Error while writing to a file from pl/sql

Question

Hi,
I am trying to execute the following script but i get the following error ;
declare
emp_rec emp%ROWTYPE;
file_id UTL_FILE.FILE_TYPE;
BEGIN
file_id := utl_file.FOPEN ('C:\test','test.txt','w');
FOR emp IN (SELECT employee_id FROM employees)
LOOP
utl_file.PUT_LINE( file_id, emp.employee_id );
END LOOP;
utl_file.fCLOSE(file_id);
END;
ORA-04068: e[b]xisting state of packages has been discarded
ORA-04067: not executed, package body "SCOTT.UTL_FILE" does not exist
ORA-06508: PL/SQL: could not find program unit being called
ORA-06512: at line 5
What is the reason for this error ??
I have given execute privilge to SCOTT on the package utl_file.

Answer 1

UTL_FILE comes as part of the database, you shouldn't have to install it, and you most certainly shouldn't install it as SCOTT. System packages should be installed using a system user such as sys.
Firstly, I would suggest dropping the UTL_FILE package from your scott schema and then logging on as sys and granting execute permission on UTL_FILE to the scott user.
Secondly...
The UTL_FILE_DIR parameter has been deprecated by oracle in favour of direcory objects because of it's security problems.
The correct thing to do is to create a directory object e.g.:
CREATE OR REPLACE DIRECTORY mydir AS 'c:\myfiles';Note: This does not create the directory on the file system. You have to do that yourself and ensure that oracle has permission to read/write to that file system directory.
Then, grant permission to the users who require access e.g....
GRANT READ,WRITE ON DIRECTORY mydir TO myuser;Then use that directory object inside your FOPEN statement e.g.
fh := UTL_FILE.FOPEN('MYDIR', 'myfile.txt', 'r');Note: You MUST specify the directory object name in quotes and in UPPER case for this to work as it is a string that is referring to a database object name which will have been stored in uppercase by default.