PL/SQL

What is PL/SQL
 Procedural Language – SQL
 An extension to SQL with design features of

programming languages (procedural and

object oriented)
 PL/SQL and Java are both supported as

internal host languages within Oracle

products.
Why PL/SQL
 Acts as host language for stored
procedures and triggers.
 Provides the ability to add middle tier
business logic to client/server
applications.
 Provides Portability of code from one
environment to another
 Improves performance of multi-query
transactions.
 Provides error handling
PL/SQL BLOCK STRUCTURE
DECLARE (optional)
- variable declarations
BEGIN (required)
- SQL statements
- PL/SQL statements or sub-blocks
EXCEPTION (optional)
- actions to perform when errors occur
END; (required)
PL/SQL Block Types

Anonymou Procedure Function

s
PROCEDURE <name> FUNCTION <name>
DECLARE IS RETURN <datatype>
BEGIN BEGIN IS
-statements -statements BEGIN
EXCEPTION EXCEPTION -statements
END; END; EXCEPTION
END;
PL/SQL Variable Types
 Scalar (char, varchar2, number, date, etc)
 Composite (%rowtype)
 Reference (pointers)
 LOB (large objects)
Variable Naming
Conventions
 Two variables can have the same name if
they are in different blocks (bad idea)
 The variable name should not be the same

as any table column names used in the

block.
PL/SQL is strongly typed
 All variables must be declared before their
use.
 The assignment statement

:=
is not the same as the equality operator
=
 All statements end with a ;
 PL/SQL Sample Program
DECLARE
v_inv_value number(10,2);
v_price number(8,2) := 10.25;
v_quantity number(8,0) := 400;
BEGIN
v_inv_value := v_price * v_quantity;
dbms_output.put('The value is: ');
dbms_output.put_line(v_inv_value);
END;
PL/SQL Comments

DECLARE
v_salary number(9,2) := 40000;
BEGIN
/* this is a multi-line comment that
will be ignored by the pl/sql
interpreter */
v_salary := v_salary * 2;
END; -- end of program
PL/SQL Sample Program
(For Loop)
DECLARE
x NUMBER := 100;
BEGIN
FOR i IN 1..10 LOOP
IF MOD(i,2) = 0 THEN -- i is even
INSERT INTO temp VALUES (i, x, 'i is even');
ELSE
INSERT INTO temp VALUES (i, x, 'i is odd');
END IF;
x := x + 100;
END LOOP;
COMMIT;
END;
Example
 Consider Students table with columns
(sid, fname, lname, major, gpa)
Example

DECLARE
v_max_gpa number(3,2);
v_numstudents number(4);
v_lname students.lname%type; Display the highest GPA
v_major students.major%type;
BEGIN
select max(gpa) into v_max_gpa
from students;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('The highest GPA is '||v_max_gpa);
select count(sid) into v_numstudents Retrieve the no. of students with highest GPA
from students
where gpa = v_max_gpa;
IF v_numstudents > 1 then
If no. of students
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('There are '||v_numstudents||' withare moreGPA');
that than 1, then
ELSE display the count or else display the
select lname, major into v_lname, v_major lname and major of the hisghest GPA
from students scorer.
where gpa=v_max_gpa;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('The student name is '||v_lname);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('The student major is '||v_major);
END IF;
END;
/
 %ROWTYPE
Set serveroutput on
DECLARE
v_student students%rowtype;
BEGIN
select * into v_student
from students
where sid='123456';
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (v_student.lname);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (v_student.major);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (v_student.gpa);
END;
/
 Stored Procedures
 PL/SQL code stored in the database and executed when called by the
user.
 Called by procedure name from another PL/SQL block or using
EXECUTE from SQL+. For example EXEC SQR(50)
 Example:

Create procedure SQR (v_num_to_square IN number)

AS
v_answer number(10);
BEGIN
v_answer := v_num_to_square * v_num_to_square;
dbms_output.put_line(v_answer);
END;

BEGIN
SQR(19);
END;
 Function
 PL/SQL user defined function stored in the database and
executed when a function call is made in code: example x :=
SQUARED(50)
 Example:

Create or Replace Function SQUARED

(p_number_to_square IN number)
RETURN number
IS
v_answer number(10);
BEGIN
v_answer := p_number_to_square * p_number_to_square;
RETURN(v_answer);
END;
select SQUARED(15) from dual
Cursors
 A cursor is a temporary work area created in
the system memory when a SQL statement is
executed.
 A cursor contains information on a select
statement and the rows of data accessed by it.
 This temporary work area is used to store the
data retrieved from the database, and
manipulate this data.
 A cursor can hold more than one row, but can
process only one row at a time. The set of
rows the cursor holds is called the active set.
CURSORS
 A cursor is a private set of records
 An Oracle Cursor = VB recordset = JDBC

ResultSet
 Implicit cursors are created for every query

made in Oracle
 Explicit cursors can be declared by a

programmer within PL/SQL.

