Changing table structures directly in database (Oracle)

[robert_at_work]

Hi there,

I need to add columns to database tables. I dont want to use any GUI but do that through SQL so that any changes I have done can be easily reproduced in a different environment (first test, than production).

I'm not yet very familiar with SDE - therefore my questions:

1) can you safely change table structure (adding / removing and changing datatype/datatype settings) in SQL or do you need to do these modifications with an ESRI tool (basically - does ArcCatalog or other tools do something in the background when you modify tables through them?)

2) can you add new tables (tables with and without spatial data)?

I assume for tables with spatial data you need to do some registration in the SDE schema. It seems you need to use ArcCatalog for that - as I do not need to add many tables I'm happy with that step being performed in Catalog. But I would like to create the table itself through SQL.

Tables are versioned. ArcMap 10.5 and Oracle 11,

Many thanks for any tipps,

Rob

[George_Thompson · Accepted solution]

1 - I would do this via Esri tools only, especially since the data is versioned.

2 - You can create tables in the Oracle schema (i.e. DATA) via SQL. But if you want the table to participate in any geodatabase functionality (i.e. versioning, editing, etc.) then they would need to be registered with the GDB (Register with Geodatabase—Help | ArcGIS Desktop ) If you use an ArcGIS client to load the data the table (spatial or non-spatial) is automatically added to the geodatabase registry tables.