I am building some temp tables using ON TABLE HOLD AS tmpname FORMAT ORACLE. All is working fine until I try to DROP the tables. I have even tried doing a TRUNCATE first, then a DROP. The problem is I can do the DROP or TRUNCATE/DROP and I get no errors, however, what is left is a table name the looks like the following:

BIN$WF7Pnk33khfgQH4QCkI6+Q==$0

I have even tried doing the DROP inside PLSQL and SQLPlus. I get a message saying the table was dropped but when I look at the list of table names in Oracle (either in TOAD or WebFOCUS Console, Metadata/New Synonym, there a table with a name like this above.

BTW, the names always start with BIN$WF7

Anyone have any idea what is going on here?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jgelona,

Hi, if your having the same problem within Oracle then maybe it would help to check with Oracle or Oracle forums. What happens if you drop the table in sql*plus

Same thing. The only problem with checking with Oracle or Oracle forums is that it only occurs with tables created within WebFOCUS using HOLD AS tablename FORMAT ORACLE.

Have you tried "ON TABLE HOLD AS tmpname FORMAT SQLORA"? FORMAT ORACLE doesn't seem to be documented anywhere.

Take a look at this tech support document: ORACLE: How to use HOLD files with passthru?

And this might be of help: SQL passthrough and hold files

Actually, I got the FORMAT ORACLE syntax from the FOCUS manual titled, "Interface to Oracle Users Manual Release 6.5". Any way, I tried the FORMAT SQLORA and there is no difference. The table is created just fine. However, when I DROP the table (ENGINE SQLORA DROP TABLE TEST1), it leaves a garbage name. I can see it when I go into the console and select metadata, new synonym. The same thing happens if I try to DROP the table in SQLPlus.

I think I will open a problem report with IBI.

Maybe this will make the DROP work:

"If the table to be dropped contains any primary or unique keys referenced by foreign keys of other tables and you intend to drop the FOREIGN KEY constraints of the child tables, then include the CASCADE clause in the DROP TABLE statement, as shown below:

DROP TABLE admin_emp_dept CASCADE CONSTRAINTS;"

From Oracle 10g Tutorials : Dropping Tables

That (CASCASDE CONSTRAINTS) did not work, but further down in the link was the PURGE option and that worked.

So the solution is:

ENGINE SQLORA DROP TABLE tablename PURGE;