UNIT 5 PL/SQL

5.1 Introduction to PL/SQL

PL/SQL is a combination of SQL along with the procedural features of programming languages. It
was developed by Oracle Corporation in the early 90's to enhance the capabilities of SQL.

PL/SQL is one of three key programming languages embedded in the Oracle Database, along with
SQL itself and Java.

PL/SQL is a completely portable, high-performance transaction-processing language.

PL/SQL provides a built-in, interpreted and OS independent programming environment.
PL/SQL can also directly be called from the command-line SQL*Plus interface.
Direct call can also be made from external programming language calls to database.
PL/SQL's general syntax is based on that of ADA and Pascal programming language.

Features of PL/SQL
PL/SQL has the following features

PL/SQL is tightly integrated with SQL. It offers extensive error checking. It offers
numerous data types.
It offers a variety of programming structures. It supports structured programming through
functions and procedures.
It supports object-oriented programming. It supports the development of web applications
and server pages.
PL/SQL-Basic Syntax
PL/SQL programs are divided and written in logical blocks of code. Each block consists of three
sub-parts

Declarations
This section starts with the keyword DECLARE. It is an optional section and defines all variables,
cursors, subprograms, and other elements to be used in the program.

Executable Commands

This section is enclosed between the keywords BEGIN and END and it is a mandatory section. It
consists of the executable PL/SQL statements of the program. It should have at least one
executable line of code, which may be just a NULL command to indicate that nothing should be
executed.
Exception Handling

This section starts with the keyword EXCEPTION. This optional section contains exception(s)
that handle errors in the program.

DECLARE
<declarations section>
BEGIN
<executable command(s)>
EXCEPTION
<exception handling>
END;

Example 'Hello World'

DECLARE
message varchar2(20):= 'Hello, World!';
BEGIN
dbms_output.put_line(message);
END;

5.2 PL/SQL– Variables

The name of a PL/SQL variable consists of a letter optionally followed by more letters, numerals,
dollar signs, underscores, and number signs and should not exceed 30 characters. By default,
variable names are not case-sensitive. You cannot use a reserved PL/SQL keyword as a variable
name.
Variable Declaration in PL/SQL
PL/SQL variables must be declared in the declaration section or in a package as a global variable.
When you declare a variable, PL/SQL allocates memory for the variable's value and the storage
location is identified by the variable name.
The syntax for declaring a variable is
variable_name [CONSTANT] datatype [NOT NULL] [:= | DEFAULT initial_value]

Initializing Variables in PL/SQL

Whenever you declare a variable, PL/SQL assigns it a default value of NULL. If you want to
initialize a variable with a value other than the NULL value, you can do so during the declaration,
using either ofthe following –
The DEFAULT keyword
The assignment operator

For example −
counter binary_integer := 0;
greetings varchar2(20) DEFAULT 'Have a Good Day';

You can also specify that a variable should not have a NULL value using the NOT NULL
constraint. If you use the NOT NULL constraint, you must explicitly assign an initial value for
that variable.
It is a good programming practice to initialize variables properly otherwise, sometimes programs
would produce unexpected results. Try the following example which makes use of various types
of variables –

DECLARE
a integer := 10;
b integer := 20;
c integer;
f real;
BEGIN
c := a + b;
dbms_output.put_line('Value of c: ' || c);
f := 70.0/3.0;
dbms_output.put_line('Value of f: ' || f);
END;
/

Variable Scope in PL/SQL

PL/SQL allows the nesting of blocks, i.e., each program block may contain another inner block. If
a variable is declared within an inner block, it is not accessible to the outer block. However, if a
variable is declared and accessible to an outer block, it is also accessible to all nested inner blocks.

There are two types of variable scope

Local variables − Variables declared in an inner block and not accessible to outer blocks.
Global variables − Variables declared in the outermost block or a package.
Following example shows the usage of Local and Global variables in its simple form –
DECLARE
-- Global variables
num1 number := 95;
num2 number := 85;
BEGIN
dbms_output.put_line('Outer Variable num1: ' || num1);
dbms_output.put_line('Outer Variable num2: ' || num2);

DECLARE
-- Local variables
num1 number := 195;
num2 number := 185;
BEGIN
dbms_output.put_line('Inner Variable num1: ' || num1);
dbms_output.put_line('Inner Variable num2: ' || num2);
END;
END;

5.3 PL/SQL Control Structures

Decision-making structures require that the programmer specify one or more conditions to be
evaluated or tested by the program, along with a statement or statements to be executed if the
condition is determined to be true, and optionally, other statements to be executed if the condition
is determined to be false.
1. if then statement
2. if then else statements
3. nested if-then statements
4. if-then-elseif-then-else ladder

Following is the general form of a typical conditional (i.e., decision making) structure found in
most of the programming languages
PL/SQL programming language provides following types of decision-making statements.

