Overview of PL/SQL
Programming
About PL/SQL
• PL/SQL (Procedural Language/Structured Query
Language ) is the procedural extension to SQL with
design features of programming languages.
• Data manipulation and query statements of SQL are
included within procedural units of code.
Declaring Variables
PL/SQL Block Structure
DECLARE (Optional)
Variables, Cursors, User-defined exceptions
BEGIN (Mandatory)
- SQL statements
- PL/SQL statements
EXCEPTION (Optional)
Actions to perform when errors occur
END; (Mandatory)
Cont…
Section Description Inclusion
Declarative Contains all variables, constants, Optional
cursors, and user-defined exception
that are referenced in the
executable and declarative sections
Executable Contains SQL statements to manipulate Mandatory
data in the database and PL/SQL
statements to manipulate data in block
Exception Specifies the actions to perform when Optional
Handling errors and abnormal conditions arise
in the executable section
Executing Statements and PL/SQL
Blocks
DECLARE
v_variable VARCHAR2 (5);
BEGIN
SELECT
column_name INTO
v_variable FROM
table_name;
EXCEPTION
WHEN
exception_name THEN
Block Types
Anonymous Procedure Functions
[DECLARE] PROCEDURE name FUNCTION name
IS | AS RETURN data type
IS
BEGIN BEGIN BEGIN
-- Statements -- Statements -- Statements
RETURN value;
[EXCEPTION] [EXCEPTION] [EXCEPTION]
END; END; END;
Declaring PL/SQL Variables
Syntax :
identifier [CONSTANT] datatype [NOT NULL] [:= | DEFAULT expr];
Examples :
DECLARE
v_hiredate DATE;
v_deptno NUMBER (2) NOT NULL := 10 ;
v_location VARCHAR2 (13) := ‘NIBM’ ;
c_comm CONSTANT NUMBER := 1400;
Scalar Variable Declarations
• Examples :
DECLARE
v_job VARCHAR2 (9) ;
v_count BINARY_INTEGER := 0 ;
v_total_sal NUMBER (9,2) := 0 ;
v_orderdate DATE := SYSDATE + 7 ;
c_tax_rate CONSTANT NUMBER (3,2) := 8.25;
v_valid BOOLEAN NOT NULL := TRUE;
Cont…
• v_job : Variable to store an employee job title.
• v_count : Variable to count the iterations of a loop
and initialized to 0.
• v_total_sal : Variable to accumulate the total
salary for a department and initialized to 0.
• v_orderdate : Variable to store the ship date of an
order and initialized to one week from today.
• c_tax_rate : A constant variable for the tax rate,
which never changes throughout the PL/SQL
block.
• v_valid : Flag to indicate whether a piece of data
is valid or invalid and initialized to TRUE.
The %TYPE
Attribute
• Declare a variable according to :
- A database column definition
- Another previously declared variable
• Prefix %TYPE with :
- The database table and column
- The previously declared variable name
Cont…
• Syntax
identifier Table.Column_Name%TYPE;
• Examples:
….
v_name Emp.last_name%TYPE;
v_balance NUMBER (7,2);
v_min_balance v_balance%TYPE :=
…. 10;
Bind Variables
• A bind variable is a variable that you declare
in a host environment.
• Used to pass run-time values, either number
or character, into or out of one or more
PL/SQL programs.
• To declare a bind variable in the iSQL*Plus
environment , use the command VARIABLE.
• Syntax
VARIABLE variable_name
data_type
Cont…
• Example
VARIABLE g_salary
NUMBER; BEGIN
SELECT salary
INTO :g_salary
FROM employee
WHERE emp_id = 178;
END;
/
PRINT g_salary;
Referencing Non-PL/SQL Variables
• To reference host variables, you must prefix the
references with a colon (:) to distinguish them from
declared PL/SQL variables.
• Store the monthly salary into a iSQL*/Plus
host variable.
:g_monthly_sal := v_sal / 12;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE
• An Oracle-supplied packaged procedure
• An alternative for displaying data from
a PL/SQL block
• Must be enabled in iSQL*Plus with
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
Example :
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
VARIABL g_monthly_sal
E DEFINE NUMBER; p_annual_sal
= 5000;
DECLARE
v_sal NUMBER (9,2) := &p_annual_sal;
BEGIN
:g_monthly_sal := v_sal / 12;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (‘The monthly salary is ‘ ||
TO_CHAR (v_sal));
END;
/
Practice 01
1. Evaluate each of the following declarations.
Determine which of them are not legal and explain
why.
a) DECLARE v_id NUMBER (4);
b) DECLARE v_x, v_y, v_z VARCHAR2 (10);
c) DECLARE v_birthdate DATE NOT NULL;
d) DECLARE v_in_stock BOOLEAN := 1;
2. Create an anonymous block to output the phrase
“My PL/SQL Block Work” to the screen.
G_MESSAGE
My PL/SQL Block Work
3. Create a block that declares two variables as v_char
and v_num. Assign the value of these PL/SQL
variables to iSQL*Plus host variables and print the
result of the PL/SQL variables to the screen.
G_CHAR
42 is the answer
G_NUM
42
Answer - 02
VARIABLE g_message VARCHAR2 (30);
BEGIN
:g_message := ‘My PL/SQL Block Works’;
END;
/
PRINT g_message;
Alternate Solution
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
BEGIN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (‘My PL/SQL Block Works’);
END;
/
Answer – 03
VARIABLE g_char VARCHAR2 (30);
VARIABLE g_num NUMBER;
DECLARE
v_char VARCHAR2 (30);
v_num NUMBER (11,2);
BEGIN
v_char := ‘42 is the answer’;
v_num := TO_NUMBER (SUBSTR
(v_char,1,2));
:g_char := v_char;
:g_num := v_num;
END;
/
PRINT g_char;
PRINT
Answer – 03 (Method 2)
set serveroutput on
--Method 2
DECLARE
v_char VARCHAR2(30);
v_num NUMBER;
BEGIN
v_char := '42 is the Answer';
v_num := TO_NUMBER(substr(v_char,1,2));
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(v_char);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(v_num);
END;
