Supported Query Types

See Also      Tasks

You can create the following types of queries in the Diagram and Grid panes (the graphical panes) of the Query Designer:

• Select query   Retrieves data from one or more tables or views. This type of query creates an SQL SELECT statement.
  
  
• Insert Values query   Creates a new row and inserts values into specified columns. This type of query creates an SQL INSERT INTO…VALUES statement.
  
  
• Insert query   Creates new rows by copying existing rows from one table into another, or into the same table as new rows. This type of query creates an SQL INSERT…SELECT statement.
  
  
• Update query   Changes the values of individual columns in one or more existing rows in a table. This type of query creates an SQL UPDATE statement.
  
  
• Delete query   Removes one or more rows from a table. This type of query creates an SQL DELETE statement.

  Note   A Delete query removes entire rows from the input source. If you want to delete values from individual data columns, use an Update query.

• Make Table query   Creates a new table and creates rows in it by copying the results of a query into it. This type of query creates an SQL SELECT…INTO statement.

  Note   In Oracle, a Make Table query is implemented as a Create Table as Select command. For details, see Query Designer Considerations for Oracle Databases.

In addition to the queries you can create using the graphical panes, you can enter any SQL statement into the SQL pane, such as Union queries.

When you create queries using SQL statements that cannot be represented in the graphical panes, the Query Designer dims those panes to indicate that they do not reflect the query you are creating. However, the dimmed panes are still active and, in many cases, you can make changes to the query in those panes. If the changes you make result in a query that can be represented in the graphical panes, those panes are no longer dimmed.

For details about unsupported query types in SQL Server, see Query Designer Considerations for SQL Server Databases. For details about unsupported query types in Oracle, see Query Designer Considerations for Oracle Databases.