Oracle PL/SQL and Microsoft Access..

Question

Does anyone know of a good tutorial on how to write the correct syntax for Oracle PL/SQL in an Access pass-through query?

Answer 1

Do you want to write PL/SQL via Access, or just pass a SQL string as a query? There are many books on PL/SQL if that is what you need, however, I suspect it is not.
Oracle SQL is pretty standard, except that for versions up to and including 8.x, it only accepts joins listed in the "WHERE" clause. Access itself will accept this syntax for inner joins. Most general SQL books seem to include a section on Oracle and T-sql variations.
SELECT a.field_1, b.field_2
FROM table_1 a, table_2 b
WHERE a.field_x = b.field_y ;
BUT if field_x is a CHAR field containing trailing spaces (CHAR(6) value is 'ABC ') and field_y is a VARCHAR2 field (value is 'ABC'), then the join condition should be:
WHERE TRIM(a.field_x) = b.field_y ;
for outer joins you add "(+)" to the field that may be blank
SELECT a.field_1, b.field_2
FROM table_1 a, table_2 b
WHERE a.field_x = b.field_y(+) ;
(Access) MID([field_1],2,5] becomes (Oracle) SUBSTR(field_1,2,5)
regards