Patent ID: 7974961

Claim:
A method for facilitating creation and managing of partitioned table indices of a table object of a first software partitioning type, wherein said table object and its indices are wholly under management of a database's system and administrative software, the method comprising steps of: automatically looking up, in a hard disk drive, a table and its software partitioning type definition; retrieving the table index and all indices defined for the table object, and their definitions; presenting to a user a visual representation of at least a portion of the table and the index in a single set of index alter and create screens for a virtual table; receiving from the user an alter request in the form of a screen option; performing validity checking on the screen option based on its index type for each screen option entered; alerting the user to a change in a type of index according to the type that will be implicitly created based on table columns selected for an index key; presenting to the user real-time feedback that informs said user how alteration or creation of an index object in the virtual table causes the table object to be implicitly converted into table-controlled partitioning (TCP) type, comprising presenting to the user what kinds of indices will be generated for the virtual table and what impact the creation of said indices will have on their table objects with partitioning type conversions applied; wherein the table object is not changed until conversions are applied; automatically changing screen options so that they are compatible with the type of index specified; when the screen option is not valid for the index type, automatically overriding the screen option to one that is compatible, and issuing a diagnostic message, comprising automatically updating at least one attribute for the index to be compatible with the index type to be created; and when the screen option is valid for the index type, notifying the user by issuing informational messages as to what implicit changes will be made to the table table, if any, and specifically what kind of index can be created based on information gathered about the table object and its index definitions and the changes that are specified for the index; wherein the informational messages comprise alerts, error messages, and diagnostic messages; alerting the user as to whether there will be an explicit irreversible conversion of the table object; and when the user has finished configuring the virtual table, applying the conversions by generating data definition language statements consistent with the screen options selected and accepted for the virtual table.