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MySQL Insert from Query

with 4 comments

While working with an error that my students surfaced in the Oracle Database 12c, I blogged about the limit of using a subquery in an Oracle INSERT statement, and I discovered something when retesting it in MySQL. It was a different limitation. I was also surprised when I didn’t find any mention of it through a Google search, but then I may just not have the right keywords.

The original test case uses a subquery to create a multiple row result set for an INSERT statement. Unfortunately, I discovered that you can’t always embed a UNION or UNION ALL inside a subquery. At least, you can’t when you call the subquery inside an INSERT statement. For example, let’s create a DESTINATION table and then we’ll try to insert records with a query that fabricates a result set.

-- Drop the destination table.
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS destination;
 
-- Create the destination table.
CREATE TABLE destination
( destination_id    int unsigned
, destination_name  varchar(30));

Now let’s try the subquery:

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INSERT INTO destination
( SELECT 1,'Sample1'
  UNION ALL
  SELECT 2,'Sample2' );

It raises the following error message:

ERROR 1064 (42000): You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'UNION ALL
  SELECT 2,'Sample2' )' at line 3

I wasn’t sure if I missed something. It turned out that I did. While you can put a subquery inside an INSERT statement, you can’t embed it inside a set of parentheses when it contains a UNION ALL set operator. Other statements work with or without parentheses.

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INSERT INTO destination
  SELECT 1,'Sample1'
  UNION ALL
  SELECT 2,'Sample2';

If somebody has any more to add, I look forward to reading it.

Written by maclochlainn

June 15th, 2014 at 12:19 am

Posted in MySQL,sql

Tagged with

SQL Insert from Query

with 5 comments

Sometimes my students find new errors that I’ve never seen. One student did that this week by including an ORDER BY clause in a subquery that feeds an INSERT statement. It raises an ORA-00907 exception, like:

ORA-00907: missing right parenthesis

You can’t include a subquery with an ORDER BY clause because it generates an error. The reason is simple. A subquery can’t perform a sort operation inside a subquery. Here’s a quick demonstration:

DROP TABLE destination;
CREATE TABLE destination
( destination_id    NUMBER
, destination_name  VARCHAR2(20));
 
INSERT INTO destination
(
  SELECT   1,'Sample1' FROM dual
  UNION ALL
  SELECT   2,'Sample2' FROM dual
  ORDER BY 1 DESC
);

If you remove the ORDER BY clause, the statement works without a problem. For example, here’s the working version:

INSERT INTO destination
(
  SELECT   1,'Sample1' FROM dual
  UNION ALL
  SELECT   2,'Sample2' FROM dual
);

Alternatively, you can include an ORDER BY clause when you remove the parentheses from around the subquery. This is an example:

INSERT INTO destination
  SELECT   1,'Sample1' FROM dual
  UNION ALL
  SELECT   2,'Sample2' FROM dual
  ORDER BY 1 DESC;

I hope this helps anybody who runs into the problem.

Written by maclochlainn

June 14th, 2014 at 10:40 pm

Parsing DBMS_OUTPUT

without comments

Testing with DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE is always a bit of a problem when you have strings longer than 80 characters in length, which occurs more frequently with Oracle Database 12c. An example of managing output occurs when you want to print a string with embedded line breaks. My solution is the following parse_rows procedure:

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CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE parse_rows
( pv_text  VARCHAR2 ) IS
 
  /* Declare parsing indexes. */
  lv_start     NUMBER := 1;
  lv_end       NUMBER := 1;
  lv_length    NUMBER;
 
BEGIN
 
  /* Assign an end value based on parsing line return or length. */
  IF INSTR(pv_text,CHR(10),lv_start) = 0 THEN
    lv_end := LENGTH(pv_text) + 1;
  ELSE
    lv_end := INSTR(pv_text,CHR(10),lv_start);
  END IF;
 
  /* Assign a length value to the parsed string. */
  lv_length := lv_end - lv_start;
 
  /* Print first line. */
  DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(SUBSTR(pv_text,lv_start,lv_length));
 
  /* Print the rows of a multiple line string. */
  WHILE (lv_end < LENGTH(pv_text)) LOOP
 
    /* Assign a new start value. */
    lv_start := lv_end + 1;
 
    /* Assign a new end value. */
    IF INSTR(pv_text,CHR(10),lv_start + 1) = 0 THEN
      lv_end := LENGTH(pv_text) + 1;
    ELSE
      lv_end := INSTR(pv_text,CHR(10),lv_start + 1);
    END IF;
 
    /* Assign a new length. */
    lv_length := lv_end - lv_start;
 
    /* Print the individual rows. */
    DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(SUBSTR(pv_text,lv_start,lv_length));
 
  END LOOP;
END;
/

Here’s the example of a test program for the procedure:

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DECLARE
  /* Declare text. */
  lv_text  VARCHAR2(200) := 'This is too much'||CHR(10)||'information'||CHR(10)||'on one line.';
BEGIN
  parse_rows(lv_text);
END;
/

It prints the following:

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This is too much
information
on one line.

