH_BOX, GRE_BOX) as 'Boxing',
(BRA_SAI, CHN_SAI, DEN_SAI, ESP_SAI, ETH_SAI, GRE_SAI) as 'Sailing',
(BRA_CYC, CHN_CYC, DEN_CYC, ESP_CYC, ETH_CYC, GRE_CYC) as 'Track Cycling'
)
);
-- Tranposing data using unpivot and pivot.
-- Much easier to write than the other way around!
select * from olympic_country_sport_medals
unpivot (
(medals) for sport in ( ath, box, gym, sai, cyc )
)
pivot (
sum(medals) for noc in (
'BRA' BRA, 'CHN' CHN, 'DEN' DEN, 'ESP' ESP, 'ETH' ETH, 'GRE' GRE
)
);
I explore ETags and how they can be used in cURL commands when interacting with Oracle REST APIs. I also discuss some of the performance benefits of using ETags. This is not exhaustive, but I hope it introduces you to ETags or reminds you of their existence! But first…
LATE-BREAKING NEWS!!
A related video
FYI: I reference a CSV_DATA table throughout this post. We use it pretty extensively in this LiveLab. And we just recently presented a webinar based on that same LiveLab. You can check that out below!
Don’t know what ETags are? No worries, here is a definition:
The ETag (or entity tag) HTTP response header is an identifier for a specific version of a resource. It lets caches be more efficient and save bandwidth, as a web server does not need to resend a full response if the content was not changed. Additionally, etags help to prevent simultaneous updates of a resource from overwriting each other (“mid-air collisions”).
If the resource at a given URL changes, a new Etag value must be generated. A comparison of them can determine whether two representations of a resource are the same.
ETags can help to guarantee the provenance of your resources (like the auto-REST enabled table you’ll see shortly) but they can also ensure your applications consume fewer server/database resources, and load comparatively faster.
To illustrate how ETags work, I did some tinkering with cURL commands, ORDS, and a Podman container. Read on if ye dare…to see what I discovered!
Oracle REST APIs and ETags
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed in the cURL documentation there was support for ETags. And the cURL docs have options for both --etag-save and --etag-compare (practical examples to follow). When you use these options in your cURL commands, you’ll either:
save an eTag to a separate text file (locally, like on your desktop in my example below), or
compare the ETag (in that existing file) to an ETag that belongs to your REST-enabled resource (the CSV_DATA table, which you’ll see in a second)
Oh, that’s a lot of words! So read it again and then continue with my walkthrough. Meanwhile, I’ll spin up this Podman container.
We are back in Podman.
INFO: Want to learn more about using Podman and Oracle database tools? Check out my other two Podman-related posts here and here!
ORDS in Standalone mode
I need ORDS up and running for this demonstration, so I issued the ords serve command in my Terminal. This will launch ORDS in standalone mode (using a Jetty server, as seen in the image). Once it’s initialized, I can log into SQL Developer Web to interact with my database (remember, in this example, it lives in a Podman container).
Here, I’ve logged into SQL Developer Web as a non-ADMIN user (ORDSTEST in this case).
From the Database Actions Launchpad, I navigated to the SQL Worksheet.
And to keep this quick, I reused a table I created for that webinar we just did. I also auto-REST enabled it (so I could play with the cURL commands). Below, you’ll see it’s just a quick right-click with the mouse.
FYI: As a reminder, if you want to learn more about cURL commands, check out the LiveLabs workshop that this is based on. You can find that here.
Getting the cURL Command
Once I auto-REST enabled the CSV_DATA table, I selected the GET ALL REST cURL command.
This is the cURL command I’ll use for this experiment.
At this point, I still wasn’t sure that an ETag was sent from the server for those auto-REST-enabled resources (in this case, the CSV_DATA table). I know they are present when you build your own REST Modules with ORDS; (at the time) I was just less confident about the auto-REST resources.
SPOILER ALERT: ETags are present for auto-REST-enabled resources too (I'm dumb, and this is pretty widely known)!
–etag cURL options
Once I knew ETags were accessible for auto-REST-enabled resources, I experimented with cURL‘s --etag options (you’ll see how I implemented these in the upcoming cURL command).
The --etag-save [filename] and --etag-compare [filename] options work such that when you issue the --etag-save in addition to that initialcURL command, a single-line file will be saved to the directory you are currently in (you’ll see that file shortly).
This differs from how an application might work, but the concept is the same. You’re storing the ETag’s value somewhere accessible to the application. For my purposes, I need to keep this ETag somewhere the cURL command line utility can find it.
The initial cURL command
I hopped over to my Terminal and used that [slightly modified] cURL command (the one I previously retrieved from the SQL Worksheet). You’ll see that I included additional options/arguments:
--verbose
--etag-save
| json_pp
This is the first cURL command I issued.
