WhileOracle Built-in Packagesis a collaborative effort, it is also a combination of very individual efforts. As
such, you will find differences in coding styles and philosophies. Rather than try to enforce a single standard
throughout, I welcomed the variations (as long as all contributed in their own way to a deeper, clearer
understanding of the PL /SQL technology). There is rarely a single right way to do anything, and there is an
enormous amount we can learn from the different journeys each of us takes to a solution.
For purposes of directing feedback and questions, you may find it useful to know who wrote each of the chapters.
In the next section, “Structure of this Book,” you will find the names of the authors listed with their chapters. You
will also see that there are two other names: Chuck Sisk and Chip Dawes. While many people helped in many
ways to produceOracle Built-in Packages(see the “Acknowledgements” for details), Chuck and Chip actually
contributed entire chapters.
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This book is divided into four parts:
Part I
Chapter 1, introduces you to PL /SQL packages generally and built-in packages specifically. It shows you how to
call packaged code from your own programs and includes tips for handling the exceptions raised when you call a
packaged program. (Steven)
Part II
Chapter 2, shows you how to use the DBMS_SQL package to construct and execute SQL statements and PL /SQL
blocks at run-time. (Steven)
Chapter 3, shows you how to use DBMS_PIPE and DBMS_ALERT to communicate information between
different Oracle sessions. You can also use DBMS_PIPE to communicate with processes external to Oracle. (John)
Chapter 4, introduces DBMS_LOCK, a handy but rarely used package that provides an interface to the Oracle lock
manager, and DBMS_TRANSACTION, which offers several programs that affect transaction behavior in your
PL /SQL program. (DBMS_LOCK—John; DBMS_TRANSACTION—Steven)
Chapter 5, contains an extensive treatment of Oracle Advanced Queuing, a powerful queuing mechanism available
with Oracle8. You’ll use this mechanism through the DBMS_AQ and DBMS_AQADM packages. (Steven)
Chapter 6, shows you how to send information from your program either to the screen , using DBMS_OUTPUT,
or to a server-side file, using UTL_FILE. (Steven)
Chapter 7, familiarizes you with a handy package, DBMS_APPLICATION_INFO. You’ll use it to “register” the
current execution status of your application with the Oracle database. (John)
Chapter 8, shows you how Oracle8 provides robust support for large objects (sometimes known as “BLOBs” or
“LOBs”), and how the DBMS_LOB built-in package allows you to access and manipulate these LOBs from within
a PL /SQL program. (Chuck)
Chapter 9, collects together several packages that specialize in manipulating different types of data.
DBMS_ROWID makes it easy to work with the two different ROWID formats available in Oracle8. UTL_RAW
allows you to work with raw data. UTL_REF, new in Oracle8 Release 8.1, provides a PL /SQL interface to select
and modify objects (instances of an object type) in an object table without having to specify or know about the
underlying database table. (DBMS_ROWID—Steven; UTL_RAW—Chip; UTL_REF—Steven)
Chapter 10, contains coverage of a number of packages: DBMS_UTILITY (the actual “miscellaneous” package),
DBMS_DDL (contains programs to recompile stored code, analyze objects in your schema, and modify how
