Is application Express what I need?

Question

Hi I wonder if you can offer any guidance.
I have a 9i database which is used weekly to load data into it from csv files. This is done using sql loader kicked off using windows batch files. Before, during and after the loading of the csv files certain sql queries are run to check the status of the database and the amount of data held in certain tables.
At the minute this process is carried out very labouriously using a "copy and paste" exercise, changing dates in prewritten queries kept in a large text file for the user to scroll through and use. Between running the queries, batch files are run which kick off the sql load process.
I would like to simplify and improve this whole process, allowing for the batch files and queries to be run at clicks of buttons and any results displayed on the screen.
Application express sounds like something that could be used for this but from looking at the overview of it, it seems to be mainly for running reports and running simple queries to be displayed in nice pretty ways.
Would it perform the obs I require, and if not, can anyone recommend somthing else that I can build a nice GUI experience that can kick off other batch programs?
Thanks.

Answer 1

Apex gives full access to SQL and PL/SQL features, so yes it should be easy enough to do. If the CSV file exists on the database server and is accessible by the Oracle user, then you can try using "external tables" to load the CSV directly. Search for examples. If you need to pick the latest CSV file or rename / delete it afterwards, see if UTL_FILE pkg does everything you want.
To run a batch script from Apex (on Windows) if really necessary, this will get you going:
-- from privileged account
grant create any job to scott;
grant create external job to scott;
grant execute on DBMS_SCHEDULER to scott;
--grant create any directory to scott;
--grant execute on utl_file to scott;
-- make sure OracleJobSchedulerXE started in Windows services!
--from scott
--DBMS_SCHEDULER.create_job
-- (job_name => 'testjob',
-- job_type => 'EXECUTABLE',
-- -- location of cmd.exe varies!
-- job_action => 'c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /c c:\my-batch.bat',
-- enabled => false);
DBMS_SCHEDULER.run_job (job_name => 'testjob',
use_current_session => TRUE);
-- COMMIT; -- may be required??