Re: Updating sysdefaults

Jeff Larsen wrote: > > Our salesmen are always changing their minds about default > values for new customer records. We have a 24-7 system and > I have to kick everybody out just to be able to execute... > > alter table customer modify rate char(1) default 'V';> > I know the manual says DON'T DO IT, but just how much trouble > could I get in by executing... > > update sysdefaults set default = 'V' where tabid = 252 and colno = 23; Remember that the data dictionary for active tables is cached in the data dictionary cache (onstat -g dic) so if you manually change the sysdefaults you will not affect any running inserts or even new ones until the dictionary cache is invalidated (or the engine bounces) which is done as part of the ALTER TABLE processing. Let me add my voice to that of the manual writer: DON'T DO IT! There are a VERY SMALL handful of columns in the system catalog tables that you can safely update and half of those are only safe because there are there for future use which only means they'll break when you upgrade someday. Art S. Kagel