Sub Programs

Functions & Procedures

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Subprograms are named PL/SQL blocks that can take
parameters and can be invoked. Subprograms allow
decomposition of a program into logical units. These logical
units can be used as building blocks to create complete
application programs.
 

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Types of Subprograms
 PL/SQL has two types of subprograms:
 ♦ Procedures
♦ Functions
Generally, we use a procedure to perform an action and a
function to compute a value. Like unnamed or anonymous
PL/SQL blocks, subprograms have a declarative part, an
executable part, and an optional exception-handling part.
Anonymous bocks provide specific operation but cannot
accept or return values as in procedures or functions.
Subprograms may be further classified as local and
stored type.
 
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Local Subprograms
 
Such procedures and functions are local to the PL/SQL
module, which contain it. They can be created in the
declarative section of PL/SQL module, local to the module.
The local module can be called anywhere in the module’s
execution section.
 

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Stored Subprograms
 
A stored procedure or function is a named PL/SQL code
block that have been compiled and stored in one of the
Oracle engine’s system tables. Stored Procedures and
Functions are stored in the Oracle database. They are
invoked or called by any the PL/SQL block that appear
within an application. Before the procedure or function
is stored, the Oracle engine parses and compiles the
procedure or function. The Oracle engine compiles the
PL/SQL code block.

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If an error occurs during compilation of the
procedure or function an invalid procedure or function
is created. The Oracle engine displays a message
after creation that the procedure or function was
created with compilation errors. It does not display
the errors. These errors can be viewed using the
select statement:
SELECT *FROM USER_ERRORS;
Or
Show errors;

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Advantages of Subprograms
 
♦ Extensibility: Allows creation of new program
modules without affecting existing program modules. 
♦
Modularity: Allows breaking a program down into
manageable, well-defined logic modules. Each unit
provides specific services in a program. This supports
top-down design and the stepwise refinement approach
to problem solving.
 
♦ Reusability: Allows creation of subprograms that
can be used by many applications.
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♦ Maintainability: Modularity and reusability lead to
easier maintenance and enhancement.
 
♦ Abstraction: Subprograms provides abstraction,
because during use of subprograms, we must know what
they do, not how they work. Therefore, we can design
applications from the top down without worrying about
implementation details.
 
Dummy Subprograms (Stubs): It allows deferring the
definition of procedures and functions until we test
and debug the main program.

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Anonymous PL/SQL Blocks versus Stored Procedures
A stored procedure is created and stored in the database
as a schema object. Once created and compiled, it is a
named object that can be executed without recompiling.
Additionally, dependency information is stored in the data
dictionary to guarantee the validity of each stored
procedure. As an alternative to a stored procedure, you
can create an anonymous PL/SQL block by sending an
unnamed PL/SQL block to the Oracle server from an
Oracle tool or an application. Oracle compiles the PL/SQL
block and places the compiled version in the shared pool
of the SGA, but does not store the source code or
compiled version in the database for reuse beyond the
current instance. Shared SQL allows anonymous PL/SQL
blocks in the shared pool to be reused and shared until
they are flushed out of the
Oracle Shortshared pool.
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Difference between Procedure and Function

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Parts of Functions and Procedures
Procedures and Functions are made up of:
 A declarative part.
♦ An executable part, and
♦ An optional exception-handling part.
Declarative part
The declarative part is used to declare constants, variables,
exceptions and subprograms. These objects are local to the
procedure or function. The objects become invalid once the
user exits from the procedure or the function.
 

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Executable part
It is a compulsory part, which is used to perform actions.
Variables declared are put to use in this block. The executable
part is a PL/SQL block consisting of SQL and PL/SQL
statements that assign values control execution and
manipulate data. The data that is to be returned back to the
calling environment is also returned from here.
 
Exception handling part
It is optional part to handle the errors raised during the
execution of code in the executable part. We cannot transfer
the flow or execution from the Exception Handling part to the
Executable part.
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Procedures
 A procedure is a subprogram that performs a specific action.
Procedures can be created within a PL/SQL module, if there is
a repetitive code, which could be better-designed using
procedures.
 
There are two types of Procedures:
♦ Local procedure
♦ Stored procedure
 

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Local Procedure
 
Such procedure is local to the PL/SQL module,
which contain it. Procedures can be created in the
declarative section of PL/SQL module, local to the
module. The local module can be called anywhere in
the module’s execution section.

