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Overview of PL/SQL
Prepared by:
Sherwin O. Bautista
© 2008 IBM Corporation
IBM SOLUTIONS DELIVERY INC.
Course Objectives
After completing this course, trainees should be able to do the
following:
Describe the purpose of PL/SQL
Describe the use of PL/SQL for the developer as well as the DBA
Will be able to explain benefits of PL/SQL
Create, execute, and maintain procedure functions, packages, and
database triggers.
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About PL/SQL
PL/SQL (Procedural Languages/SQL)
Oracle Corporation’s procedure language extension to SQL.
the standard data access language for relational databases.
Offers modern software engineering features such as:
•data encapsulation,
•exception handling,
•Information hiding,
•Object orientation,
•and brings state-of-the-art programming to the Oracle Server and tool set.
It allows the data manipulation and query statements of SQL to be included in
block-structured and procedural units of code.
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PL/SQL Environment
PL/SQL Engine Oracle Server
PL/SQL Procedural Statement
Block Executor
PL/SQL
Block SQL Executor Statements
When a user submit PL/SQL blocks from program (i.e. Pro*COBOL, Pro*C) or
other tools (i.e iSQL*Plus), the PL/SQL engine in the Oracle Server process the
PL/SQL blocks. It separates the SQL statements and sends them individually to
the SQL statement executor.
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Benefits of PL/SQL
Integration:
PL/SQL plays a central role in both the Oracle Server (through stored procedures, stored
functions, database triggers, and packages) and Oracle Development tools.
SQL data types can also be used in PL/SQL. PL/SQL bridges the gap between convenient
access to database technology and the need for procedural programming capabilities.
Improved Performance:
PL/SQL can improved the performance of an application. The benefits differ depending on
the execution environment.
It helps reduce network traffic because PL/SQL can used to group SQL
statements together within a single block and to send the block to the
server in a single call.
PL/SQL can also operate with Oracle Server application development
tools such as Oracle Forms and Oracle Reports. PL/SQL enhances
performance by adding procedural processing power using Oracle Server
application development tools.
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Benefits of PL/SQL
Modularize program development:
DECLARE
{code .... } PL/SQL Block Structure
BEGIN Every unit of PL/SQL contains one or more
blocks. The basic units (procedures, functions,
{code….} anonymous block) that make up a PL/SQL program
are logical blocks, which contains any number of
EXCEPTION nested subblocks.
{code….} One block can represent a small part of
another block, which in turn can be a part of the
END; whole unit of code.
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Benefits of PL/SQL
Portability:
PL/SQL is native to the Oracle Server, a programs can be moved to any host environment
(operating system or platform) that support the Oracle Server and PL/SQL.
Identifiers:
PL/SQL can used identifiers to do the following:
Declare variables, cursors, constants, and exceptions and then use them in SQL and
procedural statements.
Declare variables belonging to scalar, reference, composite, and large object (LOB) data
types.
Declare variables dynamically based on the data structure of tables and columns in the
database.
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Benefits of PL/SQL
Procedural Language Control Structures:
Execute a sequence of statements conditionally
Execute a sequence of statements iteratively in a loop
Process individually the rows returned by a multiple-row query with an explicit
cursor
Errors: (PL/SQL can handle errors)
Process Oracle server errors with exception-handling routines
Declare user-define error conditions and process them with exception-handling
routines.
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Benefits of Subprograms
Easy maintenance:
Routines online without interfering with other users.
One routine to affect multiple applications.
One routine to eliminate duplicating testing.
Improved data security and integrity:
Control indirect access to database objects from non-privileged users with security
privileges
Ensure that related actions are performed together, or not at all, by funneling activity
for related tables through a single path.
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Benefits of Subprograms
Improved performance:
Avoid reparsing for multiple users by exploiting the shared SQL area
Avoid PL/SQL parsing at run time by parsing at compilation time.
Reduce the number of calls to the database and decrease network traffic by
bundling commands.
Improved code clarity:
Using appropriate identifier names to describe the action of the routines reduces the
need for comments and enhances the clarity of the code.
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