Hope this benefits those looking for quick solution.

Written by maclochlainn

May 21st, 2014 at 12:35 am

Oracle 12c VARCHAR2?

without comments

The Oracle Database 12c documentation says you can set the maximum size of a VARCHAR2 to 32,767 bytes. That’s true except when you’re trying to map a large Java string to a VARCHAR2. It fails when the physical size of the Java string is greater than 4,000 bytes with an ORA-01002 or fetch out of sequence error.

SELECT read_text_file('C:\Data\loader\Hobbit1.txt')
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-24345: A Truncation or null fetch error occurred
 
ERROR:
ORA-01002: fetch out of sequence

You need to grant privileges before you can test this code. You can grant privileges by connecting as the SYS user of a CDB (or non-multitenant database) or as the ADMIN user of a PDB with the AS SYSDBA clause. Then, you run the following command to grant external file access to the JVM inside Oracle Database 12c:

BEGIN
  DBMS_JAVA.GRANT_PERMISSION('IMPORTER'
                            ,'SYS:java.io.FilePermission'
                            ,'C:\Data\Loader\Hobbit1.txt'
                            ,'read');
END;
/

The IMPORTER is a PDB user name, or a non-multitenant database user name. Please note that permissions must be granted on each physical file.

Here’s the code that raises the error when the external file is greater than 4,000 bytes:

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CREATE OR REPLACE AND COMPILE JAVA SOURCE NAMED "ReadFile" AS
  // Java library imports.
  import java.io.File;
  import java.io.BufferedReader;
  import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
  import java.io.IOException;
  import java.io.FileReader;
  import java.security.AccessControlException;
 
  // Class definition.  
  public class ReadFile {
    // Define class variables.
    private static File file;
    private static FileReader inTextFile;
    private static BufferedReader inTextReader;
    private static StringBuffer output = new StringBuffer();
    private static String outLine, outText;
 
    // Define readText() method.
    public static String readText(String fromFile)
      throws AccessControlException, IOException {
      // Read file.
      try {
        // Initialize File.
        file = new File(fromFile);
 
        // Check for valid file.
        if (file.exists()) {
 
          // Assign file to a stream.          
          inTextFile = new FileReader(file);
          inTextReader = new BufferedReader(inTextFile);
 
          // Read character-by-character.
          while ((outLine = inTextReader.readLine()) != null) {
            output.append(outLine + "\n"); }
 
          // Assing the StringBuffer to a String.
          outText = output.toString();
 
          // Close File.
          inTextFile.close(); }
        else {
          outText = new String("Empty"); }}
      catch (IOException e) {
        outText = new String("");
        return outText; }
    return outText; }}
/

The PL/SQL wrapper should look like this:

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CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION read_text_file
(from_file VARCHAR2) RETURN VARCHAR2 IS
LANGUAGE JAVA
NAME 'ReadFile.readText(java.lang.String) return java.lang.String';
/

Then, you can query it like so:

SELECT read_text_file('C:\Data\loader\Hobbit1.txt')
FROM dual;

You can avoid the error by returning the Java file size as a CLOB data type with the following Java source code.

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CREATE OR REPLACE AND COMPILE JAVA SOURCE NAMED "ReadFile" AS
  // Java library imports.
  import java.io.File;
  import java.io.BufferedReader;
  import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
  import java.io.IOException;
  import java.io.FileReader;
  import java.security.AccessControlException;
  import java.sql.*;
  import oracle.sql.driver.*;
  import oracle.sql.*;
 
  // Class definition.  
  public class ReadFile {
    // Define class variables.
    private static int i;
    private static File file;
    private static FileReader inTextFile;
    private static BufferedReader inTextReader;
    private static StringBuffer output = new StringBuffer();
    private static String outLine, outText;
    private static CLOB outCLOB;
 
    // Define readText() method.
    public static oracle.sql.CLOB readText(String fromFile)
      throws AccessControlException, IOException, SQLException  {
      // Read file.
      try {
        // Initialize File.
        file = new File(fromFile);
 
        // Check for valid file.
        if (file.exists()) {
 
          // Assign file to a stream.          
          inTextFile = new FileReader(file);
          inTextReader = new BufferedReader(inTextFile);
 
          // Read character-by-character.
          while ((outLine = inTextReader.readLine()) != null) {
            output.append(outLine + "\n"); }
 
          // Assing the StringBuffer to a String.
          outText = output.toString();
 