Syntax
IF condition
THEN
Statement: {It is executed when condition is true}
END IF;

Eg:

declare
num1 number:= 10;
num2 number:= 20;

begin

if num1 > num2 then

dbms_output.put_line('num1 small');
end if;

dbms_output.put_line('I am Not in if');

end;

EG :
declare
num1 number:= 10;
num2 number:= 20;
num3 number:= 20;

begin
if num1 < num2 then
dbms_output.put_line('num1 small num2');
if num1 < num3 then
dbms_output.put_line('num1 small num3 also');
end if;
end if;
dbms_output.put_line('after end if');
end;

5.4 PL/SQL - Cursors

Oracle creates a memory area, known as the context area, for processing an SQL statement, which
contains all the information needed for processing the statement; for example, the number of rows
processed, etc.

A cursor is a pointer to this context area. PL/SQL controls the context area through a cursor. A
cursor
holds the rows (one or more) returned by a SQL statement. The set of rows the cursor holds is
referred to as the active set.

You can name a cursor so that it could be referred to in a program to fetch and process the rows
returned by the SQL statement, one at a time.

There are two types of cursors −

 Implicit cursors
 Explicit cursors

Implicit Cursors

 Implicit cursors are automatically created by Oracle whenever an SQL statement is

executed, when there is no explicit cursor for the statement.
  Programmers cannot control the implicit cursors and the information in it.
 Whenever a DML statement (INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE) is issued, an implicit
cursor is associated with this statement.
 For INSERT operations, the cursor holds the data that needs to be inserted.
 For UPDATE and DELETE operations, the cursor identifies the rows that would be
affected.
 Recent implicit cursor as the SQL cursor, which always has attributes such as %FOUND,
%ISOPEN, %NOTFOUND, and %ROWCOUNT.
 The SQL cursor has additional attributes, %BULK_ROWCOUNT and
%BULK_EXCEPTIONS, designed for use with the FORALL statement.
 The following table provides the description of the most used attributes –
 %FOUND Returns TRUE if an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement affected one
or more rows or a SELECTINTO statement returned one or more rows. Otherwise, it
returns FALSE.

 %NOTFOUND The logical opposite of %FOUND. It returns TRUE if an INSERT,

UPDATE, or DELETE statement affected no rows, or a SELECT INTO statement returned
no rows. Otherwise, it returns FALSE.
 %ISOPEN Always returns FALSE for implicit cursors, because Oracle closes the SQL
cursor automatically after executing its associated SQL statement.
 %ROWCOUNT Returns the number of rows affected by an INSERT, UPDATE, or
DELETE statement, or returned by a SELECT INTO statement.

DECLARE
total_rows number(2);
BEGIN
UPDATE customers
SET salary = salary + 500;
IF sql%notfound THEN
dbms_output.put_line('no customers selected');
ELSIF sql%found THEN
total_rows := sql%rowcount;
dbms_output.put_line( total_rows || ' customers selected ');
END IF;
END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −
6 customers selected
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
Explicit Cursors
Explicit cursors are programmer-defined cursors for gaining more control over the context area.
An explicit cursor should be defined in the declaration section of the PL/SQL Block.
It is created on a SELECT Statement which returns more than one row.

The syntax for creating an explicit cursor is −

CURSOR cursor_name IS select_statement;

Working with an explicit cursor includes the following steps −

Declaring the cursor for initializing the memory
Opening the cursor for allocating the memory
Fetching the cursor for retrieving the data
Closing the cursor to release the allocated memory

Declaring the Cursor

Declaring the cursor defines the cursor with a name and the associated SELECT statement.
For example
−CURSOR c_customers IS SELECT id, name, address FROM customers;
Opening the Cursor
Opening the cursor allocates the memory for the cursor and makes it ready for fetching the rows
returned by the SQL statement into it.
For example, we will open the above defined cursor as follows
− OPEN c_customers;
Fetching the Cursor
Fetching the cursor involves accessing one row at a time. For example, we will fetch rows from
the above-opened cursor as follows
− FETCH c_customers INTO c_id, c_name, c_addr;
Closing the Cursor
Closing the cursor means releasing the allocated memory. For example, we will close the above-
opened cursor as follows
− CLOSE c_customers;

