Chapter 1. Application Development Enhancements in DB2 9.7

In this chapter, we will focus on the following recipes related to application development enhancements in DB2 9.7 that help the application developer community to use DB2 features, instead of application logic:

• Changing column names online using the ALTER TABLE operation

• Using the CREATE OR REPLACE clause while creating objects

• Using the ALTER TABLE operation in a single transaction

• Using the CREATE WITH ERROR support

• Using the soft invalidation and automatic revalidation support

• Using the ALTER COLUMN SET DATA TYPE extended support

• Using the new TRUNCATE statement

• Using the AUTONOMOUS transactions

• Using implicit casting during application enablement

• Using the DEFAULT values and NAMED arguments in procedures

Introduction

DB2 9.7 provides many enhanced application features that make an application developer's life easier. In this chapter, we will focus on most of the new application features and their usage along with examples. This helps developers to understand the new features with respect to improving the application portability. The chapter is divided into various recipes and each recipe is followed by an example that helps in understanding the concept better.