          // Declare an Oracle connection.
          Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:default:connection:");
 
          // Transfer the String to CLOB.
          outCLOB = CLOB.createTemporary((oracle.jdbc.OracleConnectionWrapper) conn, true, CLOB.DURATION_SESSION);
          i = outCLOB.setString(1,outText);
 
          // Close File.
          inTextFile.close(); }
        else {
          i = outCLOB.setString(1,"Empty"); }}
      catch (IOException e) {
        i = outCLOB.setString(1,"");
        return outCLOB; }
    return outCLOB; }}
/

The wrapper changes to return a CLOB and map a java.sql.CLOB as the return type of the Java library. This command works:

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CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION read_clob_file
(from_file VARCHAR2) RETURN CLOB IS
LANGUAGE JAVA
NAME 'ReadFile.readText(java.lang.String) return oracle.sql.CLOB';
/

You now query the PL/SQL wrapper with this type of effective SQL*Plus command-line command:

COLUMN atext FORMAT A60 HEADING "Text"
COLUMN asize FORMAT 99,999 HEADING "Size"
 
SELECT   read_clob_file('C:\Data\loader\Hobbit1.txt') AS AText
,        LENGTH(read_clob_file('C:\Data\loader\Hobbit1.txt')) AS ASize
FROM dual;

As always, I hope this helps somebody.

Written by maclochlainn

May 7th, 2014 at 3:03 am

Best UTL_FILE Practice

with 4 comments

In a post a couple days ago, I promised to provide a best practice approach to reading external files with the UTL_FILE package. My first assumption is that you’re reading unstructured data because structured data is best read by external tables because external tables can read data much faster with the PARALLEL option.

My second assumption is that you’re you don’t know how to use or choose not to use the DBMS_LOB package; specifically, the loadclobfromfile and loadblobfromfile procedures. By the way, Chapter 10 of the Oracle Database 12c PL/SQL Programming has several complete examples using the DBMS_LOB package. My third assumption is that you’d like the external file packaged as a whole, which means you want it returned as a CLOB or BLOB data type.

Here’s a generic function that achieves that and avoids the nonsense with closing the file in the exception handler, or worse yet, wrapping it in another PL/SQL schema-level function:

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CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION read_file_to_clob
( pv_location   VARCHAR2
, pv_file_name  VARCHAR2 ) RETURN CLOB IS 
 
  /* Declare local input variables. */
  lv_location      VARCHAR2(60);
  lv_file_name     VARCHAR2(40);
 
  /* Declare a file reference pointer and buffer. */
  lv_file    UTL_FILE.FILE_TYPE;  -- File reference
  lv_line    VARCHAR2(32767);     -- Reading buffer
 
  /* Declare local sizing variables. */
  lv_file_size  NUMBER;
  lv_line_size  NUMBER;
  lv_read_size  NUMBER :=0;
 
    /* Declare local file attribute data. */
  lv_file_exists  BOOLEAN := FALSE;
  lv_block_size   BINARY_INTEGER;
 
  /* Declare a control variable and return CLOB variable. */
  lv_enable  BOOLEAN := FALSE;
  lv_return  CLOB;
BEGIN
  /* Declare local input variables. */
  lv_location  := pv_location;
  lv_file_name := pv_file_name;
 
  /* Check for open file and close when open. */
  IF UTL_FILE.is_open(lv_file) THEN
    UTL_FILE.fclose(lv_file);
  END IF;
 
  /* Read the file attributes to get the physical size. */
  UTL_FILE.fgetattr( location    => lv_location
                   , filename    => lv_file_name
                   , fexists     => lv_file_exists
                   , file_length => lv_file_size
                   , block_size  => lv_block_size ); 
 
  /* Open only files that exist. */
  IF lv_file_exists THEN
 
    /* Create a temporary CLOB in memory. */
    DBMS_LOB.createtemporary(lv_return, FALSE, DBMS_LOB.CALL);
 
    /* Open the file for read-only of 32,767 byte lines. */
    lv_file := UTL_FILE.fopen( location     => lv_location
                             , filename     => lv_file_name
                             , open_mode    => 'R'
                             , max_linesize => 32767);
 
 
    /* Read all lines of a text file. */
    WHILE (lv_read_size < lv_file_size) LOOP
      /* Read a line of text until the eof marker. */
      UTL_FILE.get_line( file   => lv_file
                       , buffer => lv_line );
 
      /* Add the line terminator or 2 bytes to its length. */
      lv_line := NVL(lv_line,'')||CHR(10);
      lv_read_size := lv_read_size
                    + LENGTH(NVL(lv_line,CHR(10))) + 2;
 
