Oracle Stored Procedures

and Functions
What can you do with
PL/SQL?
 Allows sophisticated data processing
 Build complex business logic in a modular fashion
 Use over and over
 Execute rapidly – little network traffic
 Stored procedures
 Functions
 Triggers
Stored Procedures
 Defined set of actions written using PL/SQL
 When called, the procedure performs actions
 Can be called directly from other blocks
 Two parts
 Procedure specification or header
 Procedure body
PROCEDURES
• A procedure is a module performing one or more
actions; it does not need to return any values.
• The syntax for creating a procedure is as follows:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE name
[(parameter[, parameter, ...])]
AS
[local declarations]
BEGIN
executable statements
[EXCEPTION
exception handlers]
END [name];
PROCEDURES
• A procedure may have 0 to many parameters.
• Every procedure has two parts:
1. The header portion, which comes before AS
(sometimes you will see IS—they are
interchangeable), keyword (this contains the
procedure name and the parameter list),
2. The body, which is everything after the IS
keyword.
• The word REPLACE is optional.
• When the word REPLACE is not used in the header
of the procedure, in order to change the code in
the procedure, it must be dropped first and then
re-created.
Bordoloi and Bock
Example: Procedure

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE hello IS

Greetings VARCHAR(20);

BEGIN
Greetings:= 'Hello World';
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(greetings);
END hello;
Example: Procedure
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE Discount
AS
CURSOR c_group_discount
IS
SELECT distinct s.course_no, c.description
FROM section s,enrollment e,course c
WHERE s.section_id = e.section_id
AND c.course_no = s.course_no
GROUP BY s.course_no, c.description,
e.section_id, s.section_id
HAVING COUNT(*) >=8;
BEGIN
FOR r_group_discount IN c_group_discount
LOOP
UPDATE course
SET cost = cost * .95
WHERE course_no = r_group_discount.course_no;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE
('A 5% discount has been given to'||
r_group_discount.course_no||' '||
r_group_discount.description
);
Bordoloi and Bock
END LOOP;
 Calling a Procedure
In order to execute a procedure in SQL*Plus use the
following syntax:
EXECUTE Procedure_name
To display output
set serveroutput on size 4000
EXECUTE hello;

Another way to execute it is from another PL/SQL

block:
BEGIN
hello;
END;
Arguments
 A value can be passed to a procedure when it is called
(input)
 Must specify datatype
 Example (not actually a procedure):
increase_salary_find_tax(
increase_percent IN NUMBER:=7,
sal IN OUT NUMBER,
tax OUT NUMBER)

 IN means the procedure can read an incoming value from

that parameter when the procedure is called
 OUT means the procedure can use that parameter to
send a value back to what called it
 increase_percent has a default value of 7
Arguments
 Following is a procedure with arguments:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE
increase (oldprice NUMBER, percent
NUMBER := 5, newprice OUT NUMBER)
IS
BEGIN

newprice:=oldprice+oldprice*percent/10
0;
END increase;
Calling a Procedure with Arguments

DECLARE
price_increase NUMBER(6,2) := 20;
newp NUMBER(6,2) := 0;
BEGIN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Current price: '||
price_increase);

increase(oldprice=>price_increase,newprice=>newp
);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE
('Price after increase: '|| newp);
END;We should see a new price of 21
PARAMETERS

• Parameters are the means to pass values to

and from the calling environment to the
server.
• These are the values that will be processed
or returned via the execution of the
procedure.
• There are three types of parameters:
• IN, OUT, and IN OUT.
• Modes specify whether the parameter
passed is read in or a receptacle for what
comes out.
Types of Parameters

Calling Procedure
Environ IN Argument
-ment OUT Argument
IN OUT Argument
DECLARE
….
BEGIN
….
EXCEPTION
….
END;
FORMAL AND ACTUAL PARAMETERS

• Formal parameters are the names

specified within parentheses as part of
the header of a module.
• Actual parameters are the values—
expressions specified within
parentheses as a parameter list—
when a call is made to the module.
• The formal parameter and the related
actual parameter must be of the same
or compatible data types.
MATCHING ACTUAL AND FORMAL PARAMETERS

• Two methods can be used to match actual and formal

parameters: positional notation and named notation.
• Positional notation is simply association by position: The
order of the parameters used when executing the
procedure matches the order in the procedure’s header
exactly.
• Named notation is explicit association using the symbol =>
 Syntax: formal_parameter_name =>
argument_value

• In named notation, the order does not matter.

• If you mix notation, list positional notation before named
notation.
MATCHING ACTUAL AND FORMAL
PARAMETERS

Bordoloi and Bock

FUNCTIONS
• Functions are a type of stored code and are very similar to
procedures.
• The significant difference is that a function is a PL/SQL block that
returns a single value.
• Functions can accept one, many, or no parameters, but a function
must have a return clause in the executable section of the function.
• The datatype of the return value must be declared in the header of
the function.
• A function is not a stand-alone executable in the way that a
procedure is: It must be used in some context. You can think of it as
a sentence fragment.
• A function has output that needs to be assigned to a variable, or it
can be used in a SELECT statement.
FUNCTIONS

• The syntax for creating a function is as

follows:

CREATE [OR REPLACE] FUNCTION

function_name
(parameter list)
RETURN datatype
IS
BEGIN
<body>
RETURN (return_value);
END;
Bordoloi and Bock
FUNCTIONS

• The function does not necessarily have to have any

parameters, but it must have a RETURN value declared
in the header, and it must return values for all the
varying possible execution streams.
• The RETURN statement does not have to appear as the
last line of the main execution section, and there may
be more than one RETURN statement (there should be
a RETURN statement for each exception).
• A function may have IN, OUT, or IN OUT parameters.
but you rarely see anything except IN parameters.
Bordoloi and Bock
Example

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION show_description

(i_course_no number)
RETURN varchar2
AS
v_description varchar2(50);
BEGIN
SELECT description
INTO v_description
FROM course
WHERE course_no = i_course_no;
RETURN v_description;
EXCEPTION
WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND
THEN
RETURN('The Course is not in the database');
WHEN OTHERS
THEN
RETURN('Error in running show_description');
END;
Bordoloi and Bock
Making Use Of Functions

• In a anonymous block
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
DECLARE
v_description VARCHAR2(50);
BEGIN
v_description :=
show_description(&sv_cnumber);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(v_description);
END;

• In a SQL statement

SELECT course_no, show_description(course_no)

FROM course;
Bordoloi and Bock
Example
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION discount
(amount NUMBER, percent NUMBER:=5)
RETURN NUMBER
IS
BEGIN
IF (amount>=0) THEN
return (amount*percent/100);
ELSE
return(0); The IF-THEN
END IF; construct allows for
END discount; error checking
 Example : Calling the Function

DECLARE
current_amt NUMBER:=100;
incorrect_amt NUMBER:=-5;
BEGIN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(' Order and Discount');
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(current_amt || ' '||
discount(current_amt));
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(incorrect_amt||' '||
discount(incorrect_amt));
END;
Example
 Write a PL/SQL function that accepts price and
onhand values, checks to be sure they are both
greater than 0 and multiplies them together. If
they are less than 0 return 0.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION total_amount (price
NUMBER, onhand NUMBER)
RETURN NUMBER IS
BEGIN
IF (price>0 AND onhand>0) THEN
return (price*onhand);
ELSE
return(0);
END IF;
END total_amount;