Spatial vs. materialized views/query rewrite

Question

Dear all,
we are trying to use Spatial (Locator) functionality together with performance optimization using materialized views and query rewrite, and it does not seem to work. Does anybody has experience with this?
The problem in more detail:
* There is a spatial attribut (vom Typ GEOMETRY) in our table;
* we define a materialized view on that table;
* we run a query that could be better answered using the materialized view with query rewrite;
*the optimizer does not choose the plan using the materialized view, query rewrite does not take place;
This happenes, even if neither the materialized view, nor the query contains the spatial attribut.
The explanation given by the procedure DBMS_MVIEW.Explain_Rewrite is:
"QSM-01064 query has a fixed table or view Cause: Query
rewrite is not allowed if query references any fixed tables or views"
We are using Oracle 9R2, Enterprise Edition, with locator. Nevertheless, it would also be interesting, if there is any improvement in 10g?
A more complicated task, using materialized views to optimize spatial operations (e.g., sdo_relate) would also be very interesting, as spatial joins are very expensive operations.
Thanks in advance for any comments, ideas!
Cheers,
Gergely Lukacs

Answer 1

Hi Dan,
thanks for your rapid response!
A simple example is:
alter session set query_rewrite_integrity=trusted;
alter session set query_rewrite_enabled=true;
set serveroutput on;
/* Creating testtable */
CREATE TABLE TESTTABLE (
KEY1 NUMBER (4) NOT NULL,
KEY2 NUMBER (8) NOT NULL,
KEY3 NUMBER (14) NOT NULL,
NAME VARCHAR2 (255),
X NUMBER (9,2),
Y NUMBER (9,2),
ATTR1 VARCHAR2 (2),
ATTR2 VARCHAR2 (30),
ATTR3 VARCHAR2 (80),
ATTR4 NUMBER (7),
ATTR5 NUMBER (4),
ATTR6 NUMBER (5),
ATTR7 VARCHAR2 (40),
ATTR8 VARCHAR2 (40),
CONSTRAINT TESTTABLE_PK
PRIMARY KEY ( KEY1, KEY2, KEY3 ));
/* Creating materialized view */
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW TESTTABLE_MV
REFRESH COMPLETE
ENABLE QUERY REWRITE
AS SELECT DISTINCT ATTR7, ATTR8
FROM TESTTABLE;
/* Creating statistics, just to make sure */
execute dbms_stats.gather_table_stats(ownname=> 'TESTSCHEMA', tabname=> 'TESTTABLE', cascade=>TRUE);
execute dbms_stats.gather_table_stats(ownname=> 'TESTSCHEMA', tabname=> 'TESTTABLE_MV', cascade=>TRUE);
/* Explain rewrite procedure */
DECLARE
Rewrite_Array SYS.RewriteArrayType := SYS.RewriteArrayType();
querytxt VARCHAR2(1500) :=
'SELECT COUNT(*) FROM (
SELECT DISTINCT
ATTR8 FROM
TESTTABLE
i NUMBER;
BEGIN
DBMS_MVIEW.Explain_Rewrite(querytxt, 'TESTTABLE_MV', Rewrite_Array);
FOR i IN 1..Rewrite_Array.count
LOOP
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(Rewrite_Array(i).message);
END LOOP;
END;
The message you get is:
QSM-01009 materialized view, string, matched query text
Cause: The query was rewritten using a materialized view, because query text matched the materialized view text.
Action: No action required.
i.e. query rewrite works!
/* Adding geometry column to the testtable -- not to the materialized view, and not to the query! */
ALTER TABLE TESTTABLE
ADD GEOMETRYATTR mdsys.sdo_geometry;
/* Explain rewrite procedure */
DECLARE
Rewrite_Array SYS.RewriteArrayType := SYS.RewriteArrayType();
querytxt VARCHAR2(1500) :=
'SELECT COUNT(*) FROM (
SELECT DISTINCT
ATTR8 FROM
TESTTABLE
i NUMBER;
BEGIN
DBMS_MVIEW.Explain_Rewrite(querytxt, 'TESTTABLE_MV', Rewrite_Array);
FOR i IN 1..Rewrite_Array.count
LOOP
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(Rewrite_Array(i).message);
END LOOP;
END;
The messages you get are:
QSM-01064 query has a fixed table or view
Cause: Query rewrite is not allowed if query references any fixed tables or views.
Action: No action required.
QSM-01019 no suitable materialized view found to rewrite this query
Cause: There doesn't exist any materialized view that can be used to rewrite this query.
Action: Consider creating a new materialized view.
i.e. query rewrite does not work!
If this works, the next issue is to use materialized views for optimizing spatial operations, e.g., a spatial join. I can supply you with an example, if necessary (only makes sense, I think, after the first problem is solved).
Thanks in advance for any ideas, comments!
Cheers,
Gergely