      /* Write to an empty CLOB or append to an existing CLOB. */
      IF NOT lv_enable THEN
        /* Write to the temporary CLOB variable. */
        DBMS_LOB.WRITE( lv_return, LENGTH(lv_line), 1, lv_line);
 
        /* Set the control variable. */
        lv_enable := TRUE;
      ELSE
        /* Append to the temporary CLOB variable. */
        DBMS_LOB.writeappend( lv_return, LENGTH(lv_line),lv_line);
      END IF;
    END LOOP;
 
    /* Close the file. */
    UTL_FILE.fclose(lv_file);
  END IF;
 
  /* This line is never reached. */
  RETURN lv_return;
EXCEPTION
  WHEN OTHERS THEN
    UTL_FILE.fclose(lv_file);
    RAISE NO_DATA_FOUND;
END;
/

You can test the function with the following:

SET LONG 100000
SET PAGESIZE 999
 
SELECT read_file_to_clob('SomeVirtualDirectory','TextFile.txt') AS "Output"
FROM   dual;

If anybody has suggestions for improvements, please pass them along. As always, I hope this helps other developers.

Written by maclochlainn

April 16th, 2014 at 3:07 am

Using UTL_FILE Package

with 5 comments

Sometimes I’m surprised. Today, the surprise came when somebody pointed to a potential error in another author’s book. The person who asked the question had to send me a screen shot before I believed it.

The author’s code encounters the following error because the code was designed to loop through a multiple line file, and the code called the UTL_FILE.FOPEN procedure with three instead of four parameters. While it works with only three parameters when the strings are less than or equal to 1,024 (thanks Gary), it throws read errors when a string exceeds the default. You use the fourth parameter when your string exceeds the default length of 1,024.

DECLARE
*
ERROR AT line 1:
ORA-29284: FILE read error
ORA-06512: AT "SYS.UTL_FILE", line 106
ORA-06512: AT "SYS.UTL_FILE", line 746
ORA-06512: AT line 26

As mentioned, you fix the problem by using the fourth parameter like the call on lines 15 through 18 below:

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DECLARE
  /* Declare local input variables. */
  lv_location      VARCHAR2(60) := 'C:\Data\Direct';
  lv_file_name     VARCHAR2(40) := 'TextFile.txt';
 
  /* Declare a file reference pointer and buffer. */
  lv_file     UTL_FILE.FILE_TYPE;  -- File reference
  lv_line     VARCHAR2(32767);     -- Reading buffer
 
BEGIN
 
  /* Check for open file and close when open. */
  IF UTL_FILE.is_open(lv_file) THEN
    UTL_FILE.fclose(lv_file);
  END IF;
 
  /* Open the file for read-only of 32,767 lines of text.
     The fourth parameter is required when you want to use
     the GET_LINE procedure to read a file line-by-line. */
  lv_file := UTL_FILE.fopen( location     => lv_location
                           , filename     => lv_file_name
                           , open_mode    => 'R'
                           , max_linesize => 32767);
 
  /* Read all lines of a text file. */
  LOOP
    /* Read a line of text, when the eof marker is found 
       the get_line procedure raises a NO_DATA_FOUND 
       error, which is why there's no explicit loop. */
    UTL_FILE.get_line( file   => lv_file
                     , buffer => lv_line );
 
    /* Print the line of text or a line return because
       UTL_FILE doesn't read line returns. */
    DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(NVL(lv_line,CHR(10)));
 
  END LOOP;
 
EXCEPTION
  WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND THEN
    UTL_FILE.fclose(lv_file);
END;
/

While the foregoing is traditional and uses a physical directory path from the local server’s operating system, you can use a virtual directory from Oracle Database 10g forward. This physical directory is also defined in the utl_file_dir parameter of the database server. A virtual directory hides the physical directory from the application software, which simplifies physical file maintenance when you need to move the files.

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  lv_location      VARCHAR2(60) := 'DirectVirtualDirectory';

The preceding example works, and I’ll put one out converting the external to CLOB later in the week.

Written by maclochlainn

April 13th, 2014 at 11:46 pm

DBMS_JAVA Privilege Error?

without comments

It’s possible to get an error after granting privileges to an external file system. One of those errors is tedious to resolve until you understand the rules governing Java NIO file permissions.

You grant privileges to external file systems as the sys user with the grant_permission procedure of the dbms_java package, like

SQL> BEGIN
  2    DBMS_JAVA.GRANT_PERMISSION('IMPORTER'
  3                               ,'SYS:java.io.FilePermission'
  4                               ,'C:\Data\Upload'
  5                               ,'read');
  6  END;
  7  /

After you grant privileges to read, write, and delete files with Oracle’s dbms_java package, you must disconnect any active session to enjoy the new privileges. If you forget to disconnect and re-connect an active session, you get the following error message:

FROM     TABLE(list_files(get_directory_path('STAGE')))
               *
ERROR AT line 2:
ORA-29532: JAVA CALL terminated BY uncaught JAVA EXCEPTION:
JAVA.security.AccessControlException: DIRECTORY permissions restricted.

