- •Contents
- •Send Us Your Comments
- •Preface
- •What's New in PL/SQL?
- •1 Overview of PL/SQL
- •Advantages of PL/SQL
- •Tight Integration with SQL
- •Support for SQL
- •Better Performance
- •Higher Productivity
- •Full Portability
- •Tight Security
- •Support for Object-Oriented Programming
- •Understanding the Main Features of PL/SQL
- •Block Structure
- •Variables and Constants
- •Processing Queries with PL/SQL
- •Declaring PL/SQL Variables
- •Control Structures
- •Writing Reusable PL/SQL Code
- •Data Abstraction
- •Error Handling
- •PL/SQL Architecture
- •In the Oracle Database Server
- •In Oracle Tools
- •2 Fundamentals of the PL/SQL Language
- •Character Set
- •Lexical Units
- •Delimiters
- •Literals
- •Comments
- •Declarations
- •Using DEFAULT
- •Using NOT NULL
- •Using the %TYPE Attribute
- •Using the %ROWTYPE Attribute
- •Restrictions on Declarations
- •PL/SQL Naming Conventions
- •Scope and Visibility of PL/SQL Identifiers
- •Assigning Values to Variables
- •Assigning Boolean Values
- •Assigning a SQL Query Result to a PL/SQL Variable
- •PL/SQL Expressions and Comparisons
- •Logical Operators
- •Boolean Expressions
- •CASE Expressions
- •Handling Null Values in Comparisons and Conditional Statements
- •Summary of PL/SQL Built-In Functions
- •3 PL/SQL Datatypes
- •PL/SQL Number Types
- •PL/SQL Character and String Types
- •PL/SQL National Character Types
- •PL/SQL LOB Types
- •PL/SQL Boolean Types
- •PL/SQL Date, Time, and Interval Types
- •Datetime and Interval Arithmetic
- •Avoiding Truncation Problems Using Date and Time Subtypes
- •Overview of PL/SQL Subtypes
- •Using Subtypes
- •Converting PL/SQL Datatypes
- •Explicit Conversion
- •Implicit Conversion
- •Choosing Between Implicit and Explicit Conversion
- •DATE Values
- •RAW and LONG RAW Values
- •4 Using PL/SQL Control Structures
- •Overview of PL/SQL Control Structures
- •Testing Conditions: IF and CASE Statements
- •Using the IF-THEN Statement
- •Using the IF-THEN-ELSE Statement
- •Using the IF-THEN-ELSIF Statement
- •Using the CASE Statement
- •Guidelines for PL/SQL Conditional Statements
- •Controlling Loop Iterations: LOOP and EXIT Statements
- •Using the LOOP Statement
- •Using the EXIT Statement
- •Using the EXIT-WHEN Statement
- •Labeling a PL/SQL Loop
- •Using the WHILE-LOOP Statement
- •Using the FOR-LOOP Statement
- •Sequential Control: GOTO and NULL Statements
- •Using the GOTO Statement
- •Using the NULL Statement
- •5 Using PL/SQL Collections and Records
- •What Is a Collection?
- •Understanding Nested Tables
- •Understanding Varrays
- •Understanding Associative Arrays (Index-By Tables)
- •How Globalization Settings Affect VARCHAR2 Keys for Associative Arrays
- •Choosing Which PL/SQL Collection Types to Use
- •Choosing Between Nested Tables and Associative Arrays
- •Choosing Between Nested Tables and Varrays
- •Defining Collection Types
- •Declaring PL/SQL Collection Variables
- •Initializing and Referencing Collections
- •Referencing Collection Elements
- •Assigning Collections
- •Comparing Collections
- •Using PL/SQL Collections with SQL Statements
- •Using PL/SQL Varrays with INSERT, UPDATE, and SELECT Statements
- •Manipulating Individual Collection Elements with SQL
- •Using Multilevel Collections
- •Using Collection Methods
- •Checking If a Collection Element Exists (EXISTS Method)
- •Counting the Elements in a Collection (COUNT Method)
- •Checking the Maximum Size of a Collection (LIMIT Method)
- •Finding the First or Last Collection Element (FIRST and LAST Methods)
- •Looping Through Collection Elements (PRIOR and NEXT Methods)
- •Increasing the Size of a Collection (EXTEND Method)
- •Decreasing the Size of a Collection (TRIM Method)
- •Deleting Collection Elements (DELETE Method)
- •Applying Methods to Collection Parameters
- •Avoiding Collection Exceptions
- •What Is a PL/SQL Record?
