Parameter longer than 4000 characters

Question

The java layer calls a EXEC_DDL stored proc that does a EXECUTE IMMEDIATE on the VARCHAR2 parameter string passed in. SInce the java layer is passing more than 4000 characters DDL statement we get an error about cannot bind long ..... What datatype should I use as a parameter instead of VARCHAR2 inside the EXEC_DDL stored proc. Steven Feuerstein advises against using LONG in his PL/SQL book. All the LOB types are for objects either INSIDE or OUTSIDE of the database but I just want the java code to be able to pass a DDL string greater than 4000 chars. I want to use the simplest approach.
Thanks in anticipation

Answer 1

a SUBSTR or a DBMS_LOB.SUBSTR works. This is the final working version of the EXEC_DDL proc. We used the DBMS_LOB package in case we needed to overload with other types of LOB parameters.
procedure exec_ddl (
pi_ddl_string IN CLOB
,po_status OUT PLS_INTEGER
AS
PRAGMA AUTONOMOUS_TRANSACTION;
-- AUTHID CURRENT_USER will be added after exception handling is packaged
v_clob_buff VARCHAR2(500);
BEGIN -- outer block
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE pi_ddl_string;
po_status := PKG_SNAPIT.pk_success;
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
v_clob_buff := DBMS_LOB.SUBSTR(pi_ddl_string,500,1);
insert into exception_log values(sysdate,'COMPILE ERROR IN : ' || v_clob_buff,'pkg_dynamic_sql'
,'exec_ddl');
COMMIT;
pkg_snapit.Log_Errors ( 'Error_Stack...' || Chr(10) || DBMS_UTILITY.FORMAT_ERROR_STACK() );
pkg_snapit.Log_Errors ( 'Error_Backtrace...' || Chr(10) || DBMS_UTILITY.FORMAT_ERROR_BACKTRACE() );
po_status := SQLCODE;
RAISE;
END exec_ddl;
Edited by: user4900730 on Mar 11, 2010 2:00 PM