PL/SQL Blocks
The basic unit of a PL/SQL source program is the block, or anonymous block, which groups related declarations and statements. TimesTen supports PL/SQL blocks.
A PL/SQL block is defined by the keywords DECLARE
, BEGIN
, EXCEPTION
, and END
. The example below shows the basic structure of a PL/SQL block.
Note:
If you use cache, a PL/SQL block cannot be passed through to Oracle Database. (Also see "TimesTen PL/SQL with Cache".)
DECLARE -- (optional)
-- Variables, cursors, user-defined exceptions
BEGIN -- (mandatory)
-- PL/SQL statements
EXCEPTION -- (optional)
-- Actions to perform when errors occur
END -- (mandatory)
You can define either anonymous or named blocks in your PL/SQL programs. This example creates an anonymous block that queries the employees
table and returns the data in a PL/SQL variable:
Command> SET SERVEROUTPUT ON;
Command> DECLARE
v_fname VARCHAR2 (20);
BEGIN
SELECT first_name
INTO v_fname
FROM employees
WHERE employee_id = 100;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (v_fname);
END;
/
Steven
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.