- •Using Records as Procedure Parameters and Function Return Values
- •Assigning Values to Records
- •Comparing Records
- •Inserting PL/SQL Records into the Database
- •Updating the Database with PL/SQL Record Values
- •Restrictions on Record Inserts/Updates
- •Querying Data into Collections of Records
- •6 Performing SQL Operations from PL/SQL
- •Overview of SQL Support in PL/SQL
- •Data Manipulation
- •Transaction Control
- •SQL Functions
- •SQL Pseudocolumns
- •SQL Operators
- •Performing DML Operations from PL/SQL (INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE)
- •Overview of Implicit Cursor Attributes
- •Using PL/SQL Records in SQL INSERT and UPDATE Statements
- •Issuing Queries from PL/SQL
- •Selecting At Most One Row: SELECT INTO Statement
- •Selecting Multiple Rows: BULK COLLECT Clause
- •Looping Through Multiple Rows: Cursor FOR Loop
- •Performing Complicated Query Processing: Explicit Cursors
- •Querying Data with PL/SQL
- •Querying Data with PL/SQL: Implicit Cursor FOR Loop
- •Querying Data with PL/SQL: Explicit Cursor FOR Loops
- •Overview of Explicit Cursors
- •Using Subqueries
- •Using Correlated Subqueries
- •Writing Maintainable PL/SQL Queries
- •Using Cursor Attributes
- •Overview of Explicit Cursor Attributes
- •Using Cursor Variables (REF CURSORs)
- •What Are Cursor Variables (REF CURSORs)?
- •Why Use Cursor Variables?
- •Declaring REF CURSOR Types and Cursor Variables
- •Controlling Cursor Variables: OPEN-FOR, FETCH, and CLOSE
- •Avoiding Errors with Cursor Variables
- •Restrictions on Cursor Variables
- •Using Cursor Expressions
- •Restrictions on Cursor Expressions
- •Example of Cursor Expressions
- •Constructing REF CURSORs with Cursor Subqueries
- •Overview of Transaction Processing in PL/SQL
- •Using COMMIT, SAVEPOINT, and ROLLBACK in PL/SQL
- •How Oracle Does Implicit Rollbacks
- •Ending Transactions
- •Setting Transaction Properties with SET TRANSACTION
- •Overriding Default Locking
- •Doing Independent Units of Work with Autonomous Transactions
- •Advantages of Autonomous Transactions
- •Controlling Autonomous Transactions
- •Using Autonomous Triggers
- •Calling Autonomous Functions from SQL
- •7 Performing SQL Operations with Native Dynamic SQL
- •What Is Dynamic SQL?
- •Why Use Dynamic SQL?
- •Using the EXECUTE IMMEDIATE Statement
- •Specifying Parameter Modes for Bind Variables in Dynamic SQL Strings
- •Building a Dynamic Query with Dynamic SQL
- •Examples of Dynamic SQL for Records, Objects, and Collections
- •Using Bulk Dynamic SQL
- •Using Dynamic SQL with Bulk SQL
- •Examples of Dynamic Bulk Binds
- •Guidelines for Dynamic SQL
- •When to Use or Omit the Semicolon with Dynamic SQL
- •Improving Performance of Dynamic SQL with Bind Variables
- •Passing Schema Object Names As Parameters
- •Using Duplicate Placeholders with Dynamic SQL
- •Using Cursor Attributes with Dynamic SQL
- •Passing Nulls to Dynamic SQL
- •Using Database Links with Dynamic SQL
- •Using Invoker Rights with Dynamic SQL
- •Using Pragma RESTRICT_REFERENCES with Dynamic SQL
- •Avoiding Deadlocks with Dynamic SQL
- •Backward Compatibility of the USING Clause
- •8 Using PL/SQL Subprograms
- •What Are Subprograms?
- •Advantages of PL/SQL Subprograms
- •Understanding PL/SQL Procedures
- •Understanding PL/SQL Functions
- •Using the RETURN Statement
- •Declaring Nested PL/SQL Subprograms
- •Passing Parameters to PL/SQL Subprograms
- •Actual Versus Formal Subprogram Parameters
- •Using Positional, Named, or Mixed Notation for Subprogram Parameters
- •Specifying Subprogram Parameter Modes
- •Using Default Values for Subprogram Parameters
- •Overloading Subprogram Names
- •Guidelines for Overloading with Numeric Types
- •Restrictions on Overloading
- •How Subprogram Calls Are Resolved
- •How Overloading Works with Inheritance
- •Using Invoker's Rights Versus Definer's Rights (AUTHID Clause)
- •Advantages of Invoker's Rights
- •Specifying the Privileges for a Subprogram with the AUTHID Clause
- •Who Is the Current User During Subprogram Execution?
