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Manta Technologies: Your Resource for IBM i Training

Manta offers a complete library of courses for programmers, operators, system administrators, and users of the IBM i operating system, which runs on IBM Power Systems.

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Implementing Business Rules Using Constraints and Triggers

All organizations have business rules that affect the creation and storage of data. Manta's newest course, Implementing Business Rules Using Constraints and Triggers, details how such rules can be built into a database so that they are enforced by the Db2 database manager rather than by individual application programs. Two mechanisms by which business rules can be enforced by Db2 are called constraints and triggers.

The course begins by describing the how constraints limit the data that can be stored in a Db2 database. Primary key, unique, and check constraints are discussed first, followed by referential constraints. With all four types of constraints, you will see how to define a constraint when you create a table, how to add a constraint later, how to alter a constraint, and how to remove a constraint when it is no longer needed. You will also see how an application program that uses a table can determine when a constraint violation has occurred.

The effect of a constraint is to limit what can happen to a table during an insert, an update, or a delete operation. In contrast, a trigger is a set of one or more SQL statements that is executed automatically when a specified database event occurs. You will see common applications for triggers and learn the options available for defining them. The course then covers the SQL statements for creating, enabling or disabling, and dropping triggers.

The new course has been added to our popular Using Structured Query Language (SQL) series. The updated series contains six courses and a Competency Exam:

SQL Fundamentals

With the addition of this course, programmers who use SQL statements instead of traditional record-level I/O no longer need to take the Working with DB2 Databases series.

Like all Manta courses, Implementing Business Rules Using Constraints and Triggers can be ordered by itself for $120 for a single-user, one-year license. Or, you can get the entire series for $486. As with all Manta series, this includes free Student Reference Guides (in PDF format), free Competency Exams, and free access to Student Administration reporting and control software.

Customers who have an existing license to any of the following combination packages will discover that the new course has already been added to their menu options:

What's New?

2018 has been a busy year for Manta. In the first quarter, we streamlined and updated our combo pack offerings. First, we significantly reduced the number of packages, making the offerings easier to understand and aligning them more with typical IBM i job functions. In addition to the complete IBM i Training Library, the following combo packages are now available:

As part of the effort to more closely align each package with a job function, we made sure that each package was self-contained. No course in any package requires a prerequisite that is not also in the package.

In addition to examining Manta's combination package offerings, we examined and updated our recommended curriculum paths and course prerequisite relationships in response to a major change that we see happening in customer sites. Today, more and more organizations are hiring IBM i programmers and operators who have never seem a green screen. These students question why they need to learn an interface that they may never use on the job. While we can debate whether new employees will "never" need to use the text-based interface, there is no longer a question that better graphical interfaces are now available, and that it makes sense to start new employees using these tools rather than forcing them to learn the green-screen interface first.

While Manta already had most of the courses needed to make this option available, 2018 saw the final pieces fall into place. In particular, the Manta series Fundamentals of IBM i Operations Using Navigator for i, can now be taken instead of the traditional Fundamentals of IBM i Operations series. And, thanks to our newest course, Implementing Business Rules Using Constraints and Triggers, the Using Structured Query Language (SQL) series no longer requires the DDL-based Working with DB2 Databases series as a prerequisite.

Manta has always seen its core function as converting new students into proficient IBM i professionals. With our revised curriculum paths, we are laying the foundation to continue this role in the decades ahead.

Finally, 2018 has seen significant progress on our goal to add audio to every course. We added audio to the seven-course Free-Form RPG Programming series, as well as the stand-alone "differences" course, Coding Free-Form RPG. The new Fundamentals of Operations Using Navigator for i series was given audio, as well as the older Java Fundamentals series. Audio for the new SQL course and the Working with DB2 Databases series is underway.