FYI: Apparently, the json_pp command utility is a part of Perl. I think this ships with the macOS, but I'm not 100% sure. Do you know? It worked for me and pretty printed out my JSON response (notice how I used the pipe "|" in addition to the actual command).
When you use that --etag-save option, a file with the value of the ETag will be saved locally. You can see me retrieving that file and reviewing the ETag file (note in the above cURL command, I named the file “myobjectetag.txt“).
Listing the files in the current directory.Locating the myobjectetag.txt file.Opening the file and inspecting the ETag value.
I can now use this ETag in subsequent GET requests to determine if the resource (the CSV_DATA table) I’m requesting has changed since I last interacted with it. What would constitute a change? Maybe rows have been updated or removed; perhaps an additional column was added. Or maybe the table was restructured somehow; it could be any change.
But, let me pause briefly and explain the --verbose option.
About the verbose option
The printout from the --verbose option.The remaining JSON object is nicely printed out.
I used the --verbose option to inspect the information available when interacting with this Oracle REST endpoint. I don’t need to include it now since I know the ETag is coming through, but I left it in this cURL command example so that you could have a look yourself. You’ll see loads of information, including (but not limited to):
Connection information
The cURL version used
The Status Code returned (200 or OK in this case)
ETag info
In this example, all I care about is the presence of an ETag. I can now use that ETag in a subsequent GET request to determine if the resource on the server side has changed. Here is what the cURL command looks like with the --etag-compare option:
That cURL command looks very similar, except for that --etag-compare option. In this situation, cURL first checks to see if your ETag and the resource’s (the API endpoint on your server) ETag match. If they do, the request stops. And if you use the --verbose option, you can see what comes back from the server:
A whole bunch of nothing. Not really, though. That “If-None-Match” Header is the secret sauce, though. That is a conditional Header that is passed over to the server. Essentially it says, “If this Header value doesn’t match yours, then send over the requested data; otherwise, end the request here because we already have the information we need/. It’s stored/saved (presumably) locally.“
INFO:Read up on caches, because that's essentially what your application is going to use instead of having to go through the entire GET request/response cycle.
The request is terminated, but what does this mean from a performance perspective? Well, say you have a webpage that loads and later reloads in response to a user’s interaction (I simulated this with the two cURL commands). That page will probably need some information from the server to populate that page. In a situation like this, you could first ask your application to share your copy of the ETag with the server in a subsequent GET request header (“If-None-Match“). And if nothing has changed, you could speed up page load times by just refreshing with what you have stored in a cache while freeing up resources on your server for other processes. But this is just one example.
Possibilities with ETag
I’ve given this some thought, and I bet there are quite a few use cases where referring to an ETag before executing an HTTP method (like a GET or GET ALL) might be helpful.
You may want to periodically check to see if a resource has changed since you last interacted with it. Could you incorporate ETags into your build processes or longer-running jobs (maybe something around data analysis)?
Actually, ETags play a massive role in JSON-Relational Duality Views. We have an entire section in the ORDS docs on how to use them! And suppose you want to download a containerized version of the Oracle database 23C (the one that supports JSON-Relational Duality views). You can do that via this link (I think I should do this too and highlight some of the cool ORDS + JSON Duality View features)!
Well, this brings me to the end of this post. I’m hoping you learned something and came away with some good resources. And if you found this post helpful, please pass it along! And don’t be afraid to comment too! I’d love to hear your thoughts. Maybe I’ll even include your idea in a follow-up post 🤩!
The title says it all. I’ve run through this about ten times now. But I’ll show you how to start a Podman container (with a volume attached) and install ORDS on your local machine. And then, once installed, we’ll create and REST-enable a user so that the user can take full advantage of Oracle REST APIs. (aka ORDS). I’ll finally show you how to log into a SQL Worksheet as that new user. Ready? Let’s go!
Oracle Container Registry
First, visit the registry. Navigate to the Database product category, then select Enterprise. Even better, just navigate to the 21cor23ai images directly (thanks Killian 😉! Ensure you’ve also signed into the site (otherwise, you won’t be able to pull this image).
For Podman, I’ll review the preferred way to start this container (with a volume; for persisting your data across sessions).
Volumes
Start your Podman machine with the podman machine startcommand. Then create a volume with the podman volume create command (that way, you can save data locally and use that volume each time you start your container). Now that we have the volume, we can create a new container and attach that volume simultaneously (more Podman volume info here).
