Temporary

The Temporary table is used within objects to hold temporary data. A Temporary table does not exist outside the instance of the object where it is defined using a permanent table as the source of the table definition. The Temporary table has exactly the same data structure as the permanent table after which it is modeled.

Temporary tables are created empty when the parent object execution initiates, and they disappear along with their data when the parent object execution terminates (that is, when the Temporary table variable goes out of scope).

Temporary tables are not generally accessible to users except on a display-only basis. They can directly be the target of reports, pages, and XML ports. In general, temporary tables are intended to be work areas, and as such, are containers of data. The definition of a Temporary table can only be changed by changing the definition of the permanent table on which it has been modeled.

There is a Temporary table technique used by advanced developers to define a new temporary table format without consuming a (paid for) licensed table slot. Define the new table in an unlicensed number range. If the current production license allows for tables 50000 through 50099, assign the new layout to 50500 (for example). That layout can then be used to define a temporary table in an object. The layout cannot be used to actually store data in the database, only to provide a convenient data format design for some special intermediate process.