1.

Introduction to Triggers
✅ What is a Trigger?
●​ A trigger is a database object that is automatically executed or fired when certain
events occur in a table.​

●​ Used for:​

○​ Maintaining data integrity​

○​ Automating tasks​

○​ Enforcing business rules​

🔑 Key Points:
●​ Triggers are always associated with a table.​

●​ They respond to INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE events.​

●​ They can run BEFORE or AFTER the event.​

📝 Syntax (basic form)

CREATE TRIGGER trigger_name
{BEFORE | AFTER} {INSERT | UPDATE | DELETE}
ON table_name
FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
-- SQL statements
END;

🎓 Example: Basic Trigger

Suppose we want to log whenever a new student is added.

CREATE TABLE StudentLogs (

log_id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
student_name VARCHAR(100),
 action_time TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

CREATE TRIGGER after_student_insert

AFTER INSERT ON Students
FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
INSERT INTO StudentLogs(student_name)
VALUES (NEW.name);
END;

🔍 Explanation:
●​ AFTER INSERT means trigger fires after new student is inserted.​

●​ NEW.name → refers to the inserted row.​

●​ Creates an automatic log entry.

2. Types of Triggers
✅ By timing:
●​ BEFORE triggers → Run before action is executed​

●​ AFTER triggers → Run after action is executed​

✅ By event:
●​ INSERT → Fires when inserting data​

●​ UPDATE → Fires when updating data​

●​ DELETE → Fires when deleting data​

⚡ MySQL supports 6 types in total:

●​ BEFORE INSERT​

●​ AFTER INSERT​
 ●​ BEFORE UPDATE​

●​ AFTER UPDATE​

●​ BEFORE DELETE​

●​ AFTER DELETE

🎓 Example 1: BEFORE INSERT Trigger

Prevent inserting students younger than 15 years old:

CREATE TRIGGER check_student_age

BEFORE INSERT ON Students

FOR EACH ROW

BEGIN

IF NEW.age < 15 THEN

SIGNAL SQLSTATE '45000'

SET MESSAGE_TEXT = 'Student age must be 15 or older';

END IF;

END;

🎓 Example 2: AFTER UPDATE Trigger

Track changes when a student updates their email:

CREATE TABLE StudentUpdates (

update_id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,

student_id INT,

old_email VARCHAR(100),

new_email VARCHAR(100),

updated_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

);

CREATE TRIGGER after_student_update

AFTER UPDATE ON Students

FOR EACH ROW

BEGIN

IF OLD.email <> NEW.email THEN

INSERT INTO StudentUpdates(student_id, old_email, new_email)

VALUES (OLD.student_id, OLD.email, NEW.email);

END IF;

END;

3. Managing Triggers (10 minutes)

✅ Viewing Triggers
SHOW TRIGGERS;

✅ Dropping a Trigger
DROP TRIGGER IF EXISTS trigger_name;

✅ Replacing / Altering a Trigger

MySQL does not allow ALTER TRIGGER directly.

Must DROP and then CREATE again.

DROP TRIGGER IF EXISTS after_student_insert;

4. Use Cases of Triggers
📌 Common Scenarios:
Audit Logging​

●​ Keep track of changes (who changed what and when).​

Enforcing Business Rules​

●​ E.g., no negative balance in accounts.​

Cascading Changes​

●​ E.g., if a parent record is deleted, also clean up related tables.​

Data Validation​

●​ E.g., restrict invalid data before it gets stored.

🎓 Example Use Cases

1. Logging Deletions

CREATE TABLE StudentDeletions (

student_id INT,

deleted_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

);

CREATE TRIGGER log_student_deletion

AFTER DELETE ON Students

FOR EACH ROW

BEGIN

INSERT INTO StudentDeletions(student_id)

VALUES (OLD.student_id);

END;

2. Prevent Negative Balances

CREATE TRIGGER check_balance

BEFORE UPDATE ON Accounts

FOR EACH ROW

BEGIN

IF NEW.balance < 0 THEN

SIGNAL SQLSTATE '45000'

SET MESSAGE_TEXT = 'Balance cannot be negative';

END IF;

END;

5. Limitations & Best Practices (5 minutes)

⚠️ Limitations:
●​ One trigger per table per event per timing (e.g., only one BEFORE INSERT).​

●​ Can’t directly commit/rollback inside triggers.​

●​ Excessive triggers can hurt performance.​

✅ Best Practices:
●​ Keep triggers simple and focused.​
●​ Use them for data integrity and automation, not for complex logic.​

●​ Document your triggers (since they run “behind the scenes”).