How to avoid full Table scan when using Rule based optimizer (Oracle817)

Question

1. We have a Oracle 8.1.7 DB, and the optimizer_mode is set to "RULE"
2. There are three indexes on table cm_contract_supply, which is a large table having 28732830 Rows, and average row length 149 Bytes
COLUMN_NAME INDEX_NAME
PROGRESS_RECID XAK11CM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY
COMPANY_CODE XIE1CM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY
CONTRACT_NUMBER XIE1CM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY
COUNTRY_CODE XIE1CM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY
SUPPLY_TYPE_CODE XIE1CM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY
VERSION_NUMBER XIE1CM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY
CAMPAIGN_CODE XIF1290CM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY
COMPANY_CODE XIF1290CM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY
COUNTRY_CODE XIF1290CM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY
SUPPLIER_BP_ID XIF801CONTRACT_SUPPLY
COMMISSION_LETTER_CODE XIF803CONTRACT_SUPPLY
COMPANY_CODE XIF803CONTRACT_SUPPLY
COUNTRY_CODE XIF803CONTRACT_SUPPLY
COMPANY_CODE XPKCM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY
CONTRACT_NUMBER XPKCM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY
COUNTRY_CODE XPKCM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY
SUPPLY_SEQUENCE_NUMBER XPKCM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY
VERSION_NUMBER XPKCM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY
3. We are querying the table for a particular contract_number and version_number. We want to avoid full table scan.
SELECT /*+ INDEX(XAK11CM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY) */
rowid, pms.cm_contract_supply.*
FROM pms.cm_contract_supply
WHERE
contract_number = '0000000000131710'
AND version_number = 3;
However despite of giving hint, query results are fetched after full table scan.
Execution Plan
0 SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=RULE (Cost=1182 Card=1 Bytes=742)
1 0 TABLE ACCESS (FULL) OF 'CM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY' (Cost=1182 Card=1 Bytes=742)
4. I have tried giving
SELECT /*+ FIRST_ROWS + INDEX(XAK11CM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY) */
rowid, pms.cm_contract_supply.*
FROM pms.cm_contract_supply
WHERE
contract_number = '0000000000131710'
AND version_number = 3;
and
SELECT /*+ CHOOSE + INDEX(XAK11CM_CONTRACT_SUPPLY) */
rowid, pms.cm_contract_supply.*
FROM pms.cm_contract_supply
WHERE
contract_number = '0000000000131710'
AND version_number = 3;
But it does not work.
Is there some way without changing optimizer mode and without creating an additional index, we can use the index instead of full table scan?

Answer 1

David,
Here is my test on a Oracle 10g database.
SQL> create table mytable as select * from all_tables;
Table created.
SQL> set autot traceonly
SQL> alter session set optimizer_mode = choose;
Session altered.
SQL> select count(*) from mytable;
Execution Plan
   0      SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=CHOOSE
   1    0   SORT (AGGREGATE)
   2    1     TABLE ACCESS (FULL) OF 'MYTABLE' (TABLE)
Statistics
          1  recursive calls
          0  db block gets
         29  consistent gets
          0  physical reads
          0  redo size
        223  bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
        276  bytes received via SQL*Net from client
          2  SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
          0  sorts (memory)
          0  sorts (disk)
          1  rows processed
SQL> analyze table mytable compute statistics;
Table analyzed.
SQL>  select count(*) from mytable
  2  ;
Execution Plan
   0      SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=CHOOSE (Cost=11 Card=1)
   1    0   SORT (AGGREGATE)
   2    1     TABLE ACCESS (FULL) OF 'MYTABLE' (TABLE) (Cost=11 Card=1
          788)
Statistics
          1  recursive calls
          0  db block gets
         29  consistent gets
          0  physical reads
          0  redo size
        222  bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
        276  bytes received via SQL*Net from client
          2  SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
          0  sorts (memory)
          0  sorts (disk)
          1  rows processed
SQL> disconnect
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.1.0.2.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, Oracle Label Security, OLAP and Data Mining options