Alter table in timesten

Question

Hi,
I need some suggestion on changing the column's data type for an existing table, i understand "The format of TimesTen columns cannot be altered. It is possible to add or remove columns but not to change column definitions. To add or remove columns, use the ALTER TABLE statement. To change column definitions, an application must first drop the table and then recreate it with the new definitions."
the schema for the table looks below,
CREATE TABLE CHQ_DICT_INT (
     CHQINTID          TT_SMALLINT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
     CHQINTTEXT          VARCHAR2(256) NOT NULL,
     TT_AUTOTIMESTAMP     BINARY(8)
now we are in a situation wherein the column type of SPC_CHQINTID needs to be changed to TT_INTEGER from TT_SMALLINT, and its being primary key and non null column, is there way to still alter the column at the runtime? the idea is not to stop the application accessing the table.
and also is it possible to modify the column definition if its not a primary key and not a null like,
CREATE TABLE CACHE (
     MDN TT_BIGINT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
     CHQINTID TT_SMALLINT,
     ROLE CHAR(1),
     TT_AUTOTIMESTAMP BINARY(8)
);

Answer 1

I'm afraid that for both cases, the only way to do this currently in TimesTen is to:
1. Unload the table's data to an external file using ttBulkCp.
2. Drop the table and re-create it with the correct column definitions.
3. Reload the table's data using ttBulkCp.
Of course this requires application downtime, stopping and dropping (and then re-creating/redeploying) replication etc.
Chris