 Cursor Attributes

 cursorname%ROWCOUNT Rows returned so far

 cursorname%FOUND One or more rows
retrieved
 cursorname%NOTFOUND No rows found
 Cursorname%ISOPEN Is the cursor open
Explicit Cursor Control

 Declare the cursor

 Open the cursor
 Fetch a row
 Test for end of cursor
 Close the cursor

Note: there is a FOR LOOP available with an implicit fetch

Sample Cursor Program
DECLARE
CURSOR students_cursor IS
SELECT * from students;

v_student students_cursor%rowtype;
/* instead we could do v_student students%rowtype */
BEGIN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('******************');
OPEN students_cursor;
FETCH students_cursor into v_student;
WHILE students_cursor%found LOOP
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (v_student.last);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (v_student.major);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('******************');
FETCH students_cursor into v_student;
END LOOP;
CLOSE students_cursor;
END;
Sample Cursor Program
(same program without composite variable)

DECLARE
CURSOR students_cursor IS
SELECT last, major from students;
v_Last students.last%type;
v_major students.major%type;
BEGIN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('******************');
OPEN students_cursor;
FETCH students_cursor into v_last, v_major;
WHILE students_cursor%found LOOP
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (v_last);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (v_major);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('******************');
FETCH students_cursor into v_last, v_major;
END LOOP;
CLOSE students_cursor;
END;
/
 Stored Procedure Example
Write a procedure using cursor to display all
tablenames from user tables of Oracle database
 Stored Procedure Example
Write a procedure using cursor to display all
tablenames from user tables of Oracle database
Create or replace procedure mytabs
AS
CURSOR table_cursor IS
Select table_name from user_tables;
v_tablename varchar2(30);
BEGIN
open table_cursor;
fetch table_cursor into v_tablename;
while table_cursor%found loop
dbms_output.put_line(v_tablename);
fetch table_cursor into v_tablename;
end loop;
close table_cursor;
END;
 When is PL/SQL handy
 When something is too complicated for SQL
 When conditional branching and looping are

needed
JDBC
 JDBC is a standard interface for connecting to
relational databases from Java.
 The JDBC classes and interfaces are in the

java.sql package.
 JDBC 1.22 is part of JDK 1.1; JDBC 2.0 is part

of Java 2
Overview of Querying a
Database With JDBC
Connect

Query

Process
results

Close
Stage 1: Connect

Connect Register the driver

Query Connect to the database

Process
results

Close
A JDBC Driver
 Is an interpreter that translates JDBC method
calls to vendor-specific database commands

Database
JDBC calls commands
Driver
Database

 Implements interfaces in java.sql

 Can also provide a vendor’s extensions to the
JDBC standard
Oracle JDBC Drivers
 Thin driver
◦ a 100% Java driver for client-side use
with an Oracle installation, particularly
with applets

 OCI drivers (OCI8 and OCI7)

◦ for client-side use with an Oracle client
installation
Oracle JDBC Drivers: Thin Client Driver

 Written entirely in Java

 Applets must use this driver

Applet

JDBC

Thin driver Oracle

Client Server
Oracle JDBC Drivers: OCI Client
Drivers
 Written in C and Java
 Must be installed on the client

Application

JDBC

OCI driver

Oracle
ocixxx.dll

Client Server
Other JDBC Drivers
 JDBC-ODBC Bridge
◦ Translates JDBC into open database connectivity
(ODBC) calls
◦ Allows communication with existing ODBC
drivers when no JDBC driver is available
JDBC URLs
 JDBC uses a URL to identify the database
connection.

jdbc:<subprotocol>:<subname>

Database
Protocol Subprotocol
identifier

jdbc:oracle:<driver>:@<database>
JDBC URLs with Oracle
Drivers
 Thin driver
jdbc:oracle:thin:@<host>:<port>:<SID>
 OCI driver

jdbc:oracle:oci8:@<TNSNAMES entry>
How to Make the
Connection
1. Register the driver.
DriverManager.registerDriver (new
oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver());

2.
2. Connect
Connect to
to the
the database.
database.
Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection
(URL, userid, password);

Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection

("jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:XE","scott
2","tiger");
Stage 2: Query

Connect

Query Create a statement

Process Query the database

results

Close
The Statement Object
 A Statement object sends your SQL
statement to the database.
 You need an active connection to create a
JDBC statement.
 Statement has three methods to execute a
SQL statement:
◦ executeQuery() for QUERY statements
◦ executeUpdate() for INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE,
or DDL statements
◦ execute() for either type of statement
How to Query the
Database
1. Create an empty statement object.

Statement stmt = conn.createStatement();

2. Execute the statement.

ResultSet rset = stmt.executeQuery(statement);

int count = stmt.executeUpdate(statement);
boolean isquery = stmt.execute(statement);
Querying the Database:
Examples
 Execute a select statement.
Statement stmt = conn.createStatement();
ResultSet rset = stmt.executeQuery
("select RENTAL_ID, STATUS from
ACME_RENTALS");
• Execute a delete statement.
Statement stmt = conn.createStatement();
int rowcount = stmt.executeUpdate
("delete from ACME_RENTAL_ITEMS
where rental_id = 1011");
Stage 3: Process the
Results
Connect

Query
Step through the results

Process Assign results to Java

results variables

Close
The ResultSet Object
 JDBC returns the results of a query in a
ResultSet object.
 A ResultSet maintains a cursor pointing to

its current row of data.

 Use next() to step through the result set row

by row.
 getString(), getInt(), and so on assign each

value to a Java variable.

How to Process the Results
 1. Step through the result set.
while (rset.next()) { … }

 2. Use getXXX() to get each column

value.
String val =
rset.getString(colname);

while (rset.next()) {
String title = rset.getString("TITLE");
String year = rset.getString("YEAR");
… // Process or display the data
}
Stage 4: Close

Connect

Query
Close the result set

Process
results Close the statement

Close Close the connection

How to Close the
Connection
1. Close the ResultSet object.
rset.close();

2. Close the Statement object.

stmt.close();

3. Close the connection (not necessary for

server-side driver).
conn.close();