What's New in Object-Relational Features?

This section describes the new object-relational features of Oracle 11g release 1 (11.1). New features information from previous releases is also retained to help users upgrading to the current release.

The following sections describe the new features in Oracle Object-Relational Features:

• Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) New Features in Object-Relational Features

• Oracle Database 11g Release 1 (11.1) New Features in Object-Relational Features

• Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) New Features in Object-Relational Features

Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) New Features in Object-Relational Features

FORCE Option Added to CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE Statement

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE statements now have a FORCE option, which enables you to replace the type even if it has type dependents. This does not work without the FORCE option.

Oracle Database 11g Release 1 (11.1) New Features in Object-Relational Features

Support for Generalized Invocation

Generalized invocation syntax is now supported. Therefore, a member method in a subtype can statically invoke (dispatch) a member method in any supertype in the supertype hierarchy of the current subtype, including the subtype's immediate supertype. See "Generalized Invocation".

Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1) New Features in Object-Relational Features

New object-relational features for Oracle 10g release 1 (10.1) include the following collection enhancements:

Nested Table and Varray Storage

New functionality for nested table and varray storage, including the evolution of varray size and specification of a tablespace when storing nested tables. See "Collection Data Types".

Nested Table Comparisons and ANSI SQL Multiset Operations

New functionality for nested table comparisons and ANSI SQL multiset operations for nested tables. See "Operations on Collection Data Types".