Running an automated script at scheduled intervals

Question

Greetings all,
Is there a way to setup a process or job to run an SQL Script automatically on the first of the month? I am running on a server much like apex.oracle.com so I don't have permissions to the back end of the database and can't run a cron job.
What I am trying to do is run a script that updates a table on the 1st and 15th of the month.
I Googled it and searched OTN and was not able to find what I was looking for so asking the experts.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Wally

Answer 1

wfsteadman wrote:
I definitely did not good for dbms_scheduler or dbms_job.. so that may be my first issue. will this run from application express? I don't have access to the backend of the database or to a command line so I would have to set it up in the application and not sure how to do that.APEX provides SQL Workshop with the SQL Commands and SQL Scripts processors.
I've just successfully tested basic <tt>dbms_scheduler</tt> functions on apex.oracle.com, so try it on your environment.
<li>Go to SQL Workshop > SQL Commands
<li>Create a basic, run-once job (that actually does nothing):
begin
  dbms_scheduler.create_job(
    job_name => 'myjob',
    job_type => 'plsql_block',
    job_action => 'null;',
    enabled => true);
end;If this returns
Statement processed.rather than an error message then you're probably good to go.
<li>Check the execution log:
select * from user_scheduler_job_run_details;Should return something like:
5825946     19-JUL-11 02.53.12.839925 PM -05:00     NANDBTAG     MYJOB         -               SUCCEEDED     0           19-JUL-11 02.53.12.808693 PM AMERICA/CHICAGO     19-JUL-11 02.53.12.817457 PM AMERICA/CHICAGO     +000 00:00:00     1               1171,2895       25087         +000 00:00:00.02     -                     -                   -                     -               -<li>Try creating a job that runs every minute:
begin
  dbms_scheduler.create_job(
    job_name => 'myjob',
    job_type => 'plsql_block',
    job_action => 'null;',
    start_date => '19-JUL-11 03.10.00 PM', /* Remember to use the DB time, not your local time if not specifying a timezone */
    repeat_interval => 'freq=minutely',
    enabled => true);
end;<li>Check it's status in the <tt>user_scheduler_jobs</tt> view:
select * from user_scheduler_jobs;
MYJOB      -     REGULAR     APEX_PUBLIC_USER     MACMILP:1275550617277611      -      -      -     PLSQL_BLOCK     null;     0      -      -     CALENDAR     19-JUL-11 03.10.00.000000 PM -05:00     freq=minutely      -      -      -      -      -      -      -      -     DEFAULT_JOB_CLASS     TRUE     TRUE     FALSE     SCHEDULED     3     0      -     0      -     0      -      -     19-JUL-11 03.10.00.000000 PM -05:00      -      -     OFF     FALSE     TRUE      -     FALSE     1     NLS_LANGUAGE='AMERICAN' NLS_TERRITORY='AMERICA' NLS_CURRENCY='$' NLS_ISO_CURRENCY='AMERICA' NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS='.,' NLS_CALENDAR='GREGORIAN' NLS_DATE_FORMAT='mm/dd/yyyy' NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE='AMERICAN' NLS_SORT='BINARY' NLS_TIME_FORMAT='HH.MI.SSXFF AM' NLS_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT='DD-MON-RR HH.MI.SSXFF AM' NLS_TIME_TZ_FORMAT='HH.MI.SSXFF AM TZR' NLS_TIMESTAMP_TZ_FORMAT='DD-MON-RR HH.MI.SSXFF AM TZR' NLS_DUAL_CURRENCY='$' NLS_COMP='BINARY' NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS='BYTE' NLS_NCHAR_CONV_EXCP='FALSE'      -     1      -      -      -      -      -     FALSE     FALSE      -     133168<li>And that it's executing every minute:
select * from user_scheduler_job_log;
5826446     19-JUL-11 03.13.00.264038 PM -05:00     NANDBTAG     MYJOB      -     DEFAULT_JOB_CLASS     RUN     SUCCEEDED      -      -      -      -      -      -      -      -
5826426     19-JUL-11 03.12.00.191519 PM -05:00     NANDBTAG     MYJOB      -     DEFAULT_JOB_CLASS     RUN     SUCCEEDED      -      -      -      -      -      -      -      -
5826386     19-JUL-11 03.11.00.075835 PM -05:00     NANDBTAG     MYJOB      -     DEFAULT_JOB_CLASS     RUN     SUCCEEDED      -      -      -      -      -      -      -      -
5826366     19-JUL-11 03.10.00.048849 PM -05:00     NANDBTAG     MYJOB      -     DEFAULT_JOB_CLASS     RUN     SUCCEEDED      -      -      -      -      -      -      -      -After that you want to experiment with the calendar syntax to figure out how to run a job on the first of the month, and plug in your own PL/SQL block or stored procedure <tt>job_action</tt> that actually does something.
And if that first call errors out and you don't get anywhere near this far, you'll have to contact the host DBAs an enquire about getting CREATE JOB privilege granted to the required parsing schema in your workspace.
(If it does work, remember to drop any experimental jobs when you're done to free up resources for everyone else!)