Trigger that records values for 5 columns from 3 tables when a value for column Z in table 3 is of a certain value I am new to triggers and SQL in general. Sorry in advance if this forum is only for experts and this is a newbie question...

I need to create a trigger that fires when someone tries to submit a grade(evaluation) of "5" in bookinglog_table for grade column. This will then grab the values of 5 columns that gave that grade of 5, and put them in a new table (so a fourth table) that I already created.

But the 5 columns are from 3 different tables (for example, fname=si_table, lname=si_table, phone=contact_table, email=contact_table, and grade=bookinglog_table.)

So tables are si_table si, contact_table c, and bookinglog_table b

What they have in common is si.student_id=c.student_id, c.event_id=b.event_id, and si.test=b.test

I have a trigger that works only if I bring in columns from table 3 which is where the INSERT or UPDATE grade originally comes from. 



So here is the new table, we'll call it grade_table in which I tested the trigger that WORKS.

CREATE TABLE grade_table (
grade NUMBER (1),
test1 NUMBER(5),
test2 NUMBER(8));


And the trigger that DOES work with the above:

CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER b_trigger1
AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE ON bookinglog_table
FOR EACH ROW
WHEN (NEW.eval = 5)
DECLARE
BEGIN
INSERT INTO grade_table
    VALUES (:NEW.grade, :NEW.test1, :NEW.test2);
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Recorded student information into grade_table');
END;
/


But I don't want test1 and test2 values from the bookinglog_table. I want fname, lname, phone, email from the other two tables, as well as the grade from the bookinglog_table.

Any tips, hints or suggestions? I've tried creating a SELECT statement within the trigger, but I'm not sure when I need aliases, if I need to put :NEW somewhere, or if I need an IF statement instead, etc..
If you want to insert data into a different table instead of the original table from the INSERT/UPDATE statement, you need an "Instead Of" trigger.

You find examples on how to handle Instead Of triggers here: http://psoug.org/reference/instead_of_trigger.html and http://docs.oracle.com/cd/B28359_01/appdev.111/b28370/triggers.htm#LNPLS020

In the body of your trigger you first need to get the additional information like fname, lname, etc. With a query like this one:

SELECT si.fname into l_fname, si.lname into l_lname, c.phone into l_phone, c.email into l_email
  FROM si_table si, contact_table c, bookinglog_table b
 WHERE si.student_id=c.student_id AND c.event_id=b.event_id, AND si.test=b.test
   AND &lt;add a clause to uniquely identify a single record&gt;;


Remember to declare the cariables l_fname, l_lname, etc. in the DECLARE block of the trigger:

DECLARE
  l_fname varchar2;
  l_lname varchar2;
  l_phone varchar2;
  l_email varchar2;
BEGIN
...




Even though this solution might work, it is actually not correct. You better create the table grade_table as follows. According to the database normalization form 4 you should not store detailed data multiple times.

CREATE TABLE grade_table (
  student_id number,
  event_id number,
  test number,
  grade NUMBER
);


When you query the table grade_test and need the details on the student, etc. you simply join the detail tables.