1. A computer implemented method for online upgrading of a software application in a database environment using transparently-patched seed data, the transparently-patched seed data including initial data accessed by the software application that is upgraded to correspond to an upgrade to the software application, the method comprising: creating a copy of seed data by copying, while the software application is running, the seed data in database table rows from a data table to new database table rows in the data table that are temporarily inaccessible by the software application; applying at least one patch to modify the copy of the seed data in the data table; stopping the software application and changing the new database table rows temporarily inaccessible by the software application to become accessible by the software application; and starting the software application to point to the copy of the seed data that includes the new database table rows to which the at least one patch has been applied.