Converting MySQL "on update current_timestamp" to Oracle

Another short simple SQL for all out there in the process of converting old MySQL schemas to Oracle.

MySQL has got a built in feature to automatically update a column to the current timestamp whenever the row is updated, just by using the default-clause. The "on update current_timestamp" feature can be quite handy if you have lazy developers who can't be bothered writing full insert statements. :)

The MySQL create table statement would be something like this:

create table p (
 id int,
 a varchar(10),
 d timestamp DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
                  ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
 constraint p_pk primary key (id)
);

Not difficult to do in Oracle either, but we need a trigger to assist.
Example:

SQL> alter session set nls_Date_format='HH24:MI:SS';

Session altered.

SQL> create table p (id number, a varchar2(10), d date default sysdate, 
       constraint p_pk primary key (id));

Table created.

SQL> insert into p(id,a) values(1,'test');

1 row created.

SQL> host cat p_test.sql
CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER p_d_trig
BEFORE UPDATE ON p
FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
        select sysdate into :new.d from dual;
END p_d_trig;
/

SQL> @p_test

Trigger created.

SQL> select * from p;

        ID A          D
---------- ---------- --------
         1 test       21:15:05

SQL> update p set a='foo' where id=1;

1 row updated.

SQL> select * from p;

        ID A          D
---------- ---------- --------
         1 foo        21:16:44

SQL>