Insert OR Update records

Question

Hi All,
I want to write a stored procedure to insert or update the value into the customer table. If the record exist, I need to insert. If it does not exist, I need to update. Could you tell me how do we do it.
My Current stored procedure is :
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE customer_update
(p_cust_id IN VARCHAR2,
p_cust_name IN VARCHAR2)
AS
BEGIN
INSERT INTO CUSTOMER (cust_id, cust_NAME, update_dm)
VALUES (p_cust_id, p_cust_name, sysdate);
COMMIT;
END customer_update;

Answer 1

I think we need to be careful about using EXCEPTION to handle normal (expected) processing. Also, if the row is more likely to exist than not exist, it might be better to try the UPDATE first, and only go for INSERT if SQL%ROWCOUNT = 0;
There's been a few of these sort of questions posted recently, and I find them worrying, becuase it suggests poorly designed systems. The user ought to know whether they are inserting a new record or amending an existing one. The MERGE functionality is useful for data migration/upload scenarios, but I think using it in a business situation is, in the words of Kent Beck, a "code smell".
Cheers, APC