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Sa0951a
PL/SQL 1: Introduction

An introduction to the
procedural language
in Oracle
 Contents

 What is PL/SQL?
 Purpose – what is it for?
 Block structure
 Anonymous blocks
 Main features
– rules
– Variables and data types
– Loops, branching
 Lots of examples
2 October 18
 What is PL/SQL?

 Oracle's procedural programming language

extension to SQL
 SQL is embedded in PL/SQL
 Very powerful
– We’re scratching the surface today but hang on as we
go deeper over the next few weeks
 We shall be writing code structures called
PROCEDURES, FUNCTIONS, TRIGGERS, CURSORS

3 October 18
 A very short introduction:

 Variables, constants: Used to temporarily store

information
 Loops: tell Oracle to repeat an action – x times, or until
some goal has been reached
 Conditional branching: IF statements tell Oracle to do
different things depending on some condition
 Functions: stored programs that perform a specific
action. E.g. output a value, calculate something

4 October 18
 PL/SQL Blocks

 A PL/SQL program is also called a Block

 Anonymous block:
– Embedded in application program,
stored as script file or typed in directly
– Not stored by DB
 Named block:
– Can be stored
– Procedures, functions are examples

5 October 18
 Some PL/SQL rules

 Don’t abbreviate keywords

 Put spaces after and between keywords
 Each PL/SQL statement ends with a semi-colon (;)
 SQL takes the same form as outside of PL/SQL
 There is no case-sensitivity (except inside quotes)
 Blocks can be nested up to 200 deep – good luck!
 Good practice to indent nested code though not a syntactical
requirement

6 October 18
 Block structure

[DECLARE] declare variables and constants

BEGIN lists executable statements
[EXCEPTION] error handling section
END; ends the block

 Declarations and exceptions are optional

 Need to add a forward slash ( / ) at end on new line to
force execution
7 October 18
 Variables and Constants

 Defined in DECLARE statement

– This creates spaces in memory for
temporary storage of data of a specific type
 Constant values are fixed.
 Variables can of course vary during execution!

8 October 18
 Defining variables and constants

 Variables
– Variable_name datatype;
– Variable_name datatype := expression or value;
– Variable_name datatype NOT NULL := expression or
value;
– Are set to NULL by default
 Constants
– constant_name CONSTANT datatype := expression or
value;

9 October 18
 Block 1_1

Example
DECLARE
v_surname varchar2(20);
v_salary number(9,2):=0;
v_tax number(9,2):=ROUND(v_salary*0.25,2);
v_snum number(4) NOT NULL :=0;
c_tax1 CONSTANT number(3,2) := 0.10;
c_tax2 CONSTANT number(3,2) := 0.23;
BEGIN
v_snum := v_salary - v_tax;
END;
/

 This works but gives no output, neither stores result

10 October 18
 Some Rules

 Each statement ends with semi-colon;

 Variable names are not case sensitive and may be up
to 30 characters long
 Expressions can contain references to previously
defined variables or constants in the current DECLARE
section
 Forward references are NOT allowed
 Each variable or constant name in the same block
must be unique

11 October 18
 Anchoring data types: %TYPE
Generally …….
 This allows a variable or constant to take on
v_varname table.column%type;
the same
c_constname datatype
CONSTANT as an attribute:=
table.column%type already
expression;
defined in a table
DECLARE
v_surname personnel.SURNAME%TYPE;
v_bonus personnel.BONUS%TYPE;
BEGIN
………………..

12 October 18
 Block 1_2
Displaying output with
DBMS_OUTPUT and PUT_LINE
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
DECLARE
v_surname varchar2(20):= 'BROWN';
v_salary number(9,2) := 10000;
BEGIN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Print these details');
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('-------------------');
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(v_surname||' earns '||v_salary);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('+++++++++++++++++++');
END;
/
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
13 October 18
 The NULL statement

 Performs a null operation (i.e. nothing) and is a

useful command to have while developing and
testing code (i.e. a placeholder)
Begin
...
IF v_salary > 30000
THEN NULL; -- write this later
END IF;
...
END;
/
14 October 18
 Block 1_2a

Prompting for a value

DECLARE
v_divname branch.divname%Type;
v_surname personnel.surname%Type := UPPER('&surname');
BEGIN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('converted to: '||v_surname);
END;
/

The program will pause when it encounters the “&”

character and prompt for a surname

15 October 18
 block 1_3

Ok – spot the errors

DECLARE
v_surname varchar2(10);
v_N1 number=23.4567;
v_joindate date
v_incep date:="28-Jan-67";
v_N2 number:=SQRT(Round(v_N1/3.4,2));
v_maxbonus number(3,2):= 300.67;
v_stockout bolean:=false;
BEGIN
NULL; -- develop associated code later
END
/
16 October 18
 SELECT ….. INTO ………

 One of the key issues of PL/SQL is to extract

data from a database to perform some other
process
SELECT <attribute(s)>
INTO variable
FROM <table(s)>
WHERE <condition>
…

Variable MUST be declared prior to use

17 October 18
 block 1_4

Example (only works for 1 row!)

