Appl Top 121704

An
Training Guide
PL/SQL
for
Beginners
Supplement
Training Guide
PL/SQL for Beginners - Supplement
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Supplement
The supplement covers a couple of topics that are
what you might call Advanced PL/SQL, the word
Advanced is purely relative, so a more appropriate
title may have been, "Some PL/SQL we didnt have
time for".
The PL/SQL for Beginners guide introduced you to
PL/SQL, the topics covered were based on what you
are most likely to come across in your early
developments.
I have picked the topics in this document based on
the fact that you are likely to use them from a
potential pot of hundreds of topics.
The style in which the topics are presented is
different to that of the training course. The main
course is in a tutorial style, whereas these topics are
much lighter in detail and by example.
Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited
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Topics Covered
The following topics are covered: PL/SQL Records & Tables
Host File Access with UTL_FILE
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PL/SQL Records & Tables
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Records
We have already seen PL/SQL records, remember
the variables you created which used the %ROWTYPE
keyword in their declaration; this is a record, for
example,
r_employee emp_cur%ROWTYPE;
The above record r_employee is a composite

datatype containing all the columns found in the
cursor emp_cur. A record could also be created
containing all the columns on a table:r_employee emp%ROWTYPE;
Each element of a record is referenced using dot

notation, for example, to reference the ename
element of the r_employee record you would use:r_employee.ename.
You are not restricted to creating records that are

anchored to a cursor or table, you can define your
own records with the TYPE statement.
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Records
To create a record manually that contains employee
information you might use the following:TYPE t_emp_record IS RECORD
(
enumber
NUMBER
,
firstname
VARCHAR2(20)
,
lastname
VARCHAR2(20));
At this point, no PL/SQL object exists, just the new

datatype, so, we need to declare a variable of this
type:l_employee t_emp_record;
This is no different to declaring a variable of any of

the standard types. You can now use the new
l_employee record with the dot notation to get at
its elements, for example:l_employee.enumber := 100;
l_employee.firstname := 'Fred';
l_employee.lastname := 'Bloggs';
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Assigning Records
You can assign one record to another so long as all
the elements in both records are exactly the same,
for example:DECLARE
TYPE t_record IS RECORD
(
col1 NUMBER
,
col2 VARCHAR2(10) );
l_record1 t_record;
l_record2 t_record;
BEGIN
l_record1.col1 := 10;
l_record1.col2 := 'Test';
l_record2 := l_record1;
END;
Records can also be used as arguments in

procedures and functions, for example:CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE print_dept
(p_dept_rec dept%ROWTYPE)
IS
BEGIN
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(p_dept_rec.deptno);
END;
The above procedure could be invoked with:DECLARE

l_rec dept%ROWTYPE;
BEGIN
SELECT * INTO l_rec
FROM dept
WHERE deptno = 10;
print_dept(l_rec);
END;
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Creating Tables
A PL/SQL table is very similar to an array found in
most third generation languages. Before a table can
be used, you need to declare a new datatype that is
of type table, you do this with the TYPE statement
in a similar way as you create records. The syntax
of TYPE in this case is:TYPE table-name IS TABLE OF type
INDEX BY BINARY_INTEGER;
Where table-name can be any valid identifier and

type is any valid datatype, including any new
datatypes you have created, such as a record. So,
to declare a table to hold the names of employees
you might:TYPE t_names IS TABLE OF emp.ename%TYPE
The INDEX BY specifies how the records on the

table will be indexed, in most cases, this should be
BINARY_INTEGER (though this is not required as of
Oracle8)
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Tables
Once your new table type is declared, you must
declare a variable of the new type, for example:names_tab t_names;
The above code will create a new variable called

names_tab of type t_names. You can now use the
table names_tab.
You access individual rows on a PL/SQL table by
using a table index (reference/subscript), similar to
an array subscript. The index should appear
immediately after the table name, for example, to
set the elements of record one in the names_tab
table:names_tab(1).empno := 10;
names_tab(1).ename := 'Fred';
The subscript can be any valid number that can be

represented by a binary integer.
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Tables
Here is another example of a less complex table,
this time it is a table of a scalar datatype:DECLARE
TYPE t_names IS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(10)
names_tab t_names;
BEGIN
names_tab(-10) := 'Fred';
names_tab(0) := 'John';
names_tab(250) := 'Richard';
END;
The table in memory will now look as follows:Index

