Corrective Constraints

See Also

A constraint can also be corrective. Such a constraint undertakes corrective measures when a certain rule is violated, or performs some other action that changes the database. You define a corrective constraint as an INSERT, DELETE, or UPDATE statement.

For example, you can use a corrective constraint to ensure that a guide's discount percentage is always at least 10%, as follows:

UPDATE    person

SET    discount = 10

WHERE  

(

   discount < 10

   OR

   discount IS NULL

)

AND    guide = 'Y'

When you define a corrective constraint, you also may specify a message. If the constraint updates a record, the message is shown as an information message.

Alternatively, you can use a corrective constraint to keep track of the number of people who have booked a place on a tour. That is, each time a reservation is made, the corrective constraint can increment the total number of participants.