Execute immediate of Anonymous pl/sql block stored in a VARCHAR2 DB Column

Question

Hi Guys,
I really hope someone can help me with this.
I have the following pl/sql anonymous block stored in a varchar2 database column.
declare
    l_my_val varchar2(32767);
            cursor c_activity is
            SELECT
                  l.DESCRIPTION || decode(l2.DESCRIPTION,null,'',l2.description,  '-' || l2.description) || decode(a.DT,'Y',' - Distributed Training','N',null,null) as value1
            FROM   ACTIVITY a
                  ,MOUNTAINEERING m
                  ,LOV l
                  ,LOV l2
            WHERE  a.JSATFA_ID = 82
            AND    a.SPECIFIC_ACTIVITY_LOV_ID = l.LOV_ID
            AND    m.ACTIVITY_ID(+) = a.ACTIVITY_ID
            AND    m.CLASSIFICATION_LOV_ID = l2.LOV_ID(+);
begin
for each_row in c_activity loop
  l_my_val := l_my_val ||  ', ' || each_row.value1;
end loop;
:l_value := ltrim (l_my_val, ', ');
end;  The code is select out of the database and assigned to a local variable within my pl/sql package. The following code should demonstrate what I'm trying to achieve:
declare
  l_sql varchar2(32767);
  l_value varchar2(32767);
begin
  select query_sql into l_sql from lov where lov_id = 100;
  execute immediate l_sql using out :l_value;
  dbms_output.put_line(l_value);
end;However Oracle (10.2.0.2) seems to be doing something funny with the single quotes. and gives the following error:
ORA-06550: line 1, column 1:
PLS-00103: Encountered the symbol "" when expecting one of the following:
   begin case declare exit for function goto if loop mod null
   package pragma procedure raise return select separate type
   update while with <an identifier>
   <a double-quoted delimited-identifier> <a bind variable> <<
   form table call close current define delete fetch lock insert
   open rollback savepoint set sql execute commit forall merge
   library OPERATOR_ pipe
errorIf I embed the code I'm trying to execute within the package i.e
declare
  l_sql varchar2(32767);
  l_value varchar2(32767);
begin
  l_sql := q'~declare
    l_my_val varchar2(32767);
            cursor c_activity is
            SELECT
                  l.DESCRIPTION || decode(l2.DESCRIPTION,null,'',l2.description,  '-' || l2.description) || decode(a.DT,'Y',' - Distributed Training','N',null,null) as value1
            FROM   ACTIVITY a
                  ,MOUNTAINEERING m
                  ,LOV l
                  ,LOV l2
            WHERE  a.JSATFA_ID = 82
            AND    a.SPECIFIC_ACTIVITY_LOV_ID = l.LOV_ID
            AND    m.ACTIVITY_ID(+) = a.ACTIVITY_ID
            AND    m.CLASSIFICATION_LOV_ID = l2.LOV_ID(+);
begin
for each_row in c_activity loop
  l_my_val := l_my_val ||  ', ' || each_row.value1;
end loop;
:l_value := ltrim (l_my_val, ', ');
end; 
  ~';
  execute immediate l_sql using out :l_value;
  dbms_output.put_line(l_value);
end;It works perfectly. Notice I have used the q syntax when embedding the sql directly into the package.
I have tried
- appending the q syntax directly to query_sql stored in the database
- escaping the quotes i.e. ' become ''
Neither method seem to work. We are running 10.2.0.2 on Windows Server 2003. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear from you as this has me stumped.
Regards
Kris
- http://kristianjones.blogspot.com

Answer 1

If you do:
declare
l_sql varchar2(32767);
l_value varchar2(32767);
begin
select query_sql into l_sql from lov where lov_id = 100;
dbms_output.put_line(l_sql);
end;
You'll see something like that:
SELECT
l.DESCRIPTION || decode(l2.DESCRIPTION,null,'',l2.description, '-' || l2.description) || decode(a.DT,'Y',' - Distributed Training','N',null,null) as value1
FROM ACTIVITY a
,MOUNTAINEERING m
,LOV l
,LOV l2
WHERE a.JSATFA_ID = 82
AND a.SPECIFIC_ACTIVITY_LOV_ID = l.LOV_ID
AND m.ACTIVITY_ID(+) = a.ACTIVITY_ID
AND m.CLASSIFICATION_LOV_ID = l2.LOV_ID(+);
you need to duplicate the '
you can do many things like:
CTH@> select * from sqls;
C
select first_name || ' ' || last_name as value1 from employees where rownum=1
1 fila seleccionada.
CTH@>
CTH@> ;
1 declare
2 l_sql varchar2(32767);
3 l_value varchar2(32767);
4 type generic_cursor is ref cursor;
5
6 c generic_cursor;
7
8 begin
9 select replace(c, ''', ''''') into l_sql from sqls;
10
11 execute immediate l_sql into l_value;
12 dbms_output.put_line(l_value);
13* end;
CTH@> /
Ellen Abel
Procedimiento PL/SQL terminado correctamente.
CTH@>