- •How External References Are Resolved in Invoker's Rights Subprograms
- •Overriding Default Name Resolution in Invoker's Rights Subprograms
- •Granting Privileges on Invoker's Rights Subprograms
- •Using Roles with Invoker's Rights Subprograms
- •Using Views and Database Triggers with Invoker's Rights Subprograms
- •Using Database Links with Invoker's Rights Subprograms
- •Using Object Types with Invoker's Rights Subprograms
- •Using Recursion with PL/SQL
- •What Is a Recursive Subprogram?
- •Calling External Subprograms
- •Creating Dynamic Web Pages with PL/SQL Server Pages
- •Controlling Side Effects of PL/SQL Subprograms
- •Understanding Subprogram Parameter Aliasing
- •9 Using PL/SQL Packages
- •What Is a PL/SQL Package?
- •What Goes In a PL/SQL Package?
- •Example of a PL/SQL Package
- •Advantages of PL/SQL Packages
- •Understanding The Package Specification
- •Referencing Package Contents
- •Understanding The Package Body
- •Some Examples of Package Features
- •Private Versus Public Items in Packages
- •Overloading Packaged Subprograms
- •How Package STANDARD Defines the PL/SQL Environment
- •About the DBMS_ALERT Package
- •About the DBMS_OUTPUT Package
- •About the DBMS_PIPE Package
- •About the UTL_FILE Package
- •About the UTL_HTTP Package
- •Guidelines for Writing Packages
- •Separating Cursor Specs and Bodies with Packages
- •10 Handling PL/SQL Errors
- •Overview of PL/SQL Runtime Error Handling
- •Guidelines for Avoiding and Handling PL/SQL Errors and Exceptions
- •Advantages of PL/SQL Exceptions
- •Summary of Predefined PL/SQL Exceptions
- •Defining Your Own PL/SQL Exceptions
- •Declaring PL/SQL Exceptions
- •Scope Rules for PL/SQL Exceptions
- •Associating a PL/SQL Exception with a Number: Pragma EXCEPTION_INIT
- •How PL/SQL Exceptions Are Raised
- •Raising Exceptions with the RAISE Statement
- •How PL/SQL Exceptions Propagate
- •Reraising a PL/SQL Exception
- •Handling Raised PL/SQL Exceptions
- •Handling Exceptions Raised in Declarations
- •Handling Exceptions Raised in Handlers
- •Branching to or from an Exception Handler
- •Retrieving the Error Code and Error Message: SQLCODE and SQLERRM
- •Catching Unhandled Exceptions
- •Tips for Handling PL/SQL Errors
- •Continuing after an Exception Is Raised
- •Retrying a Transaction
- •Using Locator Variables to Identify Exception Locations
- •Overview of PL/SQL Compile-Time Warnings
- •PL/SQL Warning Categories
- •Controlling PL/SQL Warning Messages
- •Using the DBMS_WARNING Package
- •11 Tuning PL/SQL Applications for Performance
- •How PL/SQL Optimizes Your Programs
- •When to Tune PL/SQL Code
- •Guidelines for Avoiding PL/SQL Performance Problems
- •Avoiding CPU Overhead in PL/SQL Code
- •Avoiding Memory Overhead in PL/SQL Code
- •Profiling and Tracing PL/SQL Programs
- •Using The Trace API: Package DBMS_TRACE
- •Reducing Loop Overhead for DML Statements and Queries (FORALL, BULK COLLECT)
- •Using the FORALL Statement
- •Retrieving Query Results into Collections with the BULK COLLECT Clause
- •Writing Computation-Intensive Programs in PL/SQL
- •Tuning Dynamic SQL with EXECUTE IMMEDIATE and Cursor Variables
- •Tuning PL/SQL Procedure Calls with the NOCOPY Compiler Hint
- •Restrictions on NOCOPY
- •Compiling PL/SQL Code for Native Execution
- •Setting Up Transformation Pipelines with Table Functions
- •Overview of Table Functions
- •Using Pipelined Table Functions for Transformations
- •Writing a Pipelined Table Function
- •Returning Results from Table Functions
- •Pipelining Data Between PL/SQL Table Functions
- •Querying Table Functions
- •Optimizing Multiple Calls to Table Functions
- •Fetching from the Results of Table Functions
- •Passing Data with Cursor Variables
- •Performing DML Operations Inside Table Functions
- •Performing DML Operations on Table Functions
- •Handling Exceptions in Table Functions
- •12 Using PL/SQL Object Types
- •Overview of PL/SQL Object Types
- •What Is an Object Type?
