Oracle is the most popular database management system in use today, and PL/SQL plays a pivotal role in current and projected Oracle products and applications. PL/SQL is a programming language providing procedural extensions to the SQL relational database language and to an ever-growing number of oracle development tools. originally a rather limited tool, PL/SQL became with Oracle7 a mature and effective language for developers. now, with the introduction of Oracle8, PL/SQL has taken the next step towards becoming a fully realized programming language providing sophisticated object-oriented capabilities. Steven Feuerstein'sOracle PL/SQL Programming is a comprehensive guide to building applications with PL/SQL. That book has become the bible for PL/SQL developers who have raved about its completeness, readability, and practicality.Built-in packages are collections of PL/SQL objects built by Oracle Corporation and stored directly in the Oracle database. The functionality of these packages is available from any programming environment that can call PL/SQL stored procedures, including Visual Basic, Oracle Developer/2000, Oracle Application Server (for web-based development), and, of course, the Oracle database itself. Built-in packages extend the capabilities and power of PL/SQL in many significant ways. for example:
DBMS_SQL executes dynamically constructed SQL statements and PL/SQL blocks of code.DBMS_PIPE communicates between different Oracle sessions through a pipe in the RDBMS shared memory.DBMS_JOB submits and manages regularly scheduled jobs for execution inside the database. DBMS_LOB accesses and manipulates Oracle8's large objects (LOBs) from within PL/SQL programs.
The first edition of
Oracle PL/SQL Programming contained a chapter on Oracle's built-in packages. but there is much more to say about the basic PL/SQL packages than Feuerstein could fit in his first book. In addition, now that Oracle8 has been released, there are many new Oracle8 built-in packages not described in the PL/SQL book. There are also packages extensions for specific oracle environments such as distributed database. hence this book.
Oracle Built-in Packages pulls together information about how to use the calling interface (API) to Oracle's Built-in Packages, and provides extensive examples on using the built-in packages effectively.The windows diskette included with the book contains the companion guide, an online tool developed by RevealNet, Inc., that provides point-and-click access to the many files of source code and online documentation developed by the authors.The table of contents follows: PrefacePart I: Overview
Part II: Application Development Packages
Executing Dynamic SQL and PL/SQL Intersession Communication User Lock and Transaction Management Oracle Advanced Queuing Generating Output from PL/SQL Programs Defining an Application Profile Managing Large Objects Datatype Packages Miscellaneous Packages
Part III: Server Management Packages
Managing Session Information Managing Server Resources Job Scheduling in the Database
Part IV: Distributed Database Packages
Snapshots Advanced Replication Conflict Resolution Deferred Transactions and Remote Procedure Calls
Appendix. What's on the companion disk?
Steven Feuerstein is considered one of the world's leading experts on the Oracle PL/SQL language. He is also the author of Oracle PL/SQL Programming (O'Reilly & Associates, Second Edition, 1997) and Advanced Oracle PL/SQL Programming with Packages (O'Reilly & Associates, 1996). Steven has been developing software since 1980 and worked for Oracle Corporation from 1987 to 1992. He is a partner with RevealNet, Inc. (www.revealnet.com) and is the chief architect of the RevealNet products, PL/SQL Knowledge Base and PL/Vision (a code library of prebuilt PL/SQL packages which accelerates PL/SQL-based application development). Steven also sysops RevealNet's "PL/SQL Pipeline," an online community for PL/SQL developers (www.revealnet.com/plsql-pipeline). He can be reached through email at feuerstein@revealnet.com. Steven is also president of PL/Solutions, which offers training and consulting on both PL/Vision and PL/SQL (www.plsolutions.com). Finally (on the Oracle side of Steven's life), he serves as codirector of the Oracle Practice at SSC, a systems management consulting firm based in Chicago (www.saraswati.com).