The problem and fix are simple. The permissions aren’t in effect until after you disconnect and reconnect your active sessions. I put this there because when I Google’d it, there wasn’t an answer already.

While I’m on the topic of privilege errors, that aren’t really errors, I thought it would be helpful to qualify how the delete permission works because I couldn’t find it anywhere in the Oracle documentation (if somebody finds it let make a comment that enriches the discussion). Unlike the read and write permissions, the delete permission requires permissions on specific files.

If you only grant permission on like:

SQL> BEGIN
  2    DBMS_JAVA.GRANT_PERMISSION('IMPORTER'
  3                               ,'SYS:java.io.FilePermission'
  4                               ,'C:\Data\Upload'
  5                               ,'read,write,delete');
  6  END;
  7  /

You would get this message when trying to delete an external file:

BEGIN
*
ERROR AT line 1:
ORA-29532: JAVA CALL terminated BY uncaught JAVA EXCEPTION:
JAVA.security.AccessControlException: the Permission (JAVA.io.FilePermission
c:\data\LOG\item_import.LOG read) has NOT been granted TO IMPORTER. The PL/SQL
TO GRANT this IS dbms_java.grant_permission( 'IMPORTER',
'SYS:java.io.FilePermission', 'c:\data\log\item_import.log', 'read' )
ORA-06512: AT "IMPORTER.DELETE_FILE", line 1
ORA-06512: AT line 2

It requires that you grant permissions on individual files to have the privilege of deleting them from within Oracle. That grant would look like the following:

SQL> BEGIN
  2    DBMS_JAVA.GRANT_PERMISSION('IMPORTER'
  3                               ,'SYS:java.io.FilePermission'
  4                               ,'C:\Data\Upload\item_import.log'
  5                               ,'read,write,delete');
  6  END;
  7  /

As always, I hope this helps other developers.

Written by maclochlainn

March 29th, 2014 at 1:59 pm

Find Type Dependents

without comments

Somebody thought it was nice to show how to drop object type dependents in Oracle Database 11g, but they thought I should show how you discover dependent object types first. More or less, they were concerned how they discover type dependents when they raise the following error:

DROP TYPE item_object
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-02303: cannot DROP OR REPLACE a TYPE WITH TYPE OR TABLE dependents

They had a great point, so here I’m providing and object table function (object table functions are covered in Chapter 8 of Oracle Database 12c PL/SQL Programming book) that displays an object dependency tree.

Unlike table functions in Microsoft SQL Server or PostgreSQL, Oracle requires that you create the object type before you can return a result set table from a parameter-driven function. Here’s the object type for this object table function:

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-- Create an object type that mimics a record structure.  
CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE type_tree IS object
( level_id     NUMBER
, type_name    VARCHAR2(30)
, object       VARCHAR2(10)
, parent_type  VARCHAR2(30)); 
/
 
-- Create a UDT Collection.
CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE type_tree_table IS TABLE OF type_tree;
/

Now, you can create the object table function that returns an object type dependent tree. This function uses branching recursion because you need to walk the dependency tree. The cursor against the three types of metadata in the database catalog lets us walk the tree. Each object type, and their dependents may have:

  • A dependent object type
  • A dependent collection, which uses the object type as a base object type.
  • A dependent schema function, which uses the object type as a parameter data type or return data type.
  • A dependent schema procedure, which uses the object type as a parameter data type.
  • A dependent package, which contains a function or procedure using the object type as a parameter data type, or a function using the object type as a return data type.

Here’s the type_dependent function that walks the tree and displays the hierarchical results:

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CREATE OR REPLACE
  FUNCTION type_dependents
  ( pv_base_object_type  VARCHAR2
  , pv_level_id          NUMBER DEFAULT 1
  , pv_collection        TYPE_TREE_TABLE DEFAULT NULL ) RETURN TYPE_TREE_TABLE IS
 
  /* Declare a return data type. */
  lv_level_id     NUMBER;
 
  /* Declare item type. */
  lv_type_name    VARCHAR2(30);
  lv_object_type  VARCHAR2(30);
  lv_parent_type  VARCHAR2(30);
 
  /* Declare a collection variable. */
  lv_collection   TYPE_TREE_TABLE := type_tree_table();
  lv_incoming     TYPE_TREE_TABLE := type_tree_table();
 