- •Why Use Object Types?
- •Structure of an Object Type
- •Components of an Object Type
- •What Languages can I Use for Methods of Object Types?
- •How Object Types Handle the SELF Parameter
- •Overloading
- •Changing Attributes and Methods of an Existing Object Type (Type Evolution)
- •Defining Object Types
- •Overview of PL/SQL Type Inheritance
- •Declaring and Initializing Objects
- •Declaring Objects
- •Initializing Objects
- •How PL/SQL Treats Uninitialized Objects
- •Accessing Object Attributes
- •Defining Object Constructors
- •Calling Object Constructors
- •Calling Object Methods
- •Sharing Objects through the REF Modifier
- •Manipulating Objects through SQL
- •Selecting Objects
- •Inserting Objects
- •Updating Objects
- •Deleting Objects
- •13 PL/SQL Language Elements
- •Assignment Statement
- •AUTONOMOUS_TRANSACTION Pragma
- •Blocks
- •CASE Statement
- •CLOSE Statement
- •Collection Methods
- •Collections
- •Comments
- •COMMIT Statement
- •Constants and Variables
- •Cursor Attributes
- •Cursor Variables
- •Cursors
- •DELETE Statement
- •EXCEPTION_INIT Pragma
- •Exceptions
- •EXECUTE IMMEDIATE Statement
- •EXIT Statement
- •Expressions
- •FETCH Statement
- •FORALL Statement
- •Functions
- •GOTO Statement
- •IF Statement
- •INSERT Statement
- •Literals
- •LOCK TABLE Statement
- •LOOP Statements
- •MERGE Statement
- •NULL Statement
- •Object Types
- •OPEN Statement
- •OPEN-FOR Statement
- •OPEN-FOR-USING Statement
- •Packages
- •Procedures
- •RAISE Statement
- •Records
- •RESTRICT_REFERENCES Pragma
- •RETURN Statement
- •ROLLBACK Statement
- •%ROWTYPE Attribute
- •SAVEPOINT Statement
- •SCN_TO_TIMESTAMP Function
- •SELECT INTO Statement
- •SERIALLY_REUSABLE Pragma
- •SET TRANSACTION Statement
- •SQL Cursor
- •SQLCODE Function
- •SQLERRM Function
- •TIMESTAMP_TO_SCN Function
- •%TYPE Attribute
- •UPDATE Statement
- •Where to Find PL/SQL Sample Programs
- •Exercises for the Reader
- •Assigning Character Values
- •Comparing Character Values
- •Inserting Character Values
- •Selecting Character Values
- •Advantages of Wrapping PL/SQL Procedures
- •Running the PL/SQL Wrap Utility
- •Input and Output Files for the PL/SQL Wrap Utility
- •Limitations of the PL/SQL Wrap Utility
- •What Is Name Resolution?
- •Examples of Qualified Names and Dot Notation
- •Differences in Name Resolution Between SQL and PL/SQL
- •Understanding Capture
- •Inner Capture
- •Same-Scope Capture
- •Outer Capture
- •Avoiding Inner Capture in DML Statements
- •Qualifying References to Object Attributes and Methods
- •Calling Parameterless Subprograms and Methods
- •Name Resolution for SQL Versus PL/SQL
- •When Should I Use Bind Variables with PL/SQL?
- •When Do I Use or Omit the Semicolon with Dynamic SQL?
- •How Can I Use Regular Expressions with PL/SQL?
- •How Do I Continue After a PL/SQL Exception?
- •How Do I Pass a Result Set from PL/SQL to Java or Visual Basic (VB)?
- •How Do I Specify Different Kinds of Names with PL/SQL's Dot Notation?
- •What Can I Do with Objects and Object Types in PL/SQL?
- •How Do I Create a PL/SQL Procedure?
- •How Do I Input or Output Data with PL/SQL?
- •How Do I Perform a Case-Insensitive Query?
- •Index
- •Symbols
1
Overview of PL/SQL
The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. —Ludwig Wittgenstein
This chapter introduces the main features of the PL/SQL language. It shows how PL/SQL deals with the challenges of database programming, and how you can reuse techniques that you know from other programming languages.
