Introduction to PL/SQL

Sen Zhang

Fundamentals
This lecture serves as an
introduction to PL/SQL
a powerful programming language
that works hand in hand with SQL.

Objectives
Learn the fundamentals of the PL/SQL programming
language
How to write and execute PL/SQL programs in
SQL*Plus
Understand PL/SQL data type conversion functions
Manipulate character strings in PL/SQL programs
Learn how to debug PL/SQL programs

SQL vs. PL/SQL

As we have learned, one benefit of SQL is that it is declarative,

allowing us to easily create Oracle database tables and write
queries to insert, update, delete, and view records without
specifying too much detailed data manipulation steps.
There is no free lunch though. The weakness for SQL is also
due to its declarative language feature: it has no support for
procedural constructs such as flow control, or loop mechanisms,
etc.
While a single SQL command usually cannot satisfy Non-trivial
business logics; complex business logics demand more
powerful programming scheme like procedural language.

10

Procedural vs. declarative

Procedural programming requires that the programmer tells how to

process data using detailed sequential or flow control instructions to.
Bad: Procedural languages result in many lines of code.
Good: Have more control on detail

Declarative programming requires the programmer to tell what data

is needed.
Good: The Declarative languages usually result in one statement of the
desired result.
Bad: Have less control on data.

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SQL is not a procedural language but a declarative language.

Using SQL, we carefully phrase what we want and then let the
DBMS get it for us.

You write a single SQL declaration and hand it to the DBMS.

The DBMS then executes internal code, which is hidden from
us.

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Why SQL is declarative not procedural?

SQL came into existence as a relational database query

language.
SQL was designed, evolved, optimized for structured data, i.e.
table, manipulation, saving people from considering tedious step
by step instructions.
Being declarative is exactly what we want when it comes to data
manipulation.
Not optimized nor designed for logics.
This is a problem!!!

13

An example.

Let us look at the a simplified business logic (business rule)

involved in creating a new user account, which is useful in any
user restricted database application.

Assuming we have a user table to store account infor

Three inputs: username, password, and password confirmation
Verify two passwords, if not equal, report failure reason
Otherwise, verify whether username is new or not.

If username exists, the new account cannot be

added to the user table; report failure reason.
If username does not exist, go ahead to insert
the new record to table; report success status.

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Solution

Here, at least, variables, conditional logic and branch action are

involved, what will happen is conditioned by user input and the
current database status.
We, as programmers, can take the responsibility to coordinate
the logic, can manually type several sql statements to get the
job done.

15

End user vs. programmer

But the terminal user is not necessarily a programmer.

Most database users, reasonably assumed to have no
programming knowledge at all, dont use SQL commands or
SQLPLUS to interact with a database. Instead, users use GUI
frontend interface to deal with backend database.
The terminal user Is God! They just want to type into text
boxes, and point and click buttons and . Wait output to show
up.
In run time, the end users provide input data and interpret
output, but the logic needs to be implemented in the design time
in the program which should have been done by programmers.
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This means we have to implement this logic in a program, using

some kind of procedural programming language, not just SQL.
Since database application is so important, other procedural
programming languages have been designed to be able to
contain SQL commands and interact with an Oracle database.
We can write applications with SQL statements embedded
within a host language such as C++, Java, vb or vbscript etc..
The SQL statements provide the database interface, while the
host language provides the remaining support needed for the
application to execute.

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We can take a lot at VB script solution in an asp page using

ODBC and ADODB

Java can also be used to talk to Oracle through JDBC.

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PL/SQL

PL/SQL is the Oracle solution to this need,

PL/SQL stands for Procedural Language/SQL.
PL/SQL extends SQL by adding constructs found in procedural
languages, resulting in a structural language that is more powerful
than SQL.
A procedural programming language that pure oracle applications
uses to manipulate database data.
A complement to SQL.
An extension to SQL, allowing us do things we cannot do in SQL
alone.

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Good things combined

A PL/SQL program combines good things from both sides, combining

SQL quries with procedural commands for tasks such as
manipulating variable values,
Evaluating IF/THEN decision control structures,
Creating loop structures that repeat instructions multiple times until the loop
reaches an exit condition.
Build in functions
User defined functions
Encapsulations using packages

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A Full-featured procedural programming language

An interpreted language, which means that a program called the
PL/SQL interpreter checks each program command for syntax
errors, translates each command into machine language, and
then executes each program command, one command at a
time.
PL/SQL commands are not case-sensitive, except for character
strings, which you must enclose in single quotation marks.
The PL/SQL interpreter ignores blank spaces and line breaks.
A semicolon (;) marks the end of each PL/SQL command.
The programming style is a mixture of conventional statements
(if, while, etc.) and SQL statements.
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What are the benefits

PL/SQL brings to us?