Example
Following is a complete example to illustrate the concepts of explicit cursors &minua;

DECLARE
c_id customers.id%type;
c_name customerS.No.ame%type;
c_addr customers.address%type;
CURSOR c_customers is
SELECT id, name, address FROM customers;
BEGIN
OPEN c_customers;
LOOP
FETCH c_customers into c_id, c_name, c_addr;
EXIT WHEN c_customers%notfound;
dbms_output.put_line(c_id || ' ' || c_name || ' ' || c_addr);
END LOOP;
CLOSE c_customers;
END;

When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −
1 Ramesh Ahmedabad
2 Khilan Delhi
3 kaushik Kota
4 Chaitali Mumbai
5 Hardik Bhopal
6 Komal MP
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

5.5 – Iterative Control Statement

A loop statement allows us to execute a statement or group of statements multiple times and
following is the general form of a loop statement in most of the programming languages

BEGIN
FOR i IN 1 .. 10 LOOP
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Iteration # ' || i);
END LOOP;
END;

Iteration # 1
Iteration # 2
Iteration # 3
Iteration # 4
Iteration # 5
Iteration # 6
Iteration # 7
Iteration # 8
Iteration # 9
Iteration # 10
A WHILE LOOP statement in PL/SQL programming language repeatedly executes a target
statement as long as a given condition is true.

Syntax
WHILE condition LOOP
sequence_of_statements
END LOOP;

Example
DECLARE
a number(2) := 10;
BEGIN
WHILE a < 20 LOOP
dbms_output.put_line('value of a: ' || a);
a := a + 1;
END LOOP;
END;
/
When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −

value of a: 10
value of a: 11
value of a: 12
value of a: 13
value of a: 14
value of a: 15
value of a: 16
value of a: 17
value of a: 18
value of a: 19

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

5.6 PL/SQL Exception Handling

This section starts with the keyword EXCEPTION. This optional section contains exception(s)
that handle errors in the program.

DECLARE
 <declarations section>
BEGIN
<executable command(s)>
EXCEPTION
<exception handling>
END;

The 'Hello World' Example

DECLARE
message varchar2(20):= 'Hello, World!';
BEGIN
dbms_output.put_line(message);
END;

5.7 PL/SQL-Triggers

Triggers are stored programs, which are automatically executed or fired when some events occur.
Triggers are, in fact, written to be executed in response to any of the following events −
A database manipulation (DML) statement (DELETE, INSERT, or UPDATE)
A database definition (DDL) statement (CREATE, ALTER, or DROP).
A database operation (SERVERERROR, LOGON, LOGOFF, STARTUP, or SHUTDOWN).

Triggers can be defined on the table, view, schema, or database with which the event is associated.

Benefits of Triggers
Triggers can be written for the following purposes −
Generating some derived column values automatically
Enforcing referential integrity
Event logging and storing information on table access
Auditing
Synchronous replication of tables
Imposing security authorizations
Preventing invalid transactions

Creating Triggers
The syntax for creating a trigger is
− CREATE [OR REPLACE ] TRIGGER trigger_name
{BEFORE | AFTER | INSTEAD OF }
{INSERT [OR] | UPDATE [OR] | DELETE}
[OF col_name]
ON table_name
[REFERENCING OLD AS o NEW AS n]
[FOR EACH ROW]
WHEN (condition)

DECLARE
Declaration-statements
BEGIN
Executable-statements
EXCEPTION
Exception-handling-statements
END;

Where,
CREATE [OR REPLACE] TRIGGER trigger_name − Creates or replaces an existing trigger
with the trigger_name.
{BEFORE | AFTER | INSTEAD OF} − This specifies when the trigger will be executed. The
INSTEAD OF clause is used for creating trigger on a view.
{INSERT [OR] | UPDATE [OR] | DELETE} − This specifies the DML operation.
[OF col_name] − This specifies the column name that will be updated.
[ON table_name] − This specifies the name of the table associated with the trigger.
[REFERENCING OLD AS o NEW AS n] − This allows you to refer new and old values for
various DML statements, such as INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE.
[FOR EACH ROW] − This specifies a row-level trigger, i.e., the trigger will be executed for
each row being affected. Otherwise the trigger will execute just once when the SQL statement is
executed, which is called a table level trigger.
WHEN (condition) − This provides a condition for rows for which the trigger would fire. This
clause is valid only for row-level triggers.

