Deleting Rows That Contain Opaque Data Types

Some opaque data types require special processing when they are deleted. For example, if an opaque data type contains spatial or multirepresentational data, it might provide a choice of how to store the data: inside the internal structure or, for large objects, in a smart large object.

To accomplish this process, call a user-defined support function called destroy( ). When you use DELETE to remove a row that contains one of these opaque types, the database server automatically invokes destroy( ) for the opaque type. This function decides how to remove the data, regardless of where it is stored. For more information on the destroy( ) support function, see HCL OneDB™ User-Defined Routines and Data Types Developer's Guide.