Using PL/SQL, you can use various regular procedural

programming language constructs to implement complex
business logics.
You can also develop stored procedures, functions, and triggers
easily and in a modular fashion. We are used to stored data, but
not stored commands. Yes! Here, we will be able to make
procedures stored in the database.
The stored components are stored directly in the database,
which makes the program available to all database users if the
access privileges has been properly granted.
This stored feature also makes it easier to manage database
applications, providing a unified API interface to different front
end applications and different front end languages.
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Stored?

It means surviving the sessions or connections.

Stored on server permenently.

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How to edit PL/SQL programs

Type in any text editor, submitted to Oracle server through
SQL*Plus

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Comments
Not executed by interpreter
C style comments (/* ... */) may be used.

Enclosed between /* and */

On one line beginning with --

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PL/SQL is a programming language or

procedural language

Since we are talking about a procedural language, we are interested in various

language constructs which constitute a procedural language.

Reserved word
Data type
Variable
Statement
Arithmetic operation
Logical operation
Control constructs

Loop
Branch

block
Built in functions
How to define user defined functions
How to call user defined functions

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PL/SQL is not case sensitive.

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Reserved word

Each of the reserved words has a special syntactic meaning to

PL/SQL.
So, you should not use them to name program objects such as
constants, variables, or cursors.
Also, some of these words (marked by an asterisk) are reserved
by SQL.
So, you should not use them to name database objects such as
columns, tables, or indexes.
http://thinkunix.net/unix/db/oracle/docs-7.3/DOC/server/doc/PL
S23/ape.htm

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Variables and Data Types

Information is transmitted between a PL/SQL program and the

database through variables.
Variables need to be declared!

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Data types

PL/SQL is a strongly typed language, which means that you

must write a command that explicitly declares each variable and
specifies its data type before you use the variable.
With a strongly typed language, you can assign values to
variables and compare variable values only for variables with
the same data type or compatible data type.

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Every PL/SQL variable has a specific type associated with it.

There are four kinds of data types
Scalar data type
One of the types used by SQL for database columns
A generic type used in PL/SQL such as NUMBER
Composite data type
Reference data type
Declared to be the same as the type of some database column
LOB data types for huge binary data used by images and sounds

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Scalar Data Types

Represent a single value

Data type

Description

Sample Declaration

Varchar2

Variable-length
character string

Lastname
varchar2(30)

char

Fixed-length
character string

Gender char(1)

Number

Floating-point, fixedpoint, or integer

number

Price number(5,2)

date

Date and time

Todays_date Date;

These data types are directly from data types used by SQL database
field specification.
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Bridging role reflected in data types

Some other data types used PL/SQL are more general purpose
programming language oriented, not corresponding to database
data types.

INTEGER
BOOLEAN
DECIMAL

Note that PL/SQL allows BOOLEAN variables, even though

Oracle does not support BOOLEAN as a type for database
columns.

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Composite data types

Composite data types
RECORD: contains multiple scalar values, similar to a table
record
TABLE: tabular structure with multiple columns and rows
VARRAY: variable-sized array

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Reference data types

In many cases, a PL/SQL variable will be used to manipulate
data stored in a existing table. In this case, it is essential that
the variable have the same type (compatible is also ok in
some situation) as the relation column.
Directly reference a specific database field or record and
assume the data type of the associated field or record

%TYPE: same data type as a database

field
%ROWTYPE: same data type as a
database record
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Data Types in PL/SQL can be tricky!

If there is any type mismatch, variable assignments and

comparisons may not work the way you expect.
To be safe, instead of hard coding the type of a variable,
you should use the %TYPE operator.
For example
DECLARE myBeer Beers.name%TYPE;
gives PL/SQL variable myBeer whatever type was declared for the
name column in relation Beers

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Variables
Variables
Used to store numbers, character strings, dates, and other
data values
Avoid using keywords, table names and column names as
variable names
Must be declared with data type before use: variable_name
data_type_declaration;

Userid

varchar2(10);

Default value is always NULL when declared without being

initialized.
The initial value of any variable, regardless of its type, is
NULL.
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Variable names are any valid PL/SQL

identifiers.

