Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Data Management:
DataServer for ORACLE

ORACLE synonyms

ORACLE allows you to define a synonym for a database object. For example, an ORACLE database might have a table called NY_CUSTOMER with a synonym CUSTOMER. Applications can refer to the table as CUSTOMER. Using synonyms in applications results in generic, more maintainable code. The DataServer supports ORACLE synonyms for these objects:

Tables
Views
Sequences
Buffers
Functions
Stored procedures
Packages

The DataServer does not support synonyms that point to other synonyms.

Your OpenEdge DataServer applications can reference ORACLE objects by their defined synonyms. The DataServer supports synonyms by allowing you to include them when you build the schema image for an ORACLE database.

Note: If you use a synonym for a table that has a PROGRESS_RECID column, you must also define a synonym for the corresponding sequence generator and include the synonym in the schema image. For example, if the customer table includes customer_SEQ and you define a synonym, CUST, you must also define and include in the schema image a synonym for the sequence generator, such as CUST_SEQ.

Synonyms and distributed databases

Support for synonyms extends to distributed ORACLE databases. You can include in the schema image synonyms that point to objects in remote databases as long as you select the links to those databases when you create the schema image. However, you can only use synonyms defined in linked databases that point to objects in that same database.

Synonyms for stored procedures and functions in linked databases are not supported.

Table 2–4 describes the support for synonyms in local and distributed (remote) databases.

Table 2–4: Supported synonyms 

Synonym	Points to...	Supported
CUSTOMER in local DB	NY_CUSTOMER in local DB	Yes
CUSTOMER in local DB	NY_CUSTOMER in remote DB I	Yes
CUSTOMER in remote DB I	NY_CUSTOMER in remote DB I	Yes
CUSTOMER in remote DB I	NY_CUSTOMER in remote DB II	No