  /* The first part of the cursor finds the dependent type names of complex object 
     types, and the second part of the cursor finds the dependent collection types.
     Effectively the set operator finds two distinct branches because you may use
     any base type as an element of a complex object or of a collection. */
  CURSOR base_type 
  ( cv_level_id   NUMBER
  , cv_base_type  VARCHAR2 ) IS
    SELECT  (cv_level_id) AS level_id
    ,        LPAD(' ', 2*(cv_level_id - 1)) || ut.type_name AS type_name
    ,        ut.typecode AS object_type
    ,        NULL AS parent_type
    FROM     user_types ut
    WHERE    ut.type_name = cv_base_type;
 
  CURSOR dependent_type 
  ( cv_level_id   NUMBER
  , cv_base_type  VARCHAR2 ) IS
    SELECT   cv_level_id AS level_id
    ,        LPAD(' ', 2*(cv_level_id - 1)) || uta.type_name AS type_name
    ,        ut.typecode AS object_type
    ,        ut.type_name AS parent_type
    FROM     user_type_attrs uta INNER JOIN user_types ut
    ON       uta.attr_type_name = ut.type_name
    WHERE    ut.type_name = cv_base_type
    UNION ALL
    SELECT   cv_level_id AS level_id
    ,        LPAD(' ', 2*(cv_level_id - 1)) || uct.type_name AS type_name
    ,        CASE
               WHEN uct.coll_type = 'TABLE' THEN
                 uct.coll_type
               ELSE
                'VARRAY'
             END AS object_type
    ,        ut.type_name AS parent_type
    FROM     user_types ut INNER JOIN user_coll_types uct
    ON       ut.type_name = uct.elem_type_name
    WHERE    uct.elem_type_name = cv_base_type
    UNION ALL
    SELECT   cv_level_id AS level_id
    ,        CASE
               WHEN package_name IS NULL THEN
                 LPAD(' ', 2*(cv_level_id - 1)) || ua.object_name
               ELSE
                 LPAD(' ', 2*(cv_level_id - 1)) || ua.package_name
             END AS type_name
    ,        CASE
               WHEN package_name IS NULL THEN
                 uo.object_type
               ELSE
                'PACKAGE'
             END AS object_type
    ,        ua.type_name AS parent_type
    FROM     user_arguments ua LEFT JOIN user_objects uo
    ON       ua.package_name = uo.object_name
    OR       ua.object_name = uo.object_name
    WHERE    type_name = cv_base_type
    ORDER BY object_type;
 
BEGIN
 
  /* Set the call level indicator. */
  lv_level_id := pv_level_id;
 
  /* Check if the collection holds values, which should occur in recursive calls.  */
  IF pv_collection IS NOT NULL THEN
    lv_collection := pv_collection;
  ELSE
    /* Open the base type and record level 1. */
    OPEN  base_type (lv_level_id, pv_base_object_type);
    FETCH base_type
    INTO  lv_level_id
    ,     lv_type_name
    ,     lv_object_type
    ,     lv_parent_type;
    CLOSE base_type;
 
    /* Extend the collection. */
    lv_collection.EXTEND;
    lv_collection(lv_collection.COUNT) := type_tree( lv_level_id
                                                   , lv_type_name
                                                   , lv_object_type
                                                   , lv_parent_type );
 
    /* Increment the type dependency level. */
    lv_level_id := lv_level_id + 1;
 
  END IF;
 
  /* Loop through and return records. */
  FOR i IN dependent_type(lv_level_id, pv_base_object_type) LOOP
 
    /* Extend the collection. */
    lv_collection.EXTEND;
    lv_collection(lv_collection.COUNT) := type_tree( i.level_id
                                                   , i.type_name
                                                   , i.object_type
                                                   , i.parent_type );
 
    /* Recursively call down to dependent types. */
    IF i.type_name <> i.parent_type THEN
      lv_collection := type_dependents(TRIM(i.type_name), (lv_level_id + 1), lv_collection);
    END IF;
 
  END LOOP;
 
  /* Return 0 for false. */
  RETURN lv_collection;
END;
/

You would query the function with the TABLE function, like this:

COLUMN level_id     FORMAT 99999 HEADING "Level|ID #"
COLUMN type_name    FORMAT A30   HEADING "Type Name"
COLUMN object       FORMAT A10   HEADING "Object Type"
COLUMN parent_type  FORMAT A30   HEADING "Parent Type"
 
SELECT   *
FROM     TABLE(type_dependents('ITEM_OBJECT',1));

It displays the following results based on the sample types created by the original blog post:

 Level
  ID # Type Name                      Object Typ Parent Type
------ ------------------------------ ---------- ------------------------
     1 ITEM_OBJECT                    OBJECT
     2   GET_ITEM_OBJECT              FUNCTION   ITEM_OBJECT
     2   IDENTIFIED_OBJECT            OBJECT     ITEM_OBJECT
     2   ITEM_PACKAGE                 PACKAGE    ITEM_OBJECT
     2   ITEM_TABLE                   TABLE      ITEM_OBJECT
     3     ITEM_ASYNC_TABLE           COLLECTION ITEM_TABLE
     4       ITEM_LIST                TABLE      ITEM_ASYNC_TABLE
     2   ITEM_VARRAY                  VARRAY     ITEM_OBJECT
     3     ITEM_ASYNC_VARRAY          COLLECTION ITEM_VARRAY
     4       ITEM_ARRAY               VARRAY     ITEM_ASYNC_VARRAY
 
10 rows selected.

