Refactoring Databases: Evolutionary Database Design

Chapter 6Structural Refactorings

Structural refactorings, as the name implies, change the table structure of your database schema. The structural refactorings are as follows:

• Drop Column

• Drop Table

• Drop View

• Introduce Calculated Column

• Introduce Surrogate Key

• Merge Columns

• Merge Tables

• Move Column

• Rename Column

• Rename Table

• Rename View

• Replace Large Object (LOB) With Table

• Replace Column

• Replace One-to-Many With Associative Table

• Replace Surrogate Key With Natural Key

• Split Column

• Split Table

Common Issues When Implementing Structural Refactorings

When implementing structural refactorings, you need to consider several common issues when updating the database schema, including the following:

1. Avoid ...