However excellent they are, most computer books are inherently passive--readers simply take in text without having any opportunity to react to it. The Oracle PL/SQL Developer's Workbook is a different kind of animal! It's designed to engage you actively, to get you solving programming problems immediately, and to help you apply what you've learned about PL/SQL--and in the process deepen your knowledge of the language. By tackling the exercises in this workbook, you'll find yourself moving more rapidly along the learning curve to join the growing ranks of PL/SQL experts. The Oracle PL/SQL Developer's Workbook is a companion to Steven Feuerstein's bestselling Oracle PL/SQL Programming and his other PL/SQL books from O'Reilly. It contains a carefully constructed set of problems and solutions that will test your language skills and help you become a better developer--both with PL/SQL and with other languages. Exercises are provided at three levels: beginner, intermediate, and expert. The workbook exercises cover all the major features of PL/SQL, including those new to Oracle8i (e.g., Java and web features, autonomous transactions, and bulk binds).You'll find chapters on: Basic language elements--variables, naming, loops, conditional and sequential control, exception handling, and records. Data structures--index-by tables, nested tables, variables arrays (VARRAYs), and object technology. Database interaction--cursors, DML and transaction management, cursor variables, and native dynamic SQL Program construction--procedures, functions, blocks, packages, database triggers, and calling PL/SQL functions in SQL. Built-in functionality--the character, date, conversion, numeric, and miscellaneous functions, and the DBMS_SQL, DBMS_PIPE, DBMS_OUTPUT, UTL_FILE, and DBMS_JOB built-in packages. Miscellaneous topics--using Java with PL/SQL, external programs, PL/SQL web development, tuning PL/SQL, and PL/SQL for DBAs.

This compact guide provides the jump-start Oracle developers need to make the transition from traditional programming to the development of useful Web applications for Oracle8i. Even readers who start out knowing nothing about HTML, PL/SQL, or Oracle's other tools will learn how to create simple Web applications in a matter of days. The book focuses on Oracle8i, but also covers Web development for earlier Oracle versions (Oracle8 and Oracle7). Background: The explosion in the use of the Internet and the Web has resulted in a whole new way of doing business. Developers who only yesterday were using COBOL to write accounts payable systems are now being asked to create a broad range of new Internet-based applications ranging from electronic commerce (e-commerce) Web sites to internal data warehouses to enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Unfortunately, the filesystem architectures of most Web systems aren't up to the task. The new breed of Web applications -- which are quickly becoming critical resources that companies need to survive -- demand a platform that provides production-quality tools for content management, application development, and application integration. And current Web techniques are inadequate in many ways. Oracle8i, Oracle's "Internet database," gives Web developers a way to build Web technology on top of a relational database, rather than on a traditional filesystem. With Oracle8i, companies can apply well understood, reliable, production-quality database methodologies to Web content management. Oracle8i also supports a wide variety of application development platforms and tools that are tightly integrated to the core database. Finally, Oracle8i supports technologies that help companies tie their Web-based applications into legacy applications. There is a lot to learn in Oracle8i. Not only does it enhance basic database features, it introduces Java and a variety of Web development tools. Oracle8i provides a soup-to-nuts platform for Web site and Web application development that extends traditional database concepts to Web content. It replaces the traditional filesystem used by most Web servers with a database management system. Many users are intimidated by the vast array of new technologies in Oracle8i. And yet, they are under pressure to use these technologies to build complex Web applications right now. This book gives such users a way to start using Oracle8i immediately to create useful Web applications. It is a concise, easy-to-read guide to the basic technologies developers need to understand in order to build Web applications. Contains: The book describes the following Web development tools: PL/SQL-- a structured programming language that combines procedural constructs and standard SQL. It offers such features as cursors, loops, conditional and sequential control statements, exception handlers, records, tables, and constructs for developing modular code (functions, procedures, and packages). PL/SQL Toolkit -- a set of PL/SQL packages supplied by Oracle for use in developing Web applications. HTML -- an ASCII-based markup language used to create Web pages. WebDB -- A software system for building, monitoring, and creating content-driven Web sites; it allows users to use a Web browser to access and store information in the Oracle8i database. Oracle Application Server (OAS) -- an extensible Web server that uses plug-in programs called cartridges to allow database-integrated Web systems to be developed in a variety of languages (e.g., PL/SQL, Java, Perl). XML -- An emerging standard for creating self-describing documents. It is similar to HTML but allows you to create your own markup tags. XML is expected to be a key technology in electronic commerce systems. The book also presents several fully realized sample Web applications that will teach you how to build such applications of your own. NOTE: Although this book touches on the Java features of Oracle8i, it doesn't cover Java development per se. Switching to Java represents an enormous change for most Oracle developers. This book provides an evolutionary path for readers who want to do useful Oracle8i Web development now, using mostly familiar tools. Additional books will provide Java training for those who have mastered these Web tools and want to take the next step.

