Snippets

This course includes animation and activity snippets. A description of these snippets follows.

Animation Snippet: Processing SQL Statements

Processing SQL Statements is an executable program that contains five animation snippets. Each snippet is a high-quality three-dimensional animation with professional narration about how SQL statements interact with the Oracle server architecture. An animation snippet can be thought of a short video tape segment that is played through a computer. Each snippet is designed to be played during any ILT course that can benefit by its content. Snippets can either replace or augment the PowerPoint slides that you would usually use to cover that particular topic (see animation titles and descriptions below). You access the animation by launching a windows program called PROC_SQL.EXE. You are given a menu with the five buttons. Clicking on a menu button starts that animation. During an animation, you use VCR-style controls in the lower left corner of the screen to rewind, pause, play, and fast-forward each animation. The animations will start automatically by default if the VCR controls are not used. For this course, you will be showing only two animations (out of the five available): Establishing a Database Session (short) and Processing a Query (short). Note that all animations require the use of sound and a computer monitor set to thousands of colors. Because all classrooms may not be adequately equipped to run these animation snippets, they have been made optional. Detailed technical requirements can be found by reading the SETUP.TXT document.

Description of Snippets - 2

Title Establishing a Database Session (short) (Show) Establishing a Database Session (long) (Do not show) Processing a Query (short) (Show)

Length 0:55

Description Presents a short and simple overview of a database session being established. This includes the user process being created, the user process connecting to the server process, and server process in turn establishing a database session with the server. This is the same animation as the short version, only with an in-depth look at the components that make up the Oracle Server architecture. This animation identifies the data dictionary cache, shared pool, SGA, instance, background process, and the database files. This animation displays a SELECT statement being entered. During this animation, the server process looks for the SELECT statement in memory, parses the statement, optimizes the statement, creates an execution plan, gathers the requested data, and finally displays that data for the user. The long version displays the same procedure as the short version, but more detail is given. Specific parts of the Oracle Server architecture are identified as the SELECT statement is processed. These parts include the shared SQL memory cache, data buffer cache, and PGA. This animation displays how an UPDATE and then a COMMIT statement are processed. The UPDATE statement follows a four step procedure: (1) load the data, (2) lock the data, (3) record the change, (4) save the old value. Once these four steps are completed, the user enters a COMMIT statement. The Server Process then processes the COMMIT. First the data is flagged in the redo log buffer. Next the log writer reads the data and writes it to the redo log file. Finally, a confirmation of the COMMIT is displayed for the user.

1:30

1:45

Processing a Query (long) (Do not show) Processing a DML Statement (Do not show)

2:25

3:10

Description of Snippets - 3

Activity Snippets
Two activity snippets have been created for this course. These activities are to be used in the Creating and Managing Tables lesson and the Creating Views lesson, respectively. The first activity is a matching game called Space Flip. The second activity is a board game called Space Race. Both activities present questions for the student to answer and provide useful tips aimed at reinforcing the ILT course materials. The student should find these activities fun, entertaining, and informative. Instructionally, these activities reinforce and test the content found in their respective lessons. The design provides a mental break for the students between the lecture and practice portions of the lessons. Note that both activities are accessed by using a Web browser. Since most of the classrooms have Netscape 4.0, you are strongly encouraged to use these activity snippets. Technical notes on these activities can be found in the SETUP.TXT file. Space Flip Time to complete: 5 minutes Use after the Creating and Managing Tables lesson

In this activity, the student finds a word that fits in a fill-in-the-blank questions (see the following sample). As with a traditional matching game, the screen is divided into a number of squares. Clicking a square is clicked, reveals what is behind it. If the two objects being revealed match (in this case, the word fits in the blank), the two squares are removed from the screen. To increase the number of fill-in-the-blank questions, three sets of cards are used. Each set of cards has eight different fill-in-the-blank questions, with eight words that fit in those blanks. Sample question: To create a table, the user must have the ____________ privilege. CREATE TABLE Space Race Time to complete: 5 minutes Use after the Creating Views lesson

Like the matching activity, this activity is used to present questions to the student. This activity is set up like a board game with a start and finish. Between these points there are three types of squares that the student can land on: questions, tips, and black holes. Questions are either truefalse or multiple-choice questions (see the following samples), and tips are statements or facts taken from the lesson. A black hole is a penalty square that is used to add an element of luck to the game. The goal of the game is to answer enough questions correctly to reach the finish before the oxygen supply of the ship runs out. Bonus tanks of oxygen are given for landing on the tips squares, and rolling a black hole sends the ship back to the nearest black-hole square. Sample Questions: Although the USER_VIEWS data dictionary view displays the names of all views, it does not show the SELECT statements used to create them.

Description of Snippets - 4

Answer = False Which one of the following commands is added to the CREATE VIEW statement to create a view regardless of whether the base table(s) exist(s)? (a) NOFORCE (b) WITH READ OPTION (c) REPLACE (d) FORCE Answer = D

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