Example
The following program creates a row-level trigger for the customers table that would fire for
INSERT orUPDATE or DELETE operations performed on the CUSTOMERS table.
This trigger will display the salary difference between the old values and new values

– CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER display_salary_changes

BEFORE DELETE OR INSERT OR UPDATE ON customers
FOR EACH ROW
WHEN (NEW.ID > 0)
DECLARE
 sal_diff number;
BEGIN
sal_diff := :NEW.salary - :OLD.salary;
dbms_output.put_line('Old salary: ' || :OLD.salary);
dbms_output.put_line('New salary: ' || :NEW.salary);
dbms_output.put_line('Salary difference: ' || sal_diff);
END;
/
When the above code is executed at the SQL prompt, it produces the following result −
Trigger created.

5.8 PL/SQL- Procedures

A subprogram is a program unit/module that performs a particular task. These subprograms are
combined to form larger programs.
This is basically called the 'Modular design'. A subprogram can be invoked by another
subprogram or program which is called the calling program.

A subprogram can be created –

At the schema level
Inside a package
Inside a PL/SQL block

At the schema level, subprogram is a standalone subprogram. It is created with the

CREATEPROCEDURE or the CREATE FUNCTION statement. It is stored in the database and
can be deleted with the DROP PROCEDURE or DROP FUNCTION statement.
A subprogram created inside a package is a packaged subprogram. It is stored in the database and
can be deleted only when the package is deleted with the DROP PACKAGE statement.

PL/SQL subprograms are named PL/SQL blocks that can be invoked with a set of parameters.

PL/SQLprovides two kinds of subprograms −

Functions − These subprograms return a single value; mainly used to compute and return a
value.
Procedures − These subprograms do not return a value directly; mainly used to perform an
action.
Parts of a PL/SQLSubprogram
Declarative Part
It is an optional part. However, the declarative part for a subprogram does not start with the
DECLARE keyword. It contains declarations of types, cursors, constants, variables, exceptions,
and nested subprograms. These items are local to the subprogram and cease to exist when the
subprogram completes execution.
Executable Part
This is a mandatory part and contains statements that perform the designated action.
Exception-handling
This is again an optional part. It contains the code that handles run-time errors.
Creating a Procedure
A procedure is created with the CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDUREstatement. The simplified
syntax for the CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE statement is as follows

− CREATE [OR REPLACE] PROCEDURE procedure_name

[(parameter_name [IN | OUT | IN OUT] type [, ...])]
{IS | AS}
BEGIN
< procedure_body >
END procedure_name;

Where,
procedure-name specifies the name of the procedure.
[OR REPLACE] option allows the modification of an existing procedure.
The optional parameter list contains name, mode and types of the parameters. IN represents the
value that will be passed from outside and OUT represents the parameter that will be used to
return a value outside of the procedure.
procedure-body contains the executable part.
The AS keyword is used instead of the IS keyword for creating a standalone procedure.
Example
The following example creates a simple procedure that displays the string 'Hello World!' on the
screen when executed.

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE greetings

AS
BEGIN
dbms_output.put_line('Hello World!');
END;
/
When the above code is executed using the SQL prompt, it will produce the following result −
Procedure created.

Executing a Standalone Procedure

A standalone procedure can be called in two ways −

Using the EXECUTE keyword
Calling the name of the procedure from a PL/SQL block
The above procedure named 'greetings' can be called with the EXECUTE keyword as
EXECUTE greetings;
The above call will display − Hello World
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
The procedure can also be called from another PL/SQL block
− BEGIN
greetings;
END;
/
The above call will display − Hello World
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Deleting a Standalone Procedure

A standalone procedure is deleted with the DROP PROCEDURE statement. Syntax for deleting a
procedure is
− DROP PROCEDURE procedure-name;
You can drop the greetings procedure by using the following statement
− DROP PROCEDURE greetings;

Methods for Passing Parameters

Actual parameters can be passed in three ways −
Positional notationfindMin(a, b, c, d);
Named notation
findMin(x => a, y => b, z => c, m => d);
Mixed notation
findMin(a, b, c, m => d);