This pocket reference provides quick-reference information that will help you use Oracle's PL/SQL language. It is a companion to Steven Feuerstein and Bill Pribyl's bestselling book, Oracle PL/SQL Programming, and includes coverage of the latest version of Oracle, Oracle8i. 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 provides procedural extensions to the SQL relational database language and to an ever-growing number of Oracle development tools. It offers a myriad of data types, and such features as cursors, loops, conditional and sequential control statements, exception handlers, records, tables, and constructs for developing modular code (functions, procedures, and packages). 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. The book on which this pocket reference is based, Oracle PL/SQL Programming, filled a huge gap in the Oracle market, providing developers with a single, comprehensive guide to building applications with PL/SQL -- and building them the right way. That book has become the bible for PL/SQL developers who have raved about its completeness, readability, and practicality. The book is packed with strategies, code architectures, tips, techniques, and fully realized code. The second edition of the book updated the text with the new Oracle8 PL/SQL features, including object types, collections, external procedures, and large object data types and functions. The pocket reference boils down the most vital information from the large (nearly 1000 pages) book into an accessible quick reference that summarizes the basics of PL/SQL -- its block structure, fundamental language elements (e.g., identifiers, declarations, defaults), data structures (including Oracle8 objects), and statements for program control, loops, exception handling, and database access. It also covers the the basics of using Oracle's procedures, functions, and packages, and the latest features for Oracle8i.

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's Oracle 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. 1. Introduction 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 Managing Session Information Managing Server Resources Job Scheduling in the Database Snapshots Advanced Replication Conflict Resolution Deferred Transactions and Remote Procedure Calls 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: Preface Part I: Overview Part II: Application Development Packages Part III: Server Management Packages Part IV: Distributed Database Packages Appendix. What's on the companion disk?

Steven Feuerstein's first book, Oracle PL/SQL Programming, has become the classic reference to PL/SQL, Oracle's procedural extension to its SQL language. His new book looks thoroughly at one especially advanced and powerful part of the PL/SQL language -- the package. The use of packages can dramatically improve your programming productivity and code quality, while preparing you for object-oriented development in Oracle technology. In this book, Feuerstein explains how to construct packages -- and how to build them the right way. His "best practices" for building packages will transform the way you write packages and help you get the most out of the powerful, but often poorly understood, PL/SQL language. Much more than a book, Advanced Oracle PL/SQL Programming with Packages comes with a PC diskette containing a full-use software companion. Developed by Feuerstein, RevealNet's PL/Vision Lite is the first of its kind for PL/SQL developers: a library of thirty-plus PL/SQL packages. The packages solve a myriad of common programming problems and vastly accelerate the development of modular and maintainable applications. The packages provided in PL/Vision Lite fall into three categories: Building block packages: low-level development enhancers, including string parsers, a list manager, and an interface to PL/SQL tables. Developer utilities: programs that improve your PL/SQL development environment, including a code generator, a powerful substitute for SHOW ERRORS, and an online help delivery mechanism. Plug-and-play components: pieces of code that can be used as is in your own applications, including a high-level exception handler mechanism and a generic, reusable logging mechanism. In addition to describing the details of these packages, this book explores why and how they were built the way they were. You'll come away with an increased appreciation of the PL/SQL language and the power of packages. Most importantly, you'll be ready and eager to put that power to use immediately in your own applications.