Object References Report

The object references report provides a general overview of the objects referenced by other objects in the input source code.

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Built-in elements are not considered as part of this report.

What is an "Object Reference"?

An object reference is the term used to refer to DDL definitions in the source code, that are being referenced by code units. The table below shows which elements could be referenced in each supported language.

Object	Teradata	Oracle	Transact-SQL
Table	✓	✓	✓
View	✓	✓	✓
Procedure	✓	✓	✓
Function	✓	✓	✓
Macro	✓
Package Function		✓
Package Procedure		✓
*Package		✓
Join Index	✓
Index		✓
Synonym		✓
Database Link		✓
Type	✓	✓	✓
Materialized View		✓
Trigger	✓	✓	✓
Sequence	✓	✓	✓
Constraint		✓	✓

If an asterisk ('*') is listed in the section above, it means that the object is used to call properties from itself that are not considered DDL statements such as constants, variables, or cursors.

Where can I find it?

The object references report can be found in a folder named "reports", in the output folder of your conversion. The name of the file itself starts with "ObjectReferences" so it can easily be located.

The format of the file is .CSV.

What information does it contain?

The object references report contains the following information about all the references found while converting:

Column	Description
PartitionKey	The unique identifier of the conversion.
FileName	The name of the file in which the object is located.
Caller_CodeUnit	The type of the code unit referencing an existing element.
Caller_CodeUnit_Database	The database of the code unit referencing an existing element. For now, only SQL Server objects can have a database.
Caller_CodeUnit_Schema	The schema of the code unit referencing an existing element.
Caller_CodeUnit_Name	The name of the code unit referencing an existing element.
Caller_CodeUnit_FullName	The fully qualified name of the object referencing an existing element.
Referenced_Element_Type	The DDL type of the referenced element.
Referenced_Element_Database	The database of the referenced element. For now, only SQL Server objects can have a database.
Referenced_Element_Schema	The schema of the referenced element.
Referenced_Element_Name	The name of the referenced element.
Referenced_Element_FullName	The full qualified name of the referenced element.
Line	The line number inside the file where the reference is located.
Relation_Type	Shows the type of relation used through the caller code unit and the object reference.

Oracle Database Links as object references

To get the information such as database name, schema name, or object name of database link references, we need to know how the database link was defined. Database links contain the most relevant information in the connection string used in its definition. E.g.

Database Link with database name

CREATE DATABASE LINK remote_hr_db
CONNECT TO hr_user
IDENTIFIED BY hr_password
USING 'RemoteDB';

SELECT * FROM hr.employees@remote_hr_db;

Using the example above, the object reference information should look like this:

Caller_CodeUnit	Referenced_Element_Type	Referenced_Element_Database	Referenced_Element_Schema	Referenced_Element_Name	Referenced_Element_FullName	Line
SELECT	CREATE DATABASE LINK	RemoteDb	N/A	remote_hr_db	hr.employees@remote_hr_db	6

Database Link with database and schema names

CREATE DATABASE LINK remote_hr_db1
CONNECT TO hr_user
IDENTIFIED BY hr_password
USING 'RemoteDB.MySchema';

SELECT * FROM employees@remote_hr_db1;

Using the example above, the object reference information should look like this:

Caller_CodeUnit	Referenced_Element_Type	Referenced_Element_Database	Referenced_Element_Schema	Referenced_Element_Name	Referenced_Element_FullName	Line
SELECT	CREATE DATABASE LINK	RemoteDb	MySchema	remote_hr_db1	hr.employees@remote_hr_db1	6

Database Link with a connection string

CREATE DATABASE LINK remote_hr_db2
CONNECT TO hr_user
IDENTIFIED BY hr_password
USING '(DESCRIPTION=(
          ADDRESS=
          (PROTOCOL=TCP)
          (HOST=10.48.195.17)
          (PORT=1521))
      (CONNECT_DATA=(SID=MyDB)))';

SELECT * FROM employees@remote_hr_db2;

Using the example above, the object reference information should look like this:

Caller_CodeUnit	Referenced_Element_Type	Referenced_Element_Database	Referenced_Element_Schema	Referenced_Element_Name	Referenced_Element_FullName	Line
SELECT	CREATE DATABASE LINK	MyDB	N/A	remote_hr_db2	employees@remote_hr_db2	6

Relation Type

The relation type represents how a caller code unit is related to an object reference. SnowConvert is able to identify the following kinds of relations:

• FOREIGN KEY

• INSERT

• DELETE

• UPDATE

• CALL

• EXECUTE

• SYNONYM

• ALTER

• DROP

• MERGE

• TRUNCATE

• LOCK

• INDEX

• TABLE COLUMN

• GRANT

• REVOKE

• SELECT

  • COLUMN

  • FROM

  • WHERE

  • HAVING

  • GROUP BY

  • JOIN

  • ORDER BY

Examples

1. A stored procedure referencing a table through an UPDATE statement:

CREATE TABLE TABLE2
(
  COL1 VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
  COL2 INT NOT NULL
);

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE Procedure01 (param1 NUMBER)
IS
BEGIN
    UPDATE TABLE2
    SET COL1 = 'Anderson'
    WHERE COL2 = param1;
END;

The report will show something like the following table:

Caller_CodeUnit	Referenced_Element_Type	Referenced_Element_FullName	Line	Relation_Type
CREATE PROCEDURE	CREATE TABLE	TABLE2	10	UPDATE

1. A table referencing another table through a FOREIGN KEY:

CREATE TABLE TABLE1
(
  COL1 INT
);

CREATE TABLE TABLE2 
(
  COL1 INT,
  CONSTRAINT FK_COL1 FOREIGN KEY (COL1)
    REFERENCES TABLE1(COL1)
);

The report will show something like the following table:

Caller_CodeUnit	Referenced_Element_Type	Referenced_Element_FullName	Line	Relation_Type
CREATE TABLE	CREATE TABLE	TABLE1	10	FOREIGN KEY

1. A table referenced by a view in the FROM clause of the SELECT statement:

CREATE TABLE TABLE1
(
  COL1 INT
);

CREATE VIEW VIEW1 
AS
SELECT * FROM TABLE1;

The report will show something like the following table:

Caller_CodeUnit	Referenced_Element_Type	Referenced_Element_FullName	Line	Relation_Type
CREATE VIEW	CREATE TABLE	TABLE1	8	SELECT - FROM

1. A user-defined function (UDF) referenced by a view as a result set column.

CREATE FUNCTION FUNCTION1(PARAM1 INT) 
RETURN NUMBER 
IS
BEGIN  
  RETURN(PARAM1 + 1); 
END;

CREATE VIEW VIEW1
AS
SELECT FUNCTION1(*) FROM TABLE1;

The report will show something like the following table:

Caller_CodeUnit	Referenced_Element_Type	Referenced_Element_FullName	Line	Relation_Type
CREATE VIEW	CREATE FUNCTION	FUNCTION1	10	SELECT - COLUMN