-10
0
250
Value
Fred
John
Richard
Memory has only been allocated for 3 rows, this is

very much unlike arrays. To set the value of the
250'th row in an array, all elements preceding it
must exist. Nor can an array have a negative
subscript. PL/SQL tables grow dynamically in size as
you create rows, very much like a database table.
10
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Tables
If you attempt to reference a row that has not
already been created in a PL/SQL table, then an
exception is raised, for example:DECLARE
TYPE t_names IS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(10)
names_tab t_names;
BEGIN
names_tab(0) := 'Fred';
names_tab(1) := 'John';
names_tab(2) := 'Richard';
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(names_tab(3));
END;
The above code will fail with the following error:ORA-01403: no data found
It will failed because in the line which displays a

value (DBMS_OUTPUT), we are referencing a row
which does not yet exist. You have to handle the
error in a similar fashion as you would for a failing
SELECT statement.
11
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Tables
Several table attributes exist which allow you to
easily work with tables:Attribute
COUNT
Type Returned
NUMBER
DELETE
EXISTS
N/A
BOOLEAN
FIRST
BINARY_INTEGER
LAST
BINARY_INTEGER
NEXT
BINARY_INTEGER
PRIOR
BINARY_INTEGER
Description
Returns the number of rows

in the table
Delete a row from a table
Return TRUE if the specified
row exists, FALSE otherwise
Returns the index of the first
row in the table
Returns the index of the last
row in the table
Returns the index of the next
row after a specified row
Returns the index of the
previous row after a specified
row
Lets take a quick look at each of these attributes.
12
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Tables
COUNT
This will return the number of rows in the table.
DECLARE
TYPE t_table IS TABLE OF NUMBER
number_tab t_table;
l_rows NUMBER;
BEGIN
number_tab(1) := 10;
number_tab(2500) := 100;
l_rows := number_tab.COUNT;
END;
In the above code, l_rows will be set to 4.
13
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Tables
DELETE
This is used to remove rows from a table.
DECLARE
number_tab t_table;
BEGIN
number_tab(2500) := 100;
number_tab.DELETE(87);
END;
DELETE can be used in three ways:table.DELETE;
will remove all rows
table.DELETE(x);
remove row i.
table.DELETE(x,y);
remove rows i through y.
14
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Tables
EXISTS
This is used to check whether a specified row exists
or not.
DECLARE
number_tab t_table;
BEGIN
number_tab(2500) := 100;
IF number_tab.EXISTS(10) THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('Row 10 Found');
END IF;
IF NOT number_tab.EXISTS(100) THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('Row 100 not found');
END IF;
END;
15
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Tables
FIRST and LAST
These are used to find the index of the first and last
rows in a table.
DECLARE
number_tab t_table;
l_first BINARY_INTEGER;
l_last BINARY_INTEGER;
BEGIN
number_tab(2500) := 100;
l_first := number_tab.FIRST;
l_last := number_tab.LAST;
END;
In the above code, l_first wil be set to 1 and

l_last will be set to 2500.
16
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Tables
NEXT and PRIOR
These allow you to find the index of the next or
previous row in a table based on a specified index.
They allow you to easily move through a table,
processing all rows.
DECLARE
number_tab t_table;
l_index BINARY_INTEGER;
BEGIN
number_tab(2500) := 100;
-- Starting point in table, the first row
l_index := number_tab.FIRST;
LOOP
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(number_tab(l_index));
-- End loop when at last row
EXIT WHEN l_index = number_tab.LAST;
-- Get index of next row
l_index := number_tab.NEXT(l_index);
END LOOP;
END;
In the above code, l_index is set to the next row

in the table so long as it is not equal to the last row.
17
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Tables
PL/SQL are generally very much under-used. They
are very powerful constructs and greatly enhance
the functionality of PL/SQL.
Many programs need to have some kind of
temporary storage area, normally used to hold
intermediate data which needs to be processed in
some way, a great deal of developers create this
temporary storage using database tables, while this
offers some advantages, such as the ability to restart a failed process from where it last was, PL/SQL
tables offer advantages too; such a vastly increased
performance, PL/SQL tables are much faster to work
with than database tables, as everything is done in
memory. You also have the advantage of not having
to create and maintain a temporary table. The only
real disadvantage is slightly more complex code.
Use PL/SQL tables wherever possible!!.
18
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Host File Access

