Inline sqls in Plsql stored procedures

Question

I am trying to create the following procedure in Oracle8i(8.1.7) but it gives compilation becuase i have used INLINE queries in the procedure. The code is:
create or replace procedure proc1
is
master_name VARCHAR2(50);
child_name VARCHAR2(50);
begin
select (select master_nm
from master_table
     where master_id = a2.master_id) master_name,
     child_nm
     into master_name,
          child_name
     from child_table a2
     where child_id = 130;
end;
I have to write very complex sqls as part of my work & if PLSQL allows INLINE views my work becomes easy. And also the performance of sqls with INLINE queries compared to OUTER join queries is better.
Suggest some solution for this.
Regards,
Sunil.

Answer 1

Your SQL is fine, but the PL/SQL compiler in 8i does not understand all SQL syntax. The workaround is to use dynamic SQL (this is not needed in 9i and later).
First, we try static SQL:
sql8i>declare
  2    v_object_id  all_objects.object_id%type;
  3    v_status     all_objects.status%type;
  4  begin
  5    select object_id, (select ao2.status
  6                         from all_objects ao2
  7                        where ao2.object_id = ao1.object_id)
  8      into v_object_id, v_status
  9      from all_objects ao1
10     where object_name = 'DUAL'
11       and object_type = 'TABLE';
12    dbms_output.put_line( v_object_id || ' ' || v_status);
13  end;
14  /
  select object_id, (select ao2.status
ERROR at line 5:
ORA-06550: line 5, column 22:
PLS-00103: Encountered the symbol "SELECT" when expecting one of the
following:
( - + mod not null others <an identifier>
<a double-quoted delimited-identifier> <a bind variable> avg
count current exists max min prior sql stddev sum variance
execute forall time timestamp interval date
<a string literal with character set specification>
<a number> <a single-quoted SQL string>
ORA-06550: line 8, column 5:
PLS-00103: Encountered the symbol "INTO" when expecting one of the following:
; return returning and orWell, that didn't work too well. Let's try it with NDS (native dynamic SQL):
sql8i>declare
  2    v_object_id  all_objects.object_id%type;
  3    v_status     all_objects.status%type;
  4  begin
  5    execute immediate '
  6      select object_id, (select ao2.status
  7                           from all_objects ao2
  8                          where ao2.object_id = ao1.object_id)
  9        from all_objects ao1
10       where object_name = :object_name
11         and object_type = :object_type'
12       into v_object_id, v_status using 'DUAL', 'TABLE';
13    dbms_output.put_line( v_object_id || ' ' || v_status);
14  end;
15  /
195 VALID
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.Here's an example showing the static SQL working in 9i:
sql9i>declare
  2    v_object_id  all_objects.object_id%type;
  3    v_status     all_objects.status%type;
  4  begin
  5    select object_id, (select ao2.status
  6                         from all_objects ao2
  7                        where ao2.object_id = ao1.object_id)
  8      into v_object_id, v_status
  9      from all_objects ao1
10     where object_name = 'DUAL'
11       and object_type = 'TABLE';
12    dbms_output.put_line( v_object_id || ' ' || v_status);
13  end;
14  /
222 VALID
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.