Read book page 300 for what a valid identifier is.

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Remarks

Data types in a procedure definition specification cannot have

size specifications.
For instance, you can specify that a parameter is a NUMBER
datatype, but not a NUMBER(10,2)

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Assignment Statements
We can assign values to variables, using the ":=" operator. Like any
other programming languages you might have used before, the
assignment can occur either immediately after the type of the
variable is declared, or anywhere in the executable portion of the
program.

Assigns a value to a variable

variable_name := value;
Value can be a literal:
s_first_name := Steven';

Value can be another variable:

first_name := s_first_name;
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How to link variables between SQL command and PL

command?
We will solve this problem in sample code.

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Some simple statements

Return
Goto <label>
Exit, break a loop

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Arithmetic Operators in PL/SQL

Operator

Description

**

Exponentiation

Multiplication

Division

+ and -

Addition and subtraction

negation

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Most SQL Relational Operators

can be used for PL/SQL

Query Relational Operators

Operator

Meaning

Data Type

Pattern

equal to

all

=X

>

greater than

all

>X

<

less than

all

<X

>=

greater than or equal to

all

>=X

<=

less than or equal to

all

<=X

<> or !=

not equal to

all

<>X

wildcard

Character

*X, X*, *X*

single-character wildcard

Character

?X, X?, ?X?, X??

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Logical Operators

and, or, not

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Expressions

Simple arithmetic expressions

Simple relational expressions
Simple logical expressions
Nested and compound expressions

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Built-in functions

You can also you built-in functions to perform common tasks

such as manipulating numbers or character strings.

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PL/SQL Data Conversion

Functions

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Manipulating Character
Strings with PL/SQL
To concatenate two strings in PL/SQL, you use the
double bar (||) operator:
new_string := string1 || string2;

To remove blank leading spaces use the LTRIM

function:
string := LTRIM(string_variable_name);

To remove blank trailing spaces use the RTRIM

function:
string := RTRIM(string_variable_name);

To find the number of characters in a character string

use the LENGTH function:
string_length := LENGTH(string_variable_name);
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Manipulating Character
Strings with PL/SQL
To change case, use UPPER, LOWER, INITCAP
INSTR function searches a string for a specific
substring:
start_position := INSTR(original_string, substring);

SUBSTR function extracts a specific number of

characters from a character string, starting at a given
point:
extracted_string := SUBSTR(string_variable, starting_point,
number_of_characters);

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The basic unit in PL/SQL is a block.

All PL/SQL programs are made up of blocks, which can be

nested within each other. Typically, each block performs a
logical action in he program.
A block has the following structure:

DECLARE
/* Declarative section: variables, types, and local subprograms. */
BEGIN
/* Executable section: procedural and SQL statements go here. */
/* This is the only section of the block that is required. */
EXCEPTION
/* Exception handling section: error handling statements go here. */
END;

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A PL/SQL block contains 1 or more PL/SQL statements. Such a

block must at least have the two keywords begin and end:
begin
PL contaminated SQL statements
The executable section also contains constructs such as
assignments, branches, loops, procedure calls, and .
end;
I call them PL contaminated SQL statements, because they are not
pure SQL, they contains variables of PL part.
Sometimes, not PL contaminated for trivial operations.
http://www.adp-gmbh.ch/ora/plsql/block.html
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The only SQL statements allowed in a PL/SQL program are

SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE and several other data
manipulation statements plus some transaction control.
For most cases, they have to be PL contaminated though!

Data definition statements like CREATE, DROP, or ALTER are

not allowed.

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A PL/SQL block

The header section

Declaration section, optional
Execution section
Optional exception section

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The major nuance is that the form of the SELECT statement is

different from its SQL form. After the SELECT clause, we must
have an INTO clause listing variables, one for each attribute in
the SELECT clause, into which the components of the retrieved
tuple must be placed.

Notice we said "tuple" rather than "tuples", since the SELECT

statement in PL/SQL only works if the result of the query
contains a single tuple.

If the query returns more than one tuple, you need to use a
cursor,!!!! as described in the future lectures.
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PL/SQL Program Blocks

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The scope of A PL/SQL block

for local variables

A PL/SQL block establishes a scope for all locally-declared

variables.
Outside of the block, those variables do not exist.

