oracle - Is there any other way to create constraints during SQL table creation?

Question

Assume I have this following SQL statements, using Oracle:

drop table department cascade constraints;
drop table facultyStaff cascade constraints;
drop table student cascade constraints;
drop table campusClub cascade constraints;
drop table studentClub cascade constraints;

create table department 
(   code      varchar2(3) primary key,
    name      varchar2(40)  not null,
    chair     varchar2(11));

create table facultyStaff 
(   staffID     varchar2(5) primary key,
    dob     date,
    firstName   varchar2(20),
    lastName    varchar2(20),
    rank        varchar2(10),
    deptCode    varchar2(3),
    constraint rankValue check (rank in ('Assistant', 'Associate', 'Full', 'Emeritus')),
    constraint facultyDeptFk foreign key (deptCode) references department (code));

create table student 
(   studentId   varchar2(5) primary key,
    dob     date ,
    firstName   varchar2(20),
    lastName    varchar2(20),
    status      varchar(10),
    major       varchar(3),
constraint statusValue check (status in ('Freshman', 'Sophomore', 'Junior', 'Senior',  'Graduate')),
    constraint studentMajorFk foreign key (major) references department (code));

alter table department 
    add constraint departmentChairFk foreign key(chair) references facultyStaff(staffId) on delete set null; 

Since there is a recursive reference between department and faculty for the chair relationship, the foreign key constraint on chair in department cannot be defined until the faculty table is defined. The constraint must be added after faculty is defined using the alter table statement.

Are there any other ways to do this, to somehow automate the constraint creation thus eliminating the alter table statement?

Answer 1

You can do this with a create schema statement:

create schema authorization [schema name]
create table department 
(   code      varchar2(3) primary key,
    name      varchar2(40)  not null,
    chair     varchar2(11),
    constraint departmentChairFk foreign key(chair) references facultyStaff(staffId) on delete set null
)
create table facultyStaff 
(   staffID     varchar2(5) primary key,
    dob     date,
    firstName   varchar2(20),
    lastName    varchar2(20),
    rank        varchar2(10),
    deptCode    varchar2(3),
    constraint rankValue check (rank in ('Assistant', 'Associate', 'Full', 'Emeritus')),
    constraint facultyDeptFk foreign key (deptCode) references department (code)
)
create table student 
(   studentId   varchar2(5) primary key,
    dob     date ,
    firstName   varchar2(20),
    lastName    varchar2(20),
    status      varchar(10),
    major       varchar(3),
constraint statusValue check (status in ('Freshman', 'Sophomore', 'Junior', 'Senior',  'Graduate')),
    constraint studentMajorFk foreign key (major) references department (code)
);