Is it possible to view "all_tab_columns" entries in "user_tab_columns"?

Question

Good morning,
I have here a SQL query that searches for entries in "user_tab_columns".
Unfortunately the mentioned entries are not present there (but they are present in "all_tab_columns", but I also think that the query is correct.
Therefore I wonder:
is it possible to modify the database (using granting permissions, DB links or other) so that the mentioned entries in "all_tab_columns" also get visible in "user_tab_columns"?
Thanks
Dominique

Answer 1

Hi, Dominique,
You can create a private synonym called user_tab_columns that will stand for all_tab_columns
CREATE SYNONYM user_tab_columns FOR sys.all_tab_columns;That means, whenever you say user_tab_columns, Oracle will understand you really want sys.all_tab_columns.
If you need to reference the real user_tab_columns, then you can create another synonym like this:
CREATE SYNONYM real_user_tab_columns FOR sys.user_tab_columns;This will affect only the user who creates the synonym. If you log in as DOMINIQUE, then anyone logged in as DOMINIQUE will be affected, but people who log in as SCOTT (for example) will not be. (Of course, SCOTT can also create a priovate synonym, which would only affect users logged in as SCOTT).
Remember that sys.all_tab_columns and sys.user_table_columns are different. Something that was designed to work in user_tab_columns will not necessarily work in all_tab_columns. For example, a query that finds how many columns are in the emp table. If dominique.emp has 5 columns, then when dominique runs
SELECT  COUNT (*)   AS total_columns
FROM    user_tab_columns
WHERE   table_name  = 'EMP';the answer will be 5, but if dominque has privileges on the scott.emp table, which has 8 columns, then the results of:
SELECT  COUNT (*)   AS total_columns
FROM    all_tab_columns
WHERE   table_name  = 'EMP';will be 5 + 8 = 13, which is not the correct number of columns in either emp table.
Edited by: Frank Kulash on Aug 11, 2011 12:46 PM
Corrected typos