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Executing a PL/SQL
Program in SQL*Plus

The built-in function SYSDATE returns a DATE value

containing the current date and time on your system.

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How to test out the PL/SQL program?

Create program in text editor

Paste into SQL*Plus window
Press Enter, type / then enter to execute.

The forward slash (/) tells SQL*PLUS to go ahead

and process the commands in the program.

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Debugging PL/SQL Programs

Syntax error:
Command does not follow the guidelines of the
programming language
Generates compiler or interpreter error messages

Logic error:
Program runs but results in an incorrect result
Caused by mistakes at semantic level in
programing

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Finding and Fixing Syntax Errors

Interpreter flags the line number and character
location of syntax errors
If error message appears and the flagged line
appears correct, the error usually occurs on
program lines preceding the flagged line
Comment out program lines to look for hidden
errors
One error (such as missing semicolon) may
cause more fix one error at a time
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Finding and Fixing Logic Errors

Locate logic errors by viewing variable values
during program execution
There is no SQL*Plus debugger
Use DBMS_OUTPUT statements to print
variable values

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Objectives

Create PL/SQL decision control structures

Use SQL queries in PL/SQL programs
Create loops in PL/SQL programs
Create PL/SQL tables and tables of records
Use cursors to retrieve database data into
PL/SQL programs
Use the exception section to handle errors in
PL/SQL programs
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PL/SQL Control Structures

PL/SQL allows you to branch and create loops and
function calls in the way that you have been doing
in C++/Java.
If statement
Loops: three different iteration constructs.
Loop
While
For
..
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PL/SQL Decision Control

Structures
One way branch!
We also say the commands are conditioned.

Use IF/THEN structure to execute code if condition is true.

IF condition THEN
commands that execute if condition is TRUE;
END IF;

If condition evaluates to NULL it is considered false

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Two way decision

Use IF/THEN/ELSE to execute code if condition is
true or false
IF condition THEN
commands that execute if condition is TRUE;
ELSE
commands that execute if condition is FALSE;
END IF;

Can be nested be sure to end nested statements

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PL/SQL Decision Control

Structures
Multi-way branches
Use IF/ELSIF to evaluate many conditions:
IF condition1 THEN

commands that execute if condition1 is TRUE;

ELSIF condition2 THEN
commands that execute if condition2 is TRUE;
ELSIF condition3 THEN
commands that execute if condition3 is TRUE;
...
ELSE
commands that execute if none of the
conditions are TRUE;
END IF;
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IF/ELSIF Example

68

Complex Conditions
Created with logical operators AND, OR and NOT
AND is evaluated before OR
Use () to set precedence

69

MIX SQL and PL/SQL

DDL commands may not be used in PL/SQL
(usually we do not do that anyway.)

70

Using SQL Queries in PL/SQL

Programs
(This is where SQL and PL/SQL
communicate.)

Insert, delete and update statements (we also

call them action queries, because these
commands perform an action that changes
the data values in the database.) can be used
as in SQL*Plus
Usually use variables in action queries

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Using SQL Queries in PL/SQL

Programs

Select command can be used, but how to use them usually

depending on what will be returned from select command.
Single row, then use into assign the retrieved values to variables.
Then you can manipulate the values in program commands.
Multiple row, you want to use cursor.

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Using an Implicit Cursor

(Implicit Cursor will be discussed!)
Executing a SELECT query creates an implicit cursor
To retrieve it into a variable use INTO:

SELECT field1, field2, ...

INTO variable1, variable2, ...
FROM table1, table2, ...
WHERE join_ conditions
AND search_condition_to_retrieve_1_record;

Can only be used with queries that return exactly one

record

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The select statement that finds the total number of employee is

a simple select statement with added keyword INTO. The INTO
part of the statement is required in order to put the values
returned by the select statement into the corresponding PL/SQL
variables.

If it returns more than one record, obviously, there will

something wrong.
To address this issue, we usually need to use explicit cursor.