There are a few ways you can attach volumes when starting a container, but I like the one I found in this video:
Ironically, this is an Oracle video. But it is one of the most straightforward ones I found. To start the container, here is the command I used:
podman run -d --name entdb213 -p 1521:1521 --mount=type=volume,source=entdb213vol,destination=/opt/oracle/oradata container-registry.oracle.com/database/enterprise:21.3.0.0
About port mapping
You’ll notice that I used the following port mapping -p 1521:1521. You can remove that leading 1521. If you do, Podman will bind any exposed port to a random port on your host (a MacBook, in my case) within an ephemeral port range. Ephemeral?? (I guess that means all/any available ports, assuming none of these).
At this point, I have created a volume and started a container (with an Oracle Enterprise database inside).
PRO TIP: If this is your first time starting a container with a database of this size, it will take several minutes. So go do some chores while you're waiting 🤪
Altering the db password
I’ll change the database Administrator password to something I can easily remember (“oracle“) using this command:
# Original command
# docker exec <oracle-db> ./setPassword.sh <your_password>
# My modified command
podman exec entdb213 ./setPassword.sh oracle
Changing the password to something I can easily remember.
Note: There are several shell scripts included in this container; one of which is the change password script. There are more details on the Oracle Container Registry > Oracle Database Enterprise Edition page (redirects prevent me from linking directly to that page).
Downloading ORDS
Next, I’ll head to the Oracle REST Data Services download page. And download the latest ORDS build (I’ll be setting this up shortly, I’m just gathering and configuring everything now).
Once that ZIP file is in my downloads folder, I’ll unzip it. At this point, this folder will still be named ords latest. You can certainly keep it like that, but I’ve renamed it to ords_product_folder. This is similar to how we refer to it in our installation/configuration documentation (changing it might make it easier to follow along).
ORDS Configuration
There are two configuration steps I need to perform before I can begin the ORDS installation. You’ll need to set an Environment Variable to the binaries (these are in the bin folder, you should see that in the above image) found in the ords_product_folder. Secondly, you’ll need to create an ORDS Configuration folder.
WAIT: If you're still reading this, how is my approach? After some research, placing these two folders in the "Library" seemed to make the most sense. I'm not sure what the analog on a Windows machine would be though. Drop a comment below if you know!
At this point, I’m nearly finished with this initial configuration. I next opened my .zprofile file (this is the file where I’m keeping most of my environment variables) and added the following paths:
Pourquoi? I can't seem to find a definitive answer as to where these paths should be saved, but this thread on Stack Exchange does a great job explaining all these files (and when/where they are used).
ORDS Installation
You’ll want to exit out of all your Terminal sessions so that the next session can pick up those changes to the .zprofile file. Podman will still keep doing its thing in the background, and hopefully, by this time, the database container will display as “healthy.”
🛑 STOP: This may be obvious to you, but it wasn't to me, the database needs to be ready (healthy), online, and active (whatever you want to call it) for ORDS to install. You can always issue the podman ps command to check the status of the container.
Remember this; you’ll need it shortly.
ORDS install, the first attempt
In a new Terminal, I’ll issue the ords installcommand. If you’ve set up your bin and config environmental variables like me, then you shouldn’t have any issues. Moving through the first few steps is easy.
The ORDS interactive installer will default to recommended settings. Most of the time, these will be correct. Since this is my first time installing ORDS, I’ll choose Option 2 in that first step. I can use “localhost” as the database hostname and 1521 as the port.
When you get to the database service name, that’s where you might get hung up. The ORDS installer assumes default configuration settings. But here, if you select “orcl” as the database service name, it will install ORDS in the entire database. This is not technically incorrect, but our ORDS Best Practices recommends you install ORDS in a Pluggable Database (PDB). So I’ll issue the podman logscommand (in my case: podman logs entdb213) to find the name of the PDB; ORCLPDB1 (that’s the default for this container, it’s well-documented in the container registry docs, I’m just an idiot).
This is a neat trick, but it’s also documented in the Container Registry docs.
The ORDS interactive installer is very forgiving. I’ve noticed I can exit out of the installation process pretty much anywhere. Given that fact, I’ll restart my Terminal and start the ORDS install over (now that I have the correct database service name).
ORDS install, for real this time
In these images, you can better see the ords installcommand (it was slightly grayed out in the previous image). And you’ll also see all the steps completed. You can probably keep everything default as I did. You might want to since our documentation refers to that 8080 port (as seen in the images) in most of our tutorials and examples. I find it easier to follow along with the docs when everything matches.
🗒️ NOTE: Make sure you choose to run ORDS in standalone mode. That way you can continue to follow along in later steps.
Here you can see the paths to the bin and config folders.Conditions are perfect.
The rest of the installation is largely unremarkable. You will notice a few things, though:
The paths we’ve pointed to for the config and bin folders
The “settings” names(no action required by you, it’s just cool to see)
once the installation finishes, the text “Oracle REST Data Services initialized” will appear
That final image confirms that ORDS is now running in standalone mode. You can visit the following:
localhost:8080/ords/sql-developer
Logging into the SQL Worksheet, the first attempt
And try to log in with the SYS credentials.
