Error in Simple Stored Precedure!!

Question

Hi Folks,
I am new to oracle...At present i'm working in MS SQL Server...I am trying to write a small stored procedure which retrieves a result set(ie rows) from a given table in Oracle 8i.I have written a procedure as
create procedure test is
begin
select * from stu;
end
and I executed the above procedure.It was showing Procedure created with compilation errors.What would be the problem?.Same procedure is executing with out any errors in SQL Server.
Can anyone pls give me a solution for this?.
Thanks in advance,
Murali

Answer 1

Murali,
I answered a question just like this a little while ago. I programmed TSQL for about 5 years and yes it would be nice if PL/SQL could return a data stream, but it doesn't. However as I explain below I use a method I like even better, since I would rather have an object (a view) that I can get this data from anyway. Do remeber a function can return a data stream though so you might want to consider that as well. Anyway this is what I had said ...
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I've run into this problem allot with Oracle. If I was to point out the biggest difference between PL/SQL and TSQL it is this ability your wanting, to have a data stream come back from a oracle function/proc/package. In TSQL you can make a proc that simply says, SELECT * from T1, and when you execute this, you get a data stream back. Oracle does not do this, but there is a flip side. There is a different approach I've realized to this and I would NOT use this data return stream ability even if it was supported. This is what I usually do when I want data from a package ...
Use a VIEW.
Call a procedure that creates a database VIEW of the SELECT query you want. (you will have to remember the name of the view) , Then simply do SELECT * FROM <view name you made>. Doing it in this fashion allows so many more abilities than just getting a data set back. Your data set is now an object which you can query over again and even other sessions have access to it. See the basic example below ...
SQL> create or replace PROCEDURE sp_sql (ps_in_sql in varchar2)
2 as
3 ls_sql varchar2(2000) := upper(trim(ps_in_sql));
4 BEGIN
5 execute immediate ls_sql;
6 end sp_sql;
7 /
Procedure created.
SQL> show errors
No errors.
SQL>
SQL> execute sp_sql('create or replace view v1 (N1) as select distinct t1.n1 from t1 order by t1.n1'
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> select * from v1;
N1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
10 rows selected.
This is just the basic principle to get a data stream back from running a single execute command, with one additional SELECT * from VIEW. The main way I use this ability is just passing the WHERE clause and recompile the view inside the procedure, since I may want a date range, an IN clause, other criteria, but in the end I just do 1 EXECUTE and SELECT * from VIEW.
This method is better that just trying to get a proc to return a data stream. Make the proc create an object that you can bind to with active objects (like grids, drop down boxes, etc.), and after you now have the view to even do more complex SQL on, since you CANT query your data stream to get only the 'JOHN DOE' entries back.
Anyway I hope this helps a little, try it and you'll find this works very well.
Tyler.
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