2

Introduction to PL/SQL

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 Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to do the

following:
• Explain the need for PL/SQL
• Explain the benefits of PL/SQL
• Identify the different types of PL/SQL blocks
• Output messages in PL/SQL

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 Agenda

• Understanding the benefits and structure of PL/SQL

• Examining PL/SQL blocks
• Generating output messages in PL/SQL

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 About PL/SQL

PL/SQL:
• Stands for “Procedural Language extension to SQL”
• Is Oracle Corporation’s standard data access language for
relational databases
• Seamlessly integrates procedural constructs with SQL

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 About PL/SQL

PL/SQL:
• Provides a block structure for executable units of code.
Maintenance of code is made easier with such a well-
defined structure.
• Provides procedural constructs such as:
– Variables, constants, and data types
– Control structures such as conditional statements and loops
– Reusable program units that are written once and executed
many times

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 PL/SQL Run-Time Architecture
PL/SQL block

procedural

Procedural statement
executor

PL/SQL
PL/SQL Engine

SQL

Oracle Server

SQL statement executor

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 Benefits of PL/SQL

• Integration of procedural constructs with SQL

• Improved performance

SQL 1
SQL 2
…

SQL
IF...THEN
SQL
ELSE
SQL
END IF;
SQL

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 Benefits of PL/SQL

• Modularized program development

• Integration with Oracle tools
• Portability
• Exception handling

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 PL/SQL Block Structure

• DECLARE (optional)
– Variables, cursors, user-defined exceptions
• BEGIN (mandatory)
– SQL statements
– PL/SQL statements
• EXCEPTION (optional)
– Actions to perform
when exceptions occur
• END; (mandatory)

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 Agenda

• Understanding the benefits and structure of PL/SQL

• Examining PL/SQL blocks
• Generating output messages in PL/SQL

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 Block Types

Anonymous Procedure
Function
[DECLARE] PROCEDURE name FUNCTION name
IS RETURN datatype
IS
BEGIN BEGIN BEGIN
--statements --statements --statements
RETURN value;
[EXCEPTION] [EXCEPTION] [EXCEPTION]

END; END; END;

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 Program Constructs

Database Server
Tools Constructs Constructs
Anonymous blocks Anonymous blocks
Application procedures Stored procedures or
or functions functions
Application packages Stored packages

Application triggers Database triggers

Object types Object types

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 Examining an Anonymous Block

An anonymous block in the SQL Developer workspace:

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 Executing an Anonymous Block

Click the Run Script button to execute the anonymous block:

Run Script (or F5)

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 Agenda

• Understanding the benefits and structure of PL/SQL

• Examining PL/SQL blocks
• Generating output messages in PL/SQL

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 Enabling Output of a PL/SQL Block

1. To enable output in SQL Developer, execute the following

command before running the PL/SQL block:

SET SERVEROUTPUT ON

2. Use a predefined Oracle package and its procedure in the

anonymous block:
– DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(' The First Name of the
Employee is ' || v_fname);
…

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 Viewing the Output of a PL/SQL Block

Press F5 to execute the

command and PL/SQL
block.

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 Quiz

A PL/SQL block must consist of the following three sections:

• A Declarative section, which begins with the keyword
DECLARE and ends when the executable section starts
• An Executable section, which begins with the keyword
BEGIN and ends with END
• An Exception handling section, which begins with the
keyword EXCEPTION and is nested within the executable
section
a. True
b. False

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 Summary

In this lesson, you should have learned how to:

• Integrate SQL statements with PL/SQL program constructs
• Describe the benefits of PL/SQL
• Differentiate between PL/SQL block types
• Output messages in PL/SQL

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 Practice 2: Overview

This practice covers the following topics:

• Identifying the PL/SQL blocks that execute successfully
• Creating and executing a simple PL/SQL block

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