One does not simply log into Database Actions…you must REST-enable a user first.
SPOILER ALERT: You can't 😕! Muahahahahaha!
That was a dirty trick. While ORDS is installed in ORCLPDB1, we must first create and REST-enable a user. I will make up for this dirty trick by sharing one of my favorite cheat codes for learning SQL and PL/SQL.
🗒️ NOTE: You cannot REST-enable the SYSTEM or SYS user.
If lucky enough, you have an Oracle Cloud Free Tier account with at least one Autonomous database provisioned.
CORPORATE SHILL ALERT: You can sign up for one here 😘.
Code cheating with the Autonomous database
Login to Database Actions as the Administrator. Navigate to User Management. In that dashboard, select the + Create User button.
In the Administration section.Click the Create User button.
When the slider appears, enter the information for the ORDSTEST user (like you see in the image here).
Once you’ve entered everything in, hit that “Show code” switch.
You’ll need to enable “Web Access” for this user. When you do this (click the switch), two things will happen:
The CONNECT and RESOURCE roles will be automatically selected for you
The Authorization required toggle will be enabled – shut this off for now
Once you’ve done that, you can select the “Show code” switch at the bottom of the slider. This will reveal the actual code that is being executed should you click the “Create User” button (which you will most certainly NOT!).
Copy and paste this into a text editor.
I copied this code and placed it into a text editor. I made one small change to the QUOTA line (at the bottom of the script).
Stole this from the ORDS Quick Start Guide.I am making a slight change to that last line.
Then I headed back to my Terminal and opened a new tab. I’ll execute this code in the database (remember, it’s in that Podman container running idle in the background this entire time) using SQLcl.
Forgot your connection string?
IF YOU FORGET the connection string format for logging in, have no fear! That Jeff Smith recently showed me the history command. I also have a couple of shorts on how I used the command:
Using the history + the number of your choice.Here is a connection string that is close enough!Entering the slightly modified string into SQLcl.
Using SQLcl to REST-enable a user
Now that I have the proper format for the connection string, I’ll adjust it so the password is correct. Then I’ll execute the code in SQLcl to create a new database user and REST-enable that user’s schema.
I changed that final line; this is what it looks like in SQLcl.
Cheat code with PL/SQL in SQLcl
I’ve just learned you can REST-enable yourself by logging into SQLcl (i.e., connecting to the database in the Podman container) and issuing the following command:
EXECUTE ORDS.ENABLE_SCHEMA;
This command assumes that you have already been granted the CONNECT and RESOURCE roles but have yet to REST-enable your schema (what allows ORDS to act as the intermediary between the database and the rest of the web).
The command will employ the procedure’s default parameters, which are:
ORDS.ENABLE_SCHEMA( p_enabled IN boolean DEFAULT TRUE, p_schema IN ords_schemas.parsing_schema%type DEFAULT NULL, p_url_mapping_type IN ords_url_mappings.type%type DEFAULT 'BASE_PATH', p_url_mapping_pattern IN ords_url_mappings.pattern%type DEFAULT NULL, p_auto_rest_auth IN boolean DEFAULT NULL);
Here is what a sample output would look like, if I were signed in as the HR user:
An example output is if I were signed in as the HR user.
🛑 FYI: This above image is just a sample, and not related to the rest of the images in this article. Be sure to pay attention to the connection string (sql hr/oracle@localhost:1521/freepdb1). This is if the HR user is logging into SQLcl and REST-enabling their own schema. That's why you see references to HR throughout. I don't want anybody to get confused!
Logging into the SQL Worksheet, for real this time
With all this code executed, I can NOW go back to the SQL Worksheet (remember, we’re on localhost:8080/ords/sql-developer) and log in as the newly created ORDSTEST user.
I am logging in as the ORDSTEST user.A true “will-they, won’t they” moment.Congrats, you have arrived!
And once you’re in, you’ll notice the SQL Worksheet is no different than what you might expect in the Oracle Autonomous database. So if you made it this far, go forth and CREATE, DELETE, INSERT, SELECT, and Query away, friends!
Shutting it all down
Once you are done playing and tinkering, you can log out of the SQL Worksheet, stop the ORDS process with CTL + C (on Mac, at least), stop the Podman container, and shut down the Podman virtual machine.
Use Control + C to stop the ORDS process.I am stopping the entdb213 container.Exiting from the Podman virtual machine.
And since we set this all up with a volume (so….so long ago, I know; we called it entdb213vol), you can start the container later on, and all your work will still be there (i.e., It shall persist!).
The end
Congrats, we made it! What do you think? Did I miss anything? If so, comment, and I’ll respond and update this post as needed. And if you think this could be useful for others, do share!
