Running PL/SQL in batch mode

Question

I need to run a few PL/SQL procedures at various time of the day and night on an Oracle 8.1.7 database. I do I go about automatically kicking off these procedures at specific times.

Answer 1

DBMS_JOB is Oracle built-in packages owned by SYS.
The following is a list of DBMS_JOB header:
PACKAGE dbms_job IS
any_instance CONSTANT BINARY_INTEGER := 0;
-- Parameters are:
-- JOB is the number of the job being executed.
-- WHAT is the PL/SQL procedure to execute.
-- The job must always be a single call to a procedure. The
-- routine may take any number of hardcoded parameters.
-- Special parameter values recognized are:
-- job: an in parameter, the number of the current job
-- next_date: in/out, the date of the next refresh
-- broken: in/out, is the job broken. The IN values is FALSE.
-- Always remember the trailing semicolon.
-- Some legal values of WHAT (assuming the routines exist) are
-- 'myproc( ''10-JAN-82'', next_date, broken);'
-- 'scott.emppackage.give_raise( ''JENKINS'', 30000.00);'
-- 'dbms_job.remove( job);'
-- NEXT_DATE is the date at which the job will next be automatically run,
-- assuming there are background processes attempting to run it.
-- INTERVAL is a date function, evaluated immediately before the job starts
-- executing. If the job completes successfully, this new date is placed
-- in NEXT_DATE. INTERVAL is evaluated by plugging it into the statement
-- select INTERVAL into next_date from dual;
-- INTERVAL must evaluate to a time in the future. Legal intervals include
-- 'sysdate + 7' -- execute once a week
-- 'NEXT_DAY(sysdate,''TUESDAY'')' -- execute once every tuesday
-- 'null' -- only execute once
-- If INTERVAL evaluates to null and a job completes successfully, then
-- the job is automatically deleted from the queue.
PROCEDURE isubmit ( job IN BINARY_INTEGER,
what IN VARCHAR2,
next_date IN DATE,
interval IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'null',
no_parse IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);
-- Submit a new job with a given job number.
PROCEDURE submit ( job OUT BINARY_INTEGER,
what IN VARCHAR2,
next_date IN DATE DEFAULT sysdate,
interval IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'null',
no_parse IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
instance IN BINARY_INTEGER DEFAULT any_instance,
force IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE );
-- Submit a new job. Chooses JOB from the sequence sys.jobseq.
-- instance and force are added for jobq queue affinity
-- If FORCE is TRUE, then any positive integer is acceptable as the job
-- instance. If FORCE is FALSE, then the specified instance must be running;
-- otherwise the routine raises an exception.
-- For example,
-- variable x number;
-- execute dbms_job.submit(:x,'pack.proc(''arg1'');',sysdate,'sysdate+1');
PROCEDURE remove ( job IN BINARY_INTEGER );
-- Remove an existing job from the job queue.
-- This currently does not stop a running job.
-- execute dbms_job.remove(14144);
PROCEDURE change ( job IN BINARY_INTEGER,
what IN VARCHAR2,
next_date IN DATE,
interval IN VARCHAR2,
instance IN BINARY_INTEGER DEFAULT NULL,
force IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);
-- Change any of the the user-settable fields in a job
-- Parameter instance and force are added for job queue affinity
-- If what, next_date,or interval is null, leave that value as-is.
-- instance defaults to NULL indicates instance affinity is not changed.
-- If FORCE is FALSE, the specified instance (to which the instance number
-- change) must be running. Otherwise the routine raises an exception.
-- If FORCE is TRUE, any positive integer is acceptable as the job instance.
-- execute dbms_job.change( 14144, null, null, 'sysdate+3');
PROCEDURE what ( job IN BINARY_INTEGER,
what IN VARCHAR2 );
-- Change what an existing job does, and replace its environment
PROCEDURE next_date ( job IN BINARY_INTEGER,
next_date IN DATE );
-- Change when an existing job will next execute
PROCEDURE instance ( job IN BINARY_INTEGER,
instance IN BINARY_INTEGER,
force IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);
-- Change job instance affinity. FORCE parameter works same as in SUBMIT
PROCEDURE interval ( job IN BINARY_INTEGER,
interval IN VARCHAR2 );
-- Change how often a job executes
PROCEDURE broken ( job IN BINARY_INTEGER,
broken IN BOOLEAN,
next_date IN DATE DEFAULT SYSDATE );
-- Set the broken flag. Broken jobs are never run.
PROCEDURE run ( job IN BINARY_INTEGER,
force IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);
-- Run job JOB now. Run it even if it is broken.
-- Running the job will recompute next_date, see view user_jobs.
-- execute dbms_job.run(14144);
-- Warning: this will reinitialize the current session's packages
-- FORCE is added for job queue affinity
-- If FORCE is TRUE, instance affinity is irrelevant for running jobs in
-- the foreground process. If FORCE is FALSE, the job can be run in the
-- foreground only in the specified instance. dbms_job.run will raise an
-- exception if FORCE is FALSE and the connected instance is the wrong one.
PROCEDURE user_export ( job IN BINARY_INTEGER,
mycall IN OUT VARCHAR2);
-- Produce the text of a call to recreate the given job
PROCEDURE user_export ( job IN BINARY_INTEGER,
mycall IN OUT VARCHAR2,
myinst IN OUT VARCHAR2);
-- Procedure is added for altering instance affinity (8.1+) and perserve the
-- compatibility
-- Return boolean value indicating whether execution is in background
-- process or foreground process
FUNCTION background_process RETURN BOOLEAN;
END;
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