This chapter contains these topics:
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Advantages of PL/SQL on page 1-1
Understanding the Main Features of PL/SQL on page 1-4
PL/SQL Architecture on page 1-12
See Also: Access additional information and code samples for
PL/SQL on the Oracle Technology Network, at
http://otn.oracle.com/tech/pl_sql/ .
Advantages of PL/SQL
PL/SQL is a completely portable, high-performance transaction processing language that offers the following advantages:
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Support for SQL
Support for object-oriented programming
Better performance
Higher productivity
Full portability
Tight integration with Oracle
Tight security
Tight Integration with SQL
The PL/SQL language is tightly integrated with SQL. You do not have to translate between SQL and PL/SQL datatypes: a NUMBER or VARCHAR2 column in the database is stored in a NUMBER or VARCHAR2 variable in PL/SQL. This integration saves you both learning time and processing time. Special PL/SQL language features let you work with table columns and rows without specifying the datatypes, saving on maintenance work when the table definitions change.
Overview of PL/SQL 1-1
Advantages of PL/SQL
Running a SQL query and processing the result set is as easy in PL/SQL as opening a text file and processing each line in popular scripting languages.
Using PL/SQL to access metadata about database objects and handle database error conditions, you can write utility programs for database administration that are reliable and produce readable output about the success of each operation.
Many database features, such as triggers and object types, make use of PL/SQL. You can write the bodies of triggers and methods for object types in PL/SQL.
Support for SQL
SQL has become the standard database language because it is flexible, powerful, and easy to learn. A few English-like commands such as SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE make it easy to manipulate the data stored in a relational database.
PL/SQL lets you use all the SQL data manipulation, cursor control, and transaction control commands, as well as all the SQL functions, operators, and pseudocolumns. This extensive SQL support lets you manipulate Oracle data flexibly and safely. Also, PL/SQL fully supports SQL datatypes, reducing the need to convert data passed between your applications and the database.
PL/SQL also supports dynamic SQL, a programming technique that makes your applications more flexible and versatile. Your programs can build and process SQL data definition, data control, and session control statements at run time, without knowing details such as table names and WHERE clauses in advance.
Better Performance
Without PL/SQL, Oracle must process SQL statements one at a time. Programs that issue many SQL statements require multiple calls to the database, resulting in significant network and performance overhead.
With PL/SQL, an entire block of statements can be sent to Oracle at one time. This can drastically reduce network traffic between the database and an application. As
Figure 1–1 shows, you can use PL/SQL blocks and subprograms to group SQL statements before sending them to the database for execution. PL/SQL even has language features to further speed up SQL statements that are issued inside a loop.
PL/SQL stored procedures are compiled once and stored in executable form, so procedure calls are efficient. Because stored procedures execute in the database server, a single call over the network can start a large job. This division of work reduces network traffic and improves response times. Stored procedures are cached and shared among users, which lowers memory requirements and invocation overhead.
1-2 PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference
Advantages of PL/SQL
Figure 1–1 PL/SQL Boosts Performance
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Higher Productivity
PL/SQL extends tools such as Oracle Forms and Oracle Reports. With PL/SQL in these tools, you can use familiar language constructs to build applications. For example, you can use an entire PL/SQL block in an Oracle Forms trigger, instead of multiple trigger steps, macros, or user exits.
PL/SQL is the same in all environments. Once you learn PL/SQL with one Oracle tool, you can transfer your knowledge to other tools.
Full Portability
Applications written in PL/SQL can run on any operating system and platform where the Oracle database runs. With PL/SQL, you can write portable program libraries and reuse them in different environments.
Tight Security
PL/SQL stored procedures move application code from the client to the server, where you can protect it from tampering, hide the internal details, and restrict who has access. For example, you can grant users access to a procedure that updates a table, but not grant them access to the table itself or to the text of the UPDATE statement.
Triggers written in PL/SQL can control or record changes to data, making sure that all changes obey your business rules.
Support for Object-Oriented Programming
Object types are an ideal object-oriented modeling tool, which you can use to reduce the cost and time required to build complex applications. Besides allowing you to create software components that are modular, maintainable, and reusable, object types allow different teams of programmers to develop software components concurrently.
By encapsulating operations with data, object types let you move data-maintenance code out of SQL scripts and PL/SQL blocks into methods. Also, object types hide
Overview of PL/SQL 1-3