Podman is a daemonless container engine for developing, managing, and running OCI Containers on your Linux System. Containers can either be run as root or in rootless mode. Simply put: alias docker=podman.
I’ve spent the past couple of weeks setting up Podman to work on my MacBook.
My current setup
I really wanted to take advantage of our Oracle Container Registry. While, we have several containers, the one I’m most interested in is the [Ace] freely available Oracle Enterprise Database version 21.3.0.0.
FYI: It can be found in the Database containers category.
I wanted to learn more about containers while also connecting locally (i.e., from my MacBook) via SQLcl to said container. In that scenario, as far as my computer thinks, the container is a production database running elsewhere in the world. Oh, and I’m using Podman instead of Docker to do all this.
be able to connect to it with various Oracle database tools
I began this exercise with SQLcl since it was used in one of my recent posts. But as a follow-on to this article, I’d like to install ORDS on my local computer and then connect again but with ORDS joining the party. But that’s for another time.
But before connecting to this container, you’ll need a lot of prerequisites. As far as “ingredients” go, you’ll need the following:
Homebrew installed and updated. (If you need to do this, review my recent article for instructions.)
Podman installed and updated
Apple X-Code Command Line Tools updated (this is tricky, so check my notes below)
SQLcl (you can review the installation steps here)
A sample CSV file (The subject doesn’t matter; I grabbed one from Kaggle – “IMDb’s Top 100 Movies“)
The setup before the setup
Since this was such a huge PITA, I’m going to walk through all the steps I took to make Podman work on my MacBook. I’ve done this about ten times so far to make sure I’m clearly explaining every step I took.
I first opened up a new Terminal session using Spotlight (Left Command + Spacebar). Once in Spotlight, I searched for “terminal” and then hit enter. A new Terminal window will appear.
Opening SpotlightSearching for the Terminal applicationA new Terminal window
From there, I reviewed Homebrew using the brew list command. If you’re following along, you’ll see a list similar to mine, depending on what you have installed.
The next part is easy. I installed Podman with the following command: brew install podman. Homebrew will run through an auto-update, and eventually, Podman will begin installing.
Upon the first installation, and depending on the macOS you are on, you may see a couple of errors appear. I can tell you they will cause issues within Podman later on down the line. So (and without having to take you back down the rabbit hole with me), you’ll need to uninstall Podman with the brew uninstall podman command.
The errors can be seen in this image:
Errors with Podman installing
There are a few ways one can remedy this. First, you should uninstall Podman, close your Terminal window, and open up a new Terminal window. I found (via this GitHub issue) that this is a known bug. Some have suggested running the brew doctor command to review a list of possible problems (this will reveal any potential problems Homebrew has discovered). This seems like a good practice, regardless, and I wasn’t aware of this feature until now!
And while writing this article, I did just that and found two errors I’ll need to fix. I’m still trying to figure out what either means, but the one about the executable is troubling.
But back to the Podman issue. To resolve the xcrun errors, I stumbled upon a solution buried deep in the recesses of the internet. Long story short, I needed to manually install Apple’s X-Code Command Line tools. But if you try and the installation fails, you have to take an extra step.
BTW, it did NOT take 78 hours to download and install
The x-tra step
If the xcode-select --install command fails, you have to remove the Command Tools from your machine altogether. I did this with the following command:
sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandTools
If you want to bore yourself with this issue, here are some resources I found:
I’ve seen sudo in the past; I wonder if I ever bothered to look up its meaning. Taken directly from the docs:
Sudo (su “do”) allows a system administrator to give certain users (or groups of users) the ability to run some (or all) commands as the superuser or another user, while logging all commands and arguments. Sudo operates on a per-command basis, it is not a replacement for the shell.
Back to our regularly scheduled program…you’ll probably need to enter your system’s password (the thing you use to log on to your computer when it first starts up and/or wakes). And after that, restart your Terminal (I don’t believe I did this, but it’s probably a good idea to restart the Terminal).
Once that new Terminal window fired up, I used the following command to install the latest X-Code Command Line tools:
sudo xcode-select --install
Reminder, it will not take 78 hours to install this. I just followed the prompts (license terms, the usual stuff, etc.).
NOTE: I suspect we have to do this because for some reason, X-Code Command Line tools are not updated upon every macOS version update. So, who knows when the last time these tools have been updated. This is just a hunch, but in reality, I've no idea what I'm talking about.
Are we ready yet? Well, almost. Again, if you’re following along, navigate to our Oracle Container Registry site to retrieve the database container for this “recipe.” The path I took was Landing page > Database > Enterprise.
The main landing pageYou want “enterprise”Pay attention to the sign-in
YOU NEED TO SIGN IN for this to work!!! Oh, suuuuure… it’ll seem like it’s working when you’re in Podman, and you’ve tried ten times…but then it just keeps failing, and failing, and failing! So be sure to sign in (or create an account if you haven’t already).