DECLARE
v_surname personnel.surname%type;
v_bonus personnel.bonus%type;
BEGIN
SELECT surname, bonus*1.15
INTO v_surname, v_bonus Note the single ; at end
of SQL code
FROM PERSONNEL
WHERE SNUM = 3200;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(v_surname||' earns ' ||v_bonus);
END;
/
•Would output - “RAINES earns 575”
18 October 18
 Fuller Example
DECLARE qty_on_hand NUMBER(6);
BEGIN Looks up quantity
SELECT quantity INTO qty_on_hand FROM inventory of golf clubs from
inventory table and
WHERE product = 'golf club'; assigns to variable
IF qty_on_hand > 0 THEN Checks > 0

UPDATE inventory SET quantity = quantity - 1 Reduce quantity by

WHERE product='golf club'; 1

DBMS_output.put_line('in stock: '||qty_on_hand);

INSERT INTO purchase_log
VALUES('Golf club purchased', SYSDATE);
ELSE
INSERT INTO purchase_log Record a message
in the purchase log
VALUES('out of golf clubs', SYSDATE); of zero stock
END IF;
COMMIT;
END;
/

19 October 18
 LOOPS

 3 types:
– For Loop
– While Loop
– Simple or Infinite Loop

20 October 18
 FOR Loop

BEGIN TEST
FOR v_count IN 1..10 LOOP ID_NO
Insert into test(id_no) 1
values(v_count); 2
END LOOP; 3
END; 4
/ 5
6
7
8
Notes: 9
• v_count is NOT declared -- it is implicit 10

21 •The table test with column id_no must exist October 18

 Block 1_5
To test:
Select * from Test
While Loop Run program
Select * from Test

DECLARE TEST
V_count number(2):=1; ID_NO
BEGIN 1
WHILE LOOP 2
WHILE v_count < 11 LOOP 3
Insert into test(id_no) 4
values(v_count); 5
v_count:=v_count+1; 6
END LOOP; 7
8
END; 9
/ 10

22 October 18
 Infinite Loop Example

DECLARE TEST
V_count number(2):=1; ID_NO
BEGIN 1
2
LOOP 3
Insert into test(id_no) 4
values(v_count); 5
EXIT WHEN v_count=10; 6
v_count:=v_count+1; 7
8
END LOOP; 9
END; 10
/
23 October 18
 IF…THEN…ELSIF…ELSE

IF condition THEN statement(s);

[ELSIF condition THEN statement(s);]
[ELSE statement(s);]
END IF;

Note: Yes, it is ELSIF, not ELSEIF and not ELSE IF

24 October 18
 Block 1_6
To test:
Select * from Test
If Example Run block
Select * from Test
DECLARE
v_count number(2):=1; TEST
BEGIN ID_NO DETAILS
LOOP 1 GROUP1
IF v_count between 1 and 5 THEN 2 GROUP1
Insert into test values (v_count, 'Group1'); 3 GROup1
ELSIF v_count between 6 and 10 THEN 4 GROUP1
Insert into test values (v_count, 'Group2'); 5 GROUP1
ELSE 6 GROUP2
Insert into test values (v_count, 'Group3'); 7 GROUP2
END IF; 9 GROUP2
EXIT WHEN v_count =15; 10 GROUP2
v_count:=v_count+1; 11 GROUP3
END LOOP; …
END;
/
25 October 18
 Summary and look Ahead
 Looked at
– Classical programming structures:
Loops, Ifs etc
– Anchoring data types
– Block structure:
Declare …. Begin…… Exception … End;
– Variables and constants
 Going to look at
– Exception handling, cursors, procedures, functions,
triggers, packages hopefully!

26 October 18
 Some other useful examples…..
<<Labels>> (useful when nesting)
BEGIN
<<firstloop>>
FOR counter in 1..2 Loop
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('1st: '||firstloop.counter);
<<secondloop>>
FOR counter in 1..4 Loop
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('1st: '|| firstloop.counter);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('2nd: '|| secondloop.counter);
END LOOP secondloop; -- aids readability
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('--------------------');
END LOOP firstloop; -- aids readability
END;
/

27 October 18
 IF: Conditional Tests supported

 Logicals:
– AND OR NOT
 Expressions:
– IS [NOT] NULL, [NOT] BETWEEN a AND b
– [NOT] like a, [NOT] IN list
 Comparisons: < > <= >= <> !=
 Operations: + - * / (and more)
 Functions: any legal SQL function

28 October 18
 Reading & References

 Connolly/Begg (3rd/4th ed) Section 8.2.5

 Oracle® PL/SQL™ by Example – in Safari e-
books
 Morris-Murphy chapters 15 & 16
 Shah, N. (2002). Database Systems Using
Oracle. A simplified guide to SQL and PL/SQL.
Chapter 8 onwards
 Morrison/Morrison Chapter 4.

29 October 18