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procedure_name
 It is the procedure name used to identify the
procedures when it is called in a program.
 Declarations
 It is the optional declaration section where local
variables, constant, exception or cursor declaration is
placed.
 Exception
 It is the optional exception-handing section for
procedure.
Note 
We cannot impose the NOT NULL constraint on a
parameter. Also, we cannot specify a constraint on the
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For example, the following declaration of emp_id is illegal
because it imposes a size constraint:
 PROCEDURE raise_salary (emp_id NUMBER(4)) IS
/*--- illegal; should be
NUMBER*/

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 Argument Modes

Argument modes are used to define the behavior of

formal parameters. There are three argument modes
IN, OUT and IN OUT to be used with any
subprograms.
 

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Consider a procedure that accepts two numbers and
return addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
of two numbers or in other words a procedure to return
multiple values through arguments.
 

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Consider the procedure raise_salary, which accepts
two parameters empid and amount to be added to
salary of employee. It will increase the salary and
update it to the database.

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 A Stored procedure that accepts two numbers
and return addition, subtraction, multiplication
and division of two numbers or in other words a
stored procedure to return multiple values
through arguments.

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A PL/SQL code to call the procedure PROCESS
created in example 20.3.
 

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A stored procedure fire_employee to delete
employee on the basis of employee number.

CREATE PROCEDURE fire_employee (emp_id NUMBER)

AS
BEGIN
DELETE FROM emp WHERE empno = emp_id;
END;

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A PL/SQL code to call the procedure fire_employee created in
example 20.5.

DECLARE
e number;
 
BEGIN
e:=&empno;
fire_employee(e);
END;
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Actual versus Formal Parameters
 
Subprograms pass information using parameters. There
are two types of parameters.
♦ Formal Parameters
♦ Actual Parameters
 
Formal Parameters are declared in the parameter list
of procedure or function definition.

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For example, the following procedure declares two formal
parameters named emp_id and increase:
PROCEDURE raise_salary (emp_id NUMBER, increase
NUMBER) IS  
Actual Parameters are referenced in a procedure or
function call.

For example, the following procedure call lists two actual

parameters named emp_num and amount:
raise_salary(emp_num, amount);  

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Functions
 
A function is a subprogram that computes a value.
Functions and procedures are structured alike, except
that functions have a RETURN clause.
There are two types of functions:
♦ Local function
♦ Stored function
 

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Here:function_name is the function name to identify
the function when it is called in the program  return
datatype is used to declare the datatype of the
return value of the function which can be any valid
PL/SQL datatype. declarations is optional declaration
section where local variable, constant or cursor are
placed.  
Note
 

We cannot impose the NOT NULL constraint on a

parameter, and we cannot specify a constraint on the
data type.
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RETURN Statement
 The RETURN statement immediately completes the execution of a
subprogram and returns control to the caller. Execution then resumes with
the statement following the subprogram call. (Do not confuse the RETURN
statement with the RETURN clause, which specifies the datatype of the
result value in a function specification.)
 A subprogram can contain several RETURN statements. Executing any of
them completes the subprogram immediately. In procedures, a RETURN
statement cannot contain an expression. The statement simply returns
control to the caller before the normal end of the procedure is reached.
However, in functions, a RETURN statement must contain an expression,
which is evaluated when the RETURN statement is executed. The resulting
value is assigned to the function identifier, which acts like a variable of
the type specified in the RETURN clause. A function must contain at least
one RETURN statement. Otherwise, PL/SQL raises the predefined
exception PROGRAM_ERROR at run time.

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Write a PL/SQL code that calls a function to add two
numbers.
 

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A PL/SQL code, which call a function balance to return the
balance of a specified bank account.

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Consider a function which accepts a code and find the rate for
the code from item table, quantity from sale table and return
the product of rate*quantity. The PL/SQL block calls the
function by passing codes from 1 to 5 and adds up the total
values returned by the function and display it.

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Create a Stored function that accepts two numbers and
return addition of passed values.

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A PL/SQL code to call the function ADDN created in example
20.10.
 

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A Stored function that accepts department number
and return total salary of that department.

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A PL/SQL code to call the function SALARY created in
example 20.12.
 

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Dropping a Procedure/ Function

To drop a procedure, DROP PROCEDURE command is used. For

this user must either own the procedure or have DROP ANY
PROCEDURE system privilege.
 Syntax:
 DROP PROCEDURE procedure_name;
 Example:
 
DROP PROCEDURE process;
 
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To drop a function, DROP FUNCTION command is used. For
this user must either own the function or have DROP ANY
FUNCTION system privilege.
 
Syntax:
DROP FUNCTION function_name;
 
Example:
DROP FUNCTION addn;
 

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 References
Simplified Approach To Oracle By Kalyani Publishers

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