Once signed in and chosen your preferred language, you’ll see this:
I’m ready to head back to the Terminal
PAUSE: reviewing the limitations of this exercise
Alright, so there are a few limitations I should address, and in no particular order:
Checkpointing containers in Podman
Volumes in Podman
Creating the database versus signing on to the database
Checkpointing currently doesn’t work in Podman (at least for Macs on macOS Ventura). This is documented as well. Here’s a GitHub issue I found. I don’t seem to be the only one with the issue. I spent about a day on this trying to get it to work. I couldn’t figure it out; maybe if you’re reading this, you know the secret. Please share if you know!
Secondly, I couldn’t figure out how to mount a volume to a container. I know this is fundamental to containers, but I encountered error after error for days. And for the purposes of this exercise, it isn’t a big deal. Now, if I were on an actual development team, that would be a different story. But I’m too dumb for development, that is why I’m a product manager 🤣!
Finally, working with containers requires a paradigm shift. Shortly you’ll see that I’m setting up a container and “starting” the database therein. Later, I’ll separately log on to that database, using SQLcl,after the database is up and running. They are two different steps.
Looking at this screen you would think, “I’m just going to jump right in and execute the first command I see on this page.” Wrong!
Initial docker run command
Actually, you do NOT want to do that. You must scroll down to the “Connecting from outside of the container” section. Because I’m going to be connecting to this container from the outside.
Referring to the Custom Configurations section
I know this documentation mentions SQL*Plus, but this all applies to SQLcl also. And if you refer to my previous SQLcl post, you can review the logon syntax for logging on. The critical point is that I need to start the container with the -p (or Port) option included. Are you still with me? Let’s take a trip to the “Custom Configurations” section.
docker run -d --name <container_name> \
-p <host_port>:1521 -p <host_port>:5500 \
-e ORACLE_SID=<your_SID> \
-e ORACLE_PDB=<your_PDBname> \
-e ORACLE_PWD=<your_database_password> \
-e INIT_SGA_SIZE=<your_database_SGA_memory_MB> \
-e INIT_PGA_SIZE=<your_database_PGA_memory_MB> \
-e ORACLE_EDITION=<your_database_edition> \
-e ORACLE_CHARACTERSET=<your_character_set> \
-e ENABLE_ARCHIVELOG=true \
-v [<host_mount_point>:]/opt/oracle/oradata \
container-registry.oracle.com/database/enterprise:21.3.0.0
Parameters:
--name
The name of the container (default: auto generated
-p
The port mapping of the host port to the container port.
Two ports are exposed: 1521 (Oracle Listener), 5500 (OEM Express)
-e ORACLE_SID
The Oracle Database SID that should be used (default:ORCLCDB)
-e ORACLE_PDB
The Oracle Database PDB name that should be used (default: ORCLPDB1)
-e ORACLE_PWD
The Oracle Database SYS, SYSTEM and
PDBADMIN password (default: auto generated)
-e INIT_SGA_SIZE
The total memory in MB that should be used for all
SGA components (optional)
-e INIT_PGA_SIZE
The target aggregate PGA memory in MB that should be used
for all server processes attached to the instance (optional)
-e ORACLE_EDITION
The Oracle Database Edition (enterprise/standard, default: enterprise)
-e ORACLE_CHARACTERSET
The character set to use when creating the database (default: AL32UTF8)
-e ENABLE_ARCHIVELOG
To enable archive log mode when creating the database (default: false).
Supported 19.3 onwards.
-v /opt/oracle/oradata
The data volume to use for the database. Has to be writable by the
Unix "oracle" (uid: 54321) user inside the container If omitted the
database will not be persisted over container recreation.
-v /opt/oracle/scripts/startup | /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/startup
Optional: A volume with custom scripts to be run after database startup.
For further details see the "Running scripts after setup and on
startup" section below.
-v /opt/oracle/scripts/setup | /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/setup
Optional: A volume with custom scripts to be run after database setup.
For further details see the "Running scripts after setup and on startup"
section below
I believe the colons you see throughout the original code block (with certain exceptions) are there for the definitions (you wouldn’t actually include these in your commands). If you are coming from database development, I suspect some may think, “ahh, bind parameter.” I do not think that is the case here.
You might be asking, in this code block, what the hell am I supposed to be looking at? Well, the container has a “listener”, listening on port 1521. So if I want to connect to the container, I’ll need to “map” to it. I’m not sure if that is what it is called exactly (not a networking guy, don’t claim to be). But the next question is, what is my <host port> (How it is referred to in the code block above)?
Everything matters, and nothing matters
Executing a ping command in my Terminal, to see what my computer’s address is great, but it tells me nothing about the port.