UTL_FILE
19
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Host File Access

UTL_FILE
Reading from and writing to host files is a common
task for PL/SQL. PL/SQL itself does not directly
support this kind of functionality, but it can be done
using an Oracle supplied package, UTL_FILE.
What follows is a very brief introduction to

UTL_FILE, check out any of the books mentioned
at the back of the main course notes for further
information.
20
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Host File Access

UTL_FILE
UTL_FILE is a server side package for writing to
host files on the server, there is another package,
TEXT_IO, which is client side and it not discussed in
this document.
UTL_FILE has the following functions and
procedures:FOPEN
FCLOSE
FCLOSE_ALL
IS_OPEN
FFLUSH
PUT
PUT_LINE
NEW_LINE
PUTF
GET_LINE
Used to open a file

Used to closed a file
Close all open files
Check if a file is open
Output from UTL_FILE
buffered, this procedure is used
to ensure the buffer has been
written to the file.
Write to file
Write to file
Write to file
Write to file
Read from a file
21
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Host File Access

UTL_FILE
FOPEN
Use this function to open a file. FOPEN is defined
as:FUNCTION fopen(
path
,
filename
,
mode
RETURN FILE_TYPE;
PATH
FILENAME
MODE
IN VARCHAR2
IN VARCHAR2
IN VARCHAR2)
the directory containing the file

the actual filename
the Open Mode, this can be one of:'r' : Read from file
'w' : Write to file
'a' : Append to file
The return type is the File Handle which is used to

reference the open file is other functions. It's type is
UTL_FILE.file_type.
DECLARE
l_handle UTL_FILE.file_type;
BEGIN
l_handle := UTL_FILE.fopen(
,
,
. . .
'/u01/app'
'my_file.dat'
'r');
The above code will open the file

/u01/app/my_file.dat for reading.
22
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Host File Access

UTL_FILE
FCLOSE & FCLOSE_ALL
Use these procedures to close open files. Closing
files free's up any resources used by UTL_FILE.
DECLARE
BEGIN
,
,
. . .
'/u01/app'
'my_file.dat'
'r');
UTL_FILE.fclose(l_handle);
or
UTL_FILE.fclose_all;
END;
Generally, always use FCLOSE(handle) rather

than FCLOSE_ALL. FCLOSE_ALL is useful in
exception handlers, where you may not know which
files are open, it can be used before a program ends
to ensure all resources are freed.
Notice that FCLOSE takes a file handle from a
previous FOPEN call, whereas FCLOSE_ALL takes
no parameters.
23
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Host File Access

UTL_FILE
IS_OPEN & FFLUSH
The IS_OPEN function is used to determine if a file
is open. It takes as its argument the file handle and
it returns TRUE if the file is open, otherwise FALSE
is returned.
BEGIN
IF UTL_FILE.is_open(l_handle)
END IF;
END;
The above code will only attempt to close a file it it

is already open.
FFLUSH is used to ensure the output buffer has
been written to the file. It is wise to flush the buffer
before a program ends to ensure all data is written.
Be aware that flushing after every write to a file can
impact on performance.
For example:UTL_FILE.fflush(l_handle);
24
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Host File Access

UTL_FILE
PUT & PUT_LINE
This procedure is used to write data to a file.
UTL_FILE.put(handle,buffer);
Where handle is the handle of an already open file

and buffer the string to be written.
PUT does not append a newline character to the
buffer; you should use PUT_LINE or NEW_LINE for
this. PUT_LINE is almost the same as PUT except
that it automatically add's a newline character to the
end of buffer.
Example
DECLARE
BEGIN
,
,
'/u01/app'
'my_file.dat'
'w');
UTL_FILE.put(l_handle,'This line is written');

END;
25
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Host File Access

UTL_FILE
PUTF
This procedure is used to write data to a file.
UTL_FILE.putf(handle,format,arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5);
Where handle is the handle of an already open file.