I hope this helps those working with Oracle Database 10g (de-supported), 11g, or 12c. As a note, you don’t need to drop type dependents in Oracle 12c because it supports type evolution. I cover type evolution in Appendix B of Oracle Database 12c PL/SQL Programming. As always, I hope this helps those trying to determine type dependents in an Oracle database.

Written by maclochlainn

March 8th, 2014 at 10:33 am

Drop Types Recursively

with one comment

As covered in my new Oracle Database 12c PL/SQL Programming book (publisher’s satisfied), you can evolve object types. That means you can change a base object type and the change cascades through dependents. Somebody asked how to remove an object type chain without appending the FORCE clause.

It’s quite easy if you understand writing a recursive function in PL/SQL, as done here:

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-- Create a recursive function.
CREATE OR REPLACE
  FUNCTION drop_dependents
  (pv_base_object_type  VARCHAR2) RETURN NUMBER IS
 
  /* Declare a return data type. */
  lv_retval  NUMBER := 0;
 
  /* Declare item type. */
  lv_type_name    VARCHAR2(30);
  lv_object_name  VARCHAR2(30);
 
  /* The first part of the cursor finds the dependent type names of complex object 
     types, and the second part of the cursor finds the dependent collection types.
     Effectively the set operator finds two distinct branches because you may use
     any base type as an element of a complex object or of a collection. */
  CURSOR base_type 
  (cv_base_type  VARCHAR2) IS
    SELECT   uta.type_name
    ,        NULL AS object_name
    FROM     user_type_attrs uta INNER JOIN user_types ut
    ON       uta.attr_type_name = ut.type_name
    WHERE    ut.type_name = cv_base_type
    UNION ALL
    SELECT   uct.type_name
    ,        NULL AS object_name
    FROM     user_types ut INNER JOIN user_coll_types uct
    ON       ut.type_name = uct.elem_type_name
    WHERE    uct.elem_type_name = cv_base_type
    UNION ALL
    SELECT   CASE
               WHEN package_name IS NULL THEN
                 uo.object_type
               ELSE
                 'PACKAGE'
             END AS type_name
    ,        CASE
               WHEN package_name IS NULL THEN
                 ua.object_name
               ELSE
                 ua.package_name
             END AS object_name
    FROM     user_arguments ua LEFT JOIN user_objects uo
    ON       ua.package_name = uo.object_name
    OR       ua.object_name = uo.object_name
    WHERE    type_name = cv_base_type;
 
BEGIN
 
  /* Open a parameterized cursor. */  
  OPEN  base_type(pv_base_object_type);
 
  /* Loop through return records. */
  LOOP
    /* Fetch records. */
    FETCH base_type
    INTO  lv_type_name
    ,     lv_object_name;
 
    /* Drop type without dependents, or drop leaf node dependent. */
    IF base_type%NOTFOUND THEN
 
      /* Drop functions when they include an object type or object type
         dependent as a formal parameter type or return type. Drop
         procedures when they include an object type or object type
         dependent. Drop procedures when any function or procedure
         uses an object type or object type dependent. */
      IF lv_type_name IN ('FUNCTION','PACKAGE','PROCEDURE') THEN
 
        /* Drop the base type when no dependents are found. */
        EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'DROP '||lv_type_name||' '||lv_object_name;
 
      ELSE
 
        /* Drop the base type when no dependents are found. */
        EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'DROP TYPE '||pv_base_object_type;
 
      END IF;
 
      /* Set exit state to one or true. */
      lv_retval := 1;
 
      /* Exit the loop. */
      EXIT;
 
    ELSE
 
      /* A type must exclude function, package, and procedure; and the
         object name must be null before you recurse to another level. */
      IF lv_type_name NOT IN ('FUNCTION','PACKAGE','PROCEDURE') AND
         lv_object_name IS NOT NULL THEN
 
        /* Drop base type when no dependents are found. */
        lv_retval := drop_dependents(lv_type_name);
 
      END IF;
 
    END IF;
  END LOOP;
 
  /* Close open cursor. */
  CLOSE base_type;
 