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Loops
Program structure that executes a series of program
statements, and periodically evaluates an exit
condition to determine if the loop should repeat or
exit
Pretest loop: evaluates the exit condition before any
program commands execute
Posttest loop: executes one or more program
commands before the loop evaluates the exit
condition for the first time
PL/SQL has 5 loop structures
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The LOOP...EXIT Loop

LOOP
[program statements]
IF condition THEN
EXIT;
END IF;
[additional program statements]
END LOOP

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The LOOP...EXIT WHEN Loop

LOOP
program statements
EXIT WHEN condition;
END LOOP;

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The WHILE...LOOP
WHILE condition LOOP
program statements
END LOOP;

78

The Numeric FOR Loop

FOR counter_variable IN start_value .. end_value
LOOP
program statements
END LOOP;

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Cursors
Pointer to a memory location that the DBMS
uses to process a SQL query
Use to retrieve and manipulate database data

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When you execute a SQL statement from PL/SQL, the Oracle

RDBMS assigns a private work area for that statement. This
work area contains information about the SQL statement and
the set of data returned or affected by that statement. The
PL/SQL cursor is a mechanism by which you can name that
work area and manipulate the information within it.

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Implicit Cursor

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Using an Implicit Cursor

Executing a SELECT query creates an implicit cursor
To retrieve it into a variable use INTO:

SELECT field1, field2, ...

INTO variable1, variable2, ...
FROM table1, table2, ...
WHERE join_ conditions
AND search_condition_to_retrieve_1_record;

Can only be used with queries that return exactly one

record

83

The select statement that finds the total number of employee is

a simple select statement with added keyword INTO. The INTO
part of the statement is required in order to put the values
returned by the select statement into the corresponding PL/SQL
variables.

If it returns more than one record, obviously, there will

something wrong.

84

Explicit Cursor
Use for queries that return multiple records or
no records
Must be explicitly declared and used

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Cursor

In its simplest form, you can think of a cursor as a pointer into a relation in the
database or dynamically generated from other relations.
For example, the following cursor declaration associates the entire employee
table with the cursor named employee_cur:

Step 1: cursor declaration

CURSOR employee_cur
IS
SELECT * FROM employee;

Step 2: Once you have declared the cursor, you can open it:

OPEN employee_cur;

Step 3: And then you can fetch data from it row by row, usually inside a loop

FETCH employee_cur INTO employee_rec;

In this case, each record fetched from this cursor represents an
entire record in the employee table.

Step 4: finally, You can close the cursor:

CLOSE employee_cur;
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Using an Explicit Cursor

Declare the cursor
CURSOR cursor_name IS select_query;

Open the cursor

OPEN cursor_name;

Fetch the data rows

LOOP
FETCH cursor_name INTO variable_name(s);
EXIT WHEN cursor_name%NOTFOUND;

Close the cursor

CLOSE cursor_name;

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Explicit Cursor with %ROWTYPE

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Cursor FOR Loop

Automatically opens the cursor, fetches the records,
then closes the cursor
FOR variable_name(s) IN cursor_name LOOP
processing commands
END LOOP;
Cursor variables cannot be used outside loop

89

Using Cursor FOR Loop

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Handling Runtime Errors

in PL/SQL Programs
Runtime errors cause exceptions
Exception handlers exist to deal with different error situations
Exceptions cause program control to fall to exception section
where exception is handled

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Predefined Exceptions

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Undefined Exceptions
Less common errors
Do not have predefined names
Must declare your own name for the exception
code in the declaration section
DECLARE
e_exception_name EXCEPTION;
PRAGMA EXCEPTION_INIT(e_exception_name,
-Oracle_error_code);
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User-Defined Exceptions
Not a real Oracle error
Use to enforce business rules

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Summary
PL/SQL is a programming language for working with an
Oracle database
Scalar, composite and reference variables can be used
The IF/THEN/ELSE decision control structure allows
branching logic
Five loop constructs allow repeating code
Cursors are returned from queries and can be explicitly
iterated over
Exception handling is performed in the exception section.
User defined exceptions help to enforce business logic

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Summary
PL/SQL is a programming language for working with
an Oracle database
Scalar, composite and reference variables can be
used
The IF/THEN/ELSE decision control structure allows
branching logic
Five loop constructs allow repeating code

96

What can you do using PL/SQL

Something procedural instead of declarative.

Stored procedure
Stored function
Trigger
Cursor manipulation
Exception control
.

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Stored procedure

Procedure, a function that does not return output through return value.
Prototype, signature, and definition of the procedure,

Procedure header includes name(a parameter list)

A Parameter list includes a list of parameters
A parameter list includes parameter name, in or out
mode, and parameter data type.
Name

Procedure body

Stored
Precompiled ?
modular
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