Use ping localhost to see your IP address
So I took to the internet to try to figure out the appropriate port…Honestly, I’ve tried searching but I can’t find anything definitive. In the Podman documentation, I see a lot of reference to port 8080; as in localhost:8080.
Care to review it? Here are some search results using “8080” as the search parameter.
Buried in the docs, there is a brief mention of the port and it can be found in the –publish or -p parameter. The way I understand ports on your local machine is that if you omit the local host information, you shouldn’t have any problems. It will just default to…something. So..it doesn’t matter, nothing matters. It’s all an illusion.
I also reviewed the cURL documentation. I found something in the --connect-to option:
Can you leave it empty?
Aaaand, more port nonsense (if you are having trouble sleeping at night, try reading this):
Okay, with all this out of the way, I can finally start to make some progress (almost there, promise).
Remember, you have to start the Podman Linux virtual machine before you do anything (this is in the instruction steps, so review that first (steps for macOS). This is where the container “lives.” Once the virtual machine is up and running.
Podman virtual machine is ready
I then grabbed the Oracle container. But, since I’m using Podman I needed to modify the run command, like this:
podman run -d -p :1521 --name myoracledb container-registry.oracle.com/database/enterprise:21.3.0.0
REMINDER: Make sure you are logged into the Oracle Container Registry site before you attempt all this!
Assuming you’re still following along, you’ll see something like this in your Terminal:
New container ID
I used the podman ps command to check the status of the container. You should see something like this:
“Starting” and “Healthy” statuses
For several minutes, you’ll continue to see the container status as “starting”. You can do like me and just periodically enter the podman ps command, or you can go do something meaningful with your time. Check back in 10 mins or so. The choice is yours. Either way, you’ll eventually see the status change from “starting” to “healthy”.
The container is healthy and ready
“Healthy” means I now have an Oracle Enterprise database (version 21.3.0.0) running in my Linux virtual machine as a container. I still need to log in with SQLcl, though.
Hold up, I can’t just log into SQLcl. I still have some more setup to do. I need to reset the randomly generated password to one of my choosing. Our instructions tell you to first issue the docker logs + [your database name] command to view your database logs. And from there you should be able to locate it. I couldn’t maybe you can. Let me know if you were able to.
Using the logs command
Since I’m doing this in Podman, that command is slightly modified:
podman logs myoracledb
The printout of that command will appear like this (yours will be very similar). Although I wasn’t able to locate the password, there are still some important pieces of information that you’ll want to review and note.
podman logs [your database name] printout
In this print out you’ll see things like the local host and port information, and the “Global Database Name” and “System Identifier (SID)” can be seen as well. You’ll see where the log files are located (your temporary password can be retrieved from here) and the database version you are running. Finally, you’ll see the message “DATABASE IS READY TO USE!”
Use the included shell script for changing your password
We are this close to logging onto the database. Even though I couldn’t find the temporary password, it doesn’t matter. You have to change your password anyways. If you refer back to the instructions on the Oracle Container Registry page, there is a section entitled “Changing the Default Password for SYS User” and it reads as such (emphasis added):
On the first startup of the container, a random password will be generated for the database if not provided. The user [must] change the password after the database is created and the corresponding container is healthy.
Using the docker exec command, change the password for those accounts by invoking the setPassword.sh script that is found in the container. Note that the container must be running. For example:
Easy enough, and since my container is “healthy” at this point, I can execute this script. But since I’m using Podman, the command will look like this:
And the output of that command will look like this:
Automated password change with the provided Shell script
I guess it worked. As you can see, my new password is password1234 (pleeeeease, do NOT share that with anybody). And at this point, I’m ridiculously close to logging onto this completely containerized Oracle enterprise database. All I need to do now is log on using the same steps as before (in my previous post).
Referring back to the Oracle Container Registry docs, I see the following:
The different login options
NOTE: Remember I'm logging into this container from the outside.
The connect options are cut-off in that image, so let me copy/paste them here. Also, assume where it states “sqlplus” I’ll be connecting with SQLcl. The options are as follows:
Turns out you can just use the port command to discover the container’s port (I’m guessing this is the route the container uses to communicate with my MacBook – it’s all quite muddled at this point).
Here is the command I executed:
podman port myoracledb
And here is what was returned:
Exposing the ports for this network
If you are starting your journey from the MacBook, its address would be 0.0.0.0 with a port of 43073. Data/info flows in and out of that port. And 1521 is a reference to the [bleep blurp 🤖] TCP port at which the Transparent Network Substrate (TNS) Listener is located.
Actually, if you look at the previous output (from the podman logs myoracledb command) you’ll see how all the addresses and ports connect (including the TNS Listener).
TNS Listener information
It's in the logs, how could you not know this!?
