MySQL Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition

MySQL 5

If you have been using MySQL for a while, you really don’t need to learn a thing about MySQL 5 to keep going. Everything you are used to using still works just as it always has. For the most part, MySQL 5 is about adding enterprise database features seen in other database engines without burdening MySQL with concepts that make it harder to learn and use.

Views

Views are denormalized, table-like structures that represent a snapshot of your data that match specific query parameters. You can thus represent as data from a single table the result of a complex join. New commands supporting views include CREATE VIEW, DROP VIEW, and ALTER VIEW.

Triggers

A database trigger is functionality that you create that gets executed whenever a specific event occurs on a table. For example, you can trigger behavior for a table whenever a new row is inserted. New commands supporting triggers include CREATE TRIGGER and DROP TRIGGER.

Stored Procedures

Stored procedures are the big feature most people have been waiting for. A stored procedure is much like creating a function that is written entirely in SQL and stored in the database. Stored procedures are useful for encapsulating a number of SQL statements that always get executed together under a single logical name for use by clients. MySQL includes a number of new commands to support stored procedures:

• CREATE PROCEDURE

• ALTER PROCEDURE

• DROP PROCEDURE

• CALL

• BEGIN/END

Cursors

A cursor is a tool that enables you to represent an entire data set within a MySQL ...