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Release 8.1.7 Enhancements

SQL*Plus Release 8.1.7 provides a number of enhancements over previous releases of SQL*Plus. This appendix describes the enhancements for SQL*Plus Release 8.1.7.

SQL*Plus Release 8.1.7 Enhancements

SQL*Plus Release 8.1.7 gives you the following additional capabilities:

SQLPLUS -MARKUP and SET MARKUP Changes

In this release, you can use MARKUP HTML ON to produce HTML output in either the <PRE> tag or in an HTML table. Output to a table uses standard HTML <TABLE>, <TR> and <TD> tags to automatically encode the rows and columns resulting from a query. Output to an HTML table is now the default behavior when the HTML option is set ON. You can generate output using HTML <PRE> tags by setting PREFORMAT ON. For more information about the SQLPLUS and SET commands, see Starting SQL*Plus Using the SQLPLUS Command in Chapter 7 and the SET command in Chapter 8.

TABLE text

TABLE text is a new MARKUP option which allows you to enter attributes for the HTML <TABLE> tag. You can use this option to set <TABLE> tag attributes such as BORDER, CELLPADDING, CELLSPACING and WIDTH. For more information about this option, see TABLE text in Chapter 7.

The new MARKUP syntax for SQLPLUS -MARKUP and SET MARKUP is:

HTML [ON|OFF] [HEAD text] [BODY text] [TABLE text]
[ENTMAP {ON|OFF}] [SPOOL {ON|OFF}] [PRE[FORMAT] {ON|OFF}]

For more information about this option, see MARKUP Options in Chapter 7.

COLUMN ENTMAP {ON|OFF}

A new option, ENTMAP {ON|OFF}, has been added to the COLUMN command to add flexibility for mapping entities. The default for COLUMN ENTMAP is the current value of the MARKUP HTML ENTMAP option.

ENTMAP {ON|OFF} in the COLUMN command allows you to explicitly turn entity mapping on or off for selected columns in HTML output. For more information about this option, see the COLUMN command in Chapter 8.

SQL*Plus Release 8.1.6 Enhancements

SQL*Loader is no longer used to install the SQL*Plus command line help system. The help system is now installed by running SQL*Plus scripts. See the Installation Guide for your operating system for instructions on how to install the help system. A SQL*Plus script is also provided to enable the removal of the help system.

• The SQLPLUS command now has a -RESTRICT option. -RESTRICT allows certain commands that interact with the operating system to be disabled. Compared to disabling the same commands with the Product User Profile (PUP) table, commands disabled with -RESTRICT can be disabled when there is no connection to a server, and remain disabled until SQL*Plus terminates.
• The SQLPLUS command now has a -MARKUP option. -MARKUP allows the use of server-side CGI scripts to create HTML reports for access on the web. You can use the SQLPLUS -MARKUP command to create web reports from existing SQL scripts. SQLPLUS -MARKUP options have the same effect as the new SET MARKUP command options.
• The SET command now has a MARKUP clause. During a SQL*Plus session, SET MARKUP allows the interactive creation of HTML reports for access on the web.
• SHOW MARKUP displays the status of MARKUP options.

SQL*Plus Release 8.1.5 Enhancements

• There is a new command named STARTUP. The STARTUP command starts an Oracle instance, with the options to mount and open a database.
• There is a new command named SHUTDOWN. The SHUTDOWN command shuts down an Oracle instance that is currently running. It also optionally closes and dismounts a database.
• There is a new command named RECOVER. The RECOVER command performs media recovery on tablespaces, datafiles or the entire database.
• There is a new command named ARCHIVE LOG. The ARCHIVE LOG command allows redo log files to be archived. It also displays information about redo log files.
• The CONNECT command now has an AS clause. The AS clause, allows privileged connections by users who have been granted SYSOPER or SYSDBA system privileges.
• The SET command now has an AUTORECOVERY clause. The AUTORECOVERY clause specifies whether default archived redo log files are to be used during recovery.
• The SET command now has a DESCRIBE clause. The DESCRIBE clause specifies the depth or level to which objects can be described.
• The SET command now has an INSTANCE clause. The INSTANCE clause changes the default instance for your session to the specified instance.
• The SET command now has a LOGSOURCE clause. The LOGSOURCE clause specifies the location from which archive logs are retrieved during recovery.
• The SET command now has a SQLBLANKLINES clause. The SQLBLANKLINES clause allows and preserves blank lines within any SQL command.
• The SHOW command now has a PARAMETERS clause. The PARAMETERS clause displays the current values for one or more initialization parameters.
• The SHOW command now has an SGA clause. The SGA clause displays information about the current instance's System Global Area.