Here is a detailed tutorial:
This tutorial aims to guide you on how to schedule and manage SQL events, which are tasks that your database will perform automatically at the times you specify.
By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to:
- Understand what SQL events are
- Learn how to create, schedule, manage, and delete SQL events
Before starting this tutorial, you should:
- Have a basic understanding of SQL
- Have MySQL installed on your computer
SQL Events are tasks that run based on a schedule. They are very similar to the concept of cron jobs in Unix-like operating systems.
In MySQL, we can create an event using the CREATE EVENT statement.
You can schedule an event using the ON SCHEDULE clause. You can set it to AT a specific time or EVERY specific interval.
You can view your events using SHOW EVENTS, modify them using ALTER EVENT, and delete them using DROP EVENT.
This event will update the last_updated field in the users table every minute.
CREATE EVENT update_user
ON SCHEDULE EVERY 1 MINUTE
DO
UPDATE users SET last_updated = NOW();
In this code, CREATE EVENT is the statement to create a new event. update_user is the name of the event. ON SCHEDULE EVERY 1 MINUTE means this event will run every minute. UPDATE users SET last_updated = NOW(); is the SQL statement that will be run.
This is how you can delete an event.
DROP EVENT IF EXISTS update_user;
DROP EVENT IF EXISTS is the statement to delete an event if it exists. update_user is the name of the event to be deleted.
In this tutorial, you've learned about SQL events, how to create, schedule, manage, and delete them. To further your knowledge, you can explore how to use different time intervals and complex SQL statements in your events.
Create an event that inserts a new row into a log table every hour.
Create an event that deletes rows older than 30 days from a history table every day at midnight.
Create an event that updates a statistics table every 5 minutes, and then delete this event.
CREATE EVENT log_event
ON SCHEDULE EVERY 1 HOUR
DO
INSERT INTO log VALUES (NULL, NOW(), 'Hourly log');
CREATE EVENT history_cleanup
ON SCHEDULE EVERY 1 DAY STARTS '2022-01-01 00:00:00'
DO
DELETE FROM history WHERE created_at < DATE_SUB(NOW(), INTERVAL 30 DAY);
CREATE EVENT stats_update
ON SCHEDULE EVERY 5 MINUTE
DO
UPDATE statistics SET last_updated = NOW();
Then delete it.
DROP EVENT IF EXISTS stats_update;
Keep practising with different scenarios. Remember to always test your SQL statements before scheduling them. Good luck!