The parameters arg1 to arg5 are optional and are
string that are written to the file in a format
specified by format.
format is any string of text which can contain
special codes used to print the strings in arg1 to
arg5. The %s code is replaced in the string with is
corresponding arg parameter. You can also use the
code \n to add a newline character. It is similar to
C's printf function.
Example
DECLARE
BEGIN
,
,
'/u01/app'
'my_file.dat'
'w');
UTL_FILE.putf(l_handle,'arg1=%s\n','Fred');
END;
26
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Host File Access

UTL_FILE
NEW_LINE
This procedure writes one or more newline
characters to the file.
UTL_FILE.new_line(handle,lines);

and lines is the number of newline characters to be
written.
27
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Host File Access

UTL_FILE
GET_LINE
This procedure is used to read from a file.
UTL_FILE.get_line(handle,buffer);

and buffer is where the text retreived will be stored.
GET_LINE reads one full line from the file but it
does include the newline character.
Example
DECLARE
l_buffer VARCHAR2(500);
BEGIN
,
,
'/u01/app'
'my_file.dat'
'r');
UTL_FILE.get_line(l_handle,l_buffer);
END;
The above example opens a file and reads a single

line from it before closing the file.
28
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Host File Access

UTL_FILE - Exceptions
There are many things that can go wrong when
working with host file, the directory may not exist,
the disk maybe fulletc. PL/SQL provides a way of
ensuring your program handles these problems
gracefully by providing a number of predefined
UTL_FILE exceptions. These exceptions are
handled like any other exceptions, within the
exception handler in your code. The exceptions are
listed below:Exception
Raised When
Raised By
INVALID_PATH
INVALID_MODE
INVALID_FILEHANDLE
Directory or filename is invalid

Invalid open mode specified
File handle does not point to an
open file
INVALID_OPERATION
Attempt to read a file open for write

or visa-versa. Could also be caused
by some operating system problem
such as file permissions
Operating system error during read
operation
Operating system error during write
operation
FOPEN
FOPEN
FCLOSE,GET_LIN
E,PUT,PUTF,PUT_
LINE,NEW_LINE,
FFLUSH
GET_LINE,PUT,P
UTF,PUT_LINE,N
EW_LINE,FFLUSH
READ_ERROR
WRITE_ERROR
INTERNAL_ERROR
NO_DATA_FOUND
VALUE_ERROR
Unspecified internal error

End of file reached during read
Data returned by GET_LINE is too
large for buffer
GET_LINE
FCLOSE,PUT,PUT
F,PUT_LINE,NEW
_LINE,FFLUSH,FC
LOSE_ALL
All
GET_LINE
GET_LINE
29
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Host File Access

UTL_FILE - A Complete Example
Below is a prodedure that can be used to dump out
the contents of the dept table to a file.
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE dump_dept
IS
CURSOR dept_cur
IS
SELECT deptno
,
dname
,
loc
FROM
dept;
l_handle
l_path
l_filename
UTL_FILE.file_type;
VARCHAR2(50) := '/u01/app';
VARCHAR2(20) := 'dept.dat';
l_record
VARCHAR2(200);
BEGIN
-- Open file
l_path
,
l_filename
,
'w');
-- Get all dept rows
FOR r_dept IN dept_cur
LOOP
l_record := TO_CHAR(r_dept.deptno)||'|'||
r_dept.dname||'|'||
TO_CHAR(r_dept.loc);
-- Write row to file
UTL_FILE.put_line(l_handle,l_record);
END LOOP;
UTL_FILE.fflush(l_handle);
EXCEPTION
WHEN UTL_FILE.invalid_path THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('Invalid Path');
WHEN UTL_FILE.write_error THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('Write Error');
END;
30

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An

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

The above record r_employee is a composite

Each element of a record is referenced using dot

You are not restricted to creating records that are

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

At this point, no PL/SQL object exists, just the new

This is no different to declaring a variable of any of

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

Records can also be used as arguments in

The above procedure could be invoked with:DECLARE

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

Where table-name can be any valid identifier and

The INDEX BY specifies how the records on the

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

The above code will create a new variable called

The subscript can be any valid number that can be

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

The table in memory will now look as follows:Index

Memory has only been allocated for 3 rows, this is

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

It will failed because in the line which displays a

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

Returns the number of rows

Lets take a quick look at each of these attributes.

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

In the above code, l_rows will be set to 4.

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

DELETE can be used in three ways:table.DELETE;

will remove all rows

remove rows i through y.

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

In the above code, l_first wil be set to 1 and

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

In the above code, l_index is set to the next row

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

PL/SQL Records & Tables

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

Host File Access

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

Host File Access

What follows is a very brief introduction to

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

Host File Access

Used to open a file

Copyright 1999 2004 ApplTop Solutions Limited

Host File Access