  /* Return 0 for false. */
  RETURN lv_retval;
END;
/

Somebody asked me to provide a test case of a hierarchy of object types to support the drop_dependents function. So, here’s the test case code:

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-- Create object type.
CREATE OR REPLACE 
  TYPE item_object IS OBJECT
  ( item_name     VARCHAR2(30)
  , item_subname  VARCHAR2(30));
/
 
-- Create object type.
CREATE OR REPLACE 
  TYPE identified_object IS OBJECT
  ( identified_id      NUMBER
  , identified_object  item_object);
/
 
-- Create object collection.
CREATE OR REPLACE
  TYPE item_table IS TABLE OF item_object;
/
 
-- Create object collection.
CREATE OR REPLACE
  TYPE item_varray IS VARRAY(5) OF item_object;
/
 
-- Create object type.
CREATE OR REPLACE 
  TYPE item_async_table IS OBJECT
  ( item_name        VARCHAR2(30)
  , item_collection  item_table);
/
 
-- Create object type.
CREATE OR REPLACE 
  TYPE item_async_varray IS OBJECT
  ( item_name        VARCHAR2(30)
  , item_collection  item_varray);
/
 
-- Create object collection.
CREATE OR REPLACE
  TYPE item_list IS TABLE OF item_async_table;
/
 
-- Create object collection.
CREATE OR REPLACE
  TYPE item_array IS VARRAY(10) OF item_async_varray;
/
 
-- Create package specification.
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE item_package AS
 
  /* A published function of the package. */
  FUNCTION initialize_object
  ( id    NUMBER
  , name  NUMBER ) RETURN ITEM_OBJECT;
 
END item_package;
/
 
-- Create a schema function.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION get_item_object
  ( pv_id    NUMBER
  , pv_name  NUMBER ) RETURN ITEM_OBJECT IS
 
  /* Declare a local variable. */
  lv_item_object   ITEM_OBJECT;
 
BEGIN
 
  /* Initialize the object type. */
  lv_item_object := item_object(pv_id, pv_name);  
 
  /* Return the dat type. */
  RETURN lv_item_object;
END;
/

If you call the function with the base type, it’ll drop the most dependent object type first, and the base object type last. The rest are dropped in their order of dependency. You can call a drop_dependents function with a base type, like ITEM_OBJECT, by using the following syntax:

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SET SERVEROUTPUT ON SIZE UNLIMITED
BEGIN
  IF drop_dependents('ITEM_OBJECT') = 1 THEN
    dbms_output.put_line('Objects dropped.');
  END IF;
END;
/

Hope this helps those looking to drop a chain of object types in an Oracle database.

Written by maclochlainn

February 18th, 2014 at 3:39 am

Oracle 12c PL/SQL Published

with 4 comments

Oracle Database 12c PL./SQL ProgrammingAfter writing nine books, it’s always great when the author copies arrive. That’s when I know the process is complete. Friday, my twelve copies of the Oracle Database 12c PL/SQL Programming book arrived in two boxes of six each. The book is also available online at Amazon.com.

The book qualifies all the Oracle 12c new SQL and PL/SQL features. I added review sections and mastery questions to each chapter, and expanded examples and techniques. To conserve space and avoid reprinting duplicate code blocks, I adopted line numbers for the code segments so I could provide the technique variations by line numbers for alternate solutions.

You have complete examples on how to white list functions, procedures, packages, and object types with the new ACCESSIBLE BY clause. Likewise, you’ll learn how to use your PL/SQL variables inside embedded queries.

The improved collection coverage shows you how to write PL/SQL functions that let you use unnested UPDATE statements to add, change, and remove elements from Attribute Data Types (ADTs), and the expanded SQL Primer shows you how to update nested User-Defined Types (UDTs) without having to write PL/SQL. The book also shows you how to export object tables or columns into relational tables for ETL processes.

Oracle12cBooksArriveThe Oracle Database Primer grew to include more database administration, multiversion concurrency control, SQL tuning, and SQL tracing. The SQL Primer now contains expanded coverage on data types, Data Definition Language (DDL), Data Manipulation Language (DML), Transaction Control Language (TCL), SQL queries, joins, and unnesting queries. The SQL Built-in Functions appendix was expanded to enable me to remove side discussions about SQL elements from the PL/SQL chapters. John Harper wrote some wonderful examples of DBMS_COMPARISON, DBMS_CRYPTO, and DBMS_FGA to supplement the PL/SQL Built-in Packages and Types appendix. The Regular Expression Primer was rewritten to make it easier to read and use.

I’ve created an Errata for the Oracle Database 12c PL/SQL Programming. If you buy a copy and find an error, please post a comment in the errata.

Written by maclochlainn

February 1st, 2014 at 9:31 pm