Oracle PL/SQL Programming

Steven Feuerstein is considered one of the world's leading experts on the Oracle PL/SQL language. He is the author or coauthor of Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices, Oracle PL/SQL Programming: Guide to Oracle8i Features, Oracle PL/SQL Developer's Workbook, Oracle Built-in Packages, Advanced Oracle PL/SQL Programming with Packages, and several pocket reference books (all from O'Reilly). Steven is a Senior Technology Advisor with Quest Software, has been developing software since 1980, and worked for Oracle Corporation from 1987 to 1992. He is currently designing and building Qnxo (www.qnxo.com), the world's first active mentoring software. Bill Pribyl, author, teacher, and software consultant, is the primary author of Learning Oracle PL/SQL and the coauthor of Oracle PL/SQL Programming and its companion pocket reference, all published by O'Reilly & Associates. An Oracle user since 1986, Bill has consulted on many aspects of using Oracle products. He recently spearheaded PLNet.org, a Web-based repository where developers can share open source PL/SQL.Jonathan Gennick is an O'Reilly & Associates editor specializing in database and programming titles. Prior to joining O'Reilly, Jonathan amassed some 17 years of programming and database management experience. During the latter part of his career he specialized in relational database programming, and more recently in database management. Jonathan got his start with relational database systems in 1990, first working with Ingres, and later with Digital's Rdb software. During that period he developed a fondness for SQL, and for the challenge of applying SQL creatively in ways that leveraged it's set-oriented capabilities. In 1994 Jonathan made the leap to Oracle, and is now often found writing about it. Recent projects include Oracle SQL*Loader (O'Reilly & Associates, 2001); Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference (O'Reilly & Associates, 2000); Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly & Associates, 1999); More recently, Jonathan has made forays into other database products, coauthoring Transact-SQL Cookbook (O'Reilly & Associates, 2002) and editing Practical PostgreSQL (O'Reilly & Associates, 2002). Jonathan is certified as an Oracle DBA and is a member of MENSA and the Oracle Technology Network. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Information and Computer Science, with a Business Administration minor, from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Jonathan currently resides in Munising, Michigan with his wife Donna and their two children: Jenny and Jeff. Jonathan may be contacted by email at jonathan@gennick.com, and you can learn more about him personally by visiting his website at http://gennick.com.

Preface Part I. Programming in PL/SQL 1. Introduction to PL/SQL What Is PL/SQL? The Origins of PL/SQL So This Is PL/SQL About PL/SQL Versions Resources for PL/SQL Developers Some Words of Advice 2. Creating and Running PL/SQL Code SQL*Plus Performing Essential PL/SQL Tasks Calling PL/SQL from Other Languages 3. Language Fundamentals PL/SQL Block Structure The PL/SQL Character Set Identifiers Literals The Semicolon Delimiter Comments The PRAGMA Keyword Labels Part II. PL/SQL Program Structure 4. Conditional and Sequential Control IF Statements CASE Statements and Expressions The GOTO Statement The NULL Statement 5. Iterative Processing with Loops Loop Basics The Simple Loop The WHILE Loop The Numeric FOR Loop The Cursor FOR Loop Loop Labels Tips for Iterative Processing 6. Exception Handlers Exception-Handling Concepts and Terminology Defining Exceptions Raising xceptions Handling Exceptions Building an Effective Error Management Architecture Making the Most of PL/SQL Error Management Part III. PL/SQL Program Data 7. Working with Program Data Naming Your Program Data Overview of PL/SQL Datatypes Declaring Program Data Programmer-Defined Subtypes Conversion Between Datatypes 8. Strings String Datatypes Working with Strings String Function Quick Reference 9. Numbers Numeric Datatypes Number Conversions Numeric Functions 10. Dates and Timestamps Datetime Datatypes Getting the Date and Time Interval Datatypes Datetime Conversions Date and Timestamp Literals Interval Conversions Interval Literals CAST and EXTRACT Datetime Arithmetic Date/Time Functions 11. Records Records in PL/SQL 12. Collections Collections Overview Collection Methods (Built-Ins) Working with Collections Nested Table Multiset Operations Maintaining Schema-Level Collections 13. Miscellaneous Datatypes The BOOLEAN Datatype The RAW Datatype The UROWID and ROWID Datatypes The LOB Datatypes Working with LOBs Predefined Object Types Part IV. SQL in PL/SQL 14. DML and Transaction Management DML in PL/SQL Bulk DML with the FORALL Statement Transaction Management Autonomous Transactions 15. Data Retrieval Cursor Basics Working with Implicit Cursors Working with Explicit Cursors BULK COLLECT SELECT ... FOR UPDATE Cursor Variables and REF CURSORs Cursor Expressions 16. Dynamic SQL and Dynamic PL/SQL NDS Statements Binding Variables Working with Objects and Collections Dynamic PL/SQL Recommendations for NDS When to Use DBMS_SQL NDS Utility Package Part V. PL/SQL Application Construction 17. Procedures, Functions, and Parameters Modular Code Procedures Functions Parameters Local Modules Module Overloading Forward Declarations Advanced Topics Go Forth and Modularize! 18. Packages Why Packages? Rules for Building Packages Rules for Calling Packaged Elements Working with Package Data When to Use Packages Packages and Object Types 19. Triggers DML Triggers DDL Triggers Database Event Triggers INSTEAD OF Triggers AFTER SUSPEND Triggers Maintaining Triggers 20. Managing PL/SQL Code Managing Code in the Database Using Native Compilation Using the Optimizing Compiler and Compile-Time Warnings Conditional Compilation Testing PL/SQL Programs Debugging PL/SQL Programs Tuning PL/SQL Programs Protecting Stored Code 21. I/O and PL/SQL Displaying Information Reading and Writing Files Sending Email Working with Web-Based Data (HTTP) Other Types of I/O vailable in PL/SQL Part VI. Advanced PL/SQL Topics 22. Application Security and PL/SQL Security Overview Encryption Row-Level Security Application Contexts Fine-Grained Auditing 23. Inside PL/SQL Looking Under the Hood PL/SQL's Optimizing Compiler Dependency Management Execution Authority Models PL/SQL and Oracle Memory Server-Side PL/SQL Processing: Reprise What You Need to Know 24. Globalization and Localization in PL/SQL Overview and Terminology Unicode Primer Character Semantics String Sort Order Multilingual Information Retrieval Date/Time Currency Conversion Globalization Development Kit for PL/SQL 25. Object-Oriented Aspects of PL/SQL Introduction to Oracle's Object Features An Extended Example Object Views Maintaining Object Types and Object Views Pontifications 26. Calling Java from PL/SQL Oracle and Java Getting Ready to Use Java in Oracle A Simple Demonstration Using loadjava Using dropjava Managing Java in the Database Using DBMS_JAVA Publishing and Using Java in PL/SQL 27. External Procedures Introduction to External Procedures The Oracle Net Configuration Setting Up Multithreaded Mode Creating an Oracle Library Writing the Call Specification Raising an Exception from the Called C Program Nondefault Agents Maintaining External Procedures A. Regular Expression Metacharacters and Function Parameters B. Number Format Models C. Date Format Models Index