Honestly, this is all ludicrous. You shouldn’t know all this, nobody should! It’s too much to retain, but that’s okay, I’m glad you’re still here…toughing it out with me. Once you get past this first big hurdle, I imagine working with containers is very fun.
Here is where I actually logged on (or is it logged into?) to this database with SQLcl. Here’s the command I used:
sql sys/password1234@//localhost:43073/ORCLCDB as sysdba
Which, if you recall is modeled on the original command found in the Oracle Container Registry docs; it looks like this (it’s also a few paragraphs back):
$ sqlplus sys/<your_password>@//localhost:<exposed_port>/<your_SID> as sysdba
NOTE: Exposed port is that where the TNS Listener is located, and the SID is the “System Identifier” – I showed that in the database logs earlier.
And again, I don’t think it matters if you include the localhost port. Here is what the output looked like in my Terminal:
Alright, so finally, I’m in! Next, I tested a SQLcl function to see if it worked as expected. I chose the LOAD function. And just as a refresher on the LOAD function I referred to the SQLcl help for in-context assistance. That help looks like this:
SQLcl Help and LOAD information
Specifically, I am going to test out the “CREATE TABLE” and “LOAD TABLE” function. So I scrolled down to the examples for reference.
Example showing how to create and load a table at the same time
At this point, the commands are pretty straightforward. I decided to use the LOAD NEW command, as seen above.
The beginning of the LOAD...NEW commandAlmost forgot the “NEW“Ready to execute
PRO TIP: You can simply drag the file and drop it into Terminal to get the complete file path.
DON’T forget to include the “NEW” at the end of the command. I forgot it the first time and my load failed. If doesn’t break anything, just a silly mistake.
I hit enter, and if you look at that image with the “Ready to execute” caption, everything worked as expected, here it is a zoomed-in (please excuse the gray shading):
Alright, so I have a brand new table. And if you recall, this was a data set that included the IMDb top 100 highest-rated movies of all time.
IMDb dataset by way of Kaggle
Well in the next few images, I wanted to test some SQL on the new table. I first searched by genre, with the following SQL:
SELECT DISTINCT genre FROM t100movies;
Selecting by the movie genre
Which returns all the distinct matches. Easy enough right? Then (because I like Adventure and Fantasy) I selected only those films that match those criteria, with this SQL statement:
SELECT * FROM t100movies WHERE genre = 'Adventure, Fantasy';
Single quotes and don’t forget your semi-colon 🫡
And once I correctly entered the SQL query, I found a single movie in the top 100 that meets those criteria. I’m actually surprised this one made the top 100 list.
Okay, but there’s just one more thing. The data persists inside the container even after I’ve stopped it. This isn’t necessarily the focus of this article, but I just wanted to demonstrate that even after shutting everything down, the table still exists.
This is true even after completely stopping my Podman container and shutting down the Podman Linux virtual machine.
The process was as follows:
Exited out of the SQLcl application
Stopped the myoracledb container process
Checked to make sure the process was actually stopped
Stopped and then restarted the Podman Linux virtual machine
Restarted the myoracledb container
Executed the same SQL query as before
Exited from the SQLcl application a final time
And if you take a look at all these images (they are numbered in order) you can see all the steps I took to during this little test. Pretty cool, eh!?
1. Exiting out of SQLcl2. Stopping the Podman container3. Stopping the Podman virtual machine4. Restarting the Podman virtual machine5. Restarting the myoracledb container6. Using the same SQL from before7. A final exit from SQLcl
A couple of notes here:
When I restarted the container, it only took about a minute for it to move from a “starting” to a “healthy” status. So I think the first time you start this container it takes a while. Subsequent start-ups, a minute or less.
When you start back up the container, you don’t have to map anything, I believe all those settings are still intact. Either that or I just spent a whole bunch of time networking when I didn’t need to.
And that does bring us to a close. If you’ve made it this far, you understand how you can at least get this container started and log on using SQLcl. Remember you can use Brew to install SQLcl and Podman. And of course, you’ll need to get the container I used (from our Container Registry; you can find it here in the Database category).
Remember, I didn’t do anything with checkpoints (or checkpointing containers) or with volumes. At the time of this article, I wasn’t 100% confident in my approach, so I wanted to exclude it. However, as I understand it, volumes (and their use) are the preferred approach to persisting data for later use (in containers). Just keep that in mind.
Finally, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. This was a grind – it was very tedious and frustrating, so hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes. I’m not claiming to be a developer or an expert in CI/CD. But I can totally see the appeal of having portable containers like this. The barrier to understanding stuff like this is incredibly high, so good luck to you. But hey, if you screw up, don’t worry about it. You can always uninstall and reinstall and try again.
Be sure to leave a comment if you see something amiss or if you have a better approach to something I’ve shown here. And as always…
