Execute sql script from apex

Question

hi all
i have dir /usr/tmp which there i have script in sql that creats a report
in the command line i'm running the script like this :
sqlplus user/passwd@db @name_of_script
my goal is to run this script thru the apex
i tried to create some process
before header like this
:p116 := sqlplus user/passwd@db @/usr/tmp/name_of_script ;
doesn't work!!
i even try to put this action in table but then i don't know how to run this ?
can it executed in apex ? if yes then how ?
thanks a lot

Answer 1

I checked the link and it did not work, so I am reposting my original reply below.
had a requirement to run a Fortran program against some data that woudl be extracted from the database after the user set up their filtering criteria and made some additional input. SInce the program was to complex to conver to PL/SQL, we decided to try and invoke it from Apex. This is how I did it.
1. I followed the steps in Tim Archer's excellent article "Oracle External Procedure to Run Host Commands" (http://www.timarcher.com/?q=node/9). If the link does nto work, google the article's title.
Using this steps I created a function which accepts any OS command, including calling my own shell scripts, and runs them. I called my PL/SQL function "shell" instead of "USF_RUN_HOST_CMD " as Tim did in his example (step 9).
2. In Apex,
a. I created a button to run my shell command. (I named it P2_RUN_SHELL)
b. I created a PL/SQL process whose source looks as follows:
shell('/home/ackness/scripts/cr_xcf_file.sh > /tmp/cr_scfp_file.log');
and which was conditioned on the the button P2_RUN_SHELL.
It works like a charm.
Note: since you can run your own scripts using this method, you can encapsulate a series of commands in a UNIX shell script and invoke that script from Apex. This allows you to be able to test or run you commands from the command line as well as Apex and makes it easier to develop/debug/enhance the scripts in the future.
Ackness