Creating tables with circular reference

Question

How can I create multiple tables with circular references. I have this data that I'd like to create all in one shot:

DROP TABLE employee CASCADE CONSTRAINTS;
CREATE TABLE employee (
  fname    varchar2(15) not null, 
  minit    varchar2(1),
  lname    varchar2(15) not null,
  ssn      char(9),
  bdate    date,
  address  varchar2(30),
  sex      char,
  salary   number(10,2),
  superssn char(9),
  dno      number(4),
  primary key (ssn),
  foreign key (superssn) references employee(ssn),
  foreign key (dno) references department(dnumber)
);

DROP TABLE department CASCADE CONSTRAINTS;
CREATE TABLE department (
  dname        varchar2(15) not null,
  dnumber      number(4),
  mgrssn       char(9) not null, 
  mgrstartdate date,
  primary key (dnumber),
  unique (dname),
  foreign key (mgrssn) references employee(ssn)
);

DROP TABLE dept_locations CASCADE CONSTRAINTS;
CREATE TABLE dept_locations (
  dnumber   number(4),
  dlocation varchar2(15), 
  primary key (dnumber,dlocation),
  foreign key (dnumber) references department(dnumber)
);

DROP TABLE project CASCADE CONSTRAINTS;
CREATE TABLE project (
  pname      varchar2(15) not null,
  pnumber    number(4),
  plocation  varchar2(15),
  dnum       number(4) not null,
  primary key (pnumber),
  unique (pname),
  foreign key (dnum) references department(dnumber)
);

DROP TABLE works_on CASCADE CONSTRAINTS;
CREATE TABLE works_on (
  essn   char(9),
  pno    number(4),
  hours  number(4,1),
  primary key (essn,pno),
  foreign key (essn) references employee(ssn),
  foreign key (pno) references project(pnumber)
);

DROP TABLE dependent CASCADE CONSTRAINTS;
CREATE TABLE dependent (
  essn           char(9),
  dependent_name varchar2(15),
  sex            char,
  bdate          date,
  relationship   varchar2(8),
  primary key (essn,dependent_name),
  foreign key (essn) references employee(ssn)
);

Please help!!

Answer 1

You can create the tables and then create the constraints:

CREATE TABLE employee (
  fname    varchar2(15) not null, 
  minit    varchar2(1),
  lname    varchar2(15) not null,
  ssn      char(9),
  bdate    date,
  address  varchar2(30),
  sex      char,
  salary   number(10,2),
  superssn char(9),
  dno      number(4),
  primary key (ssn)
);

CREATE TABLE department (
  dname        varchar2(15) not null,
  dnumber      number(4),
  mgrssn       char(9) not null, 
  mgrstartdate date,
  primary key (dnumber),
  unique (dname)
);

ALTER TABLE employee ADD CONSTRAINT fk_dno FOREIGN KEY (dno) REFERENCES department(dnumber) DEFERRABLE;
ALTER TABLE department ADD CONSTRAINT fk_mgrssn FOREIGN KEY (mgrssn) REFERENCES employee(ssn) DEFERRABLE;

When inserting, you can set the constraints deferred, meaning that Oracle won't verify them until you commit.

ALTER SESSION SET CONSTRAINTS = DEFERRED;
insert into employee (fname, lname, ssn, dno) values ('Joe','Blow','123456789', 10);
insert into department(dname, dnumber, mgrssn) values ('Dept1',10, '123456789');
commit;

You can also set them up initially deferred when creating them, but the constraints must be "deferrable" at the least to do the above.