Scope of globle and locale variable of a Package

Question

I have query about scope of variable declared in spec and body of a package. like
create or replace package pk_test as
v_var varchar2(50);
procedure pk_p_test;
end ;
create or replace package body pk_test as
v_var varchar2(50) := 'aaa';
procedure pk_p_test
is
--v_var varchar2(50) := 'bbbb' ;
begin
null;
--dbms_output.put_line(pk_p_test.v_var);
dbms_output.put_line(pk_test.v_var);
dbms_output.put_line(*v_var*);
end;
end;
declare
begin
pk_test.v_var := 'qqqqq';
--dbms_output.put_line(pk_test.v_var);
pk_test.pk_p_test() ;
end ;
package is allowing to declare variable having same name in spec and body.
But its not allowing to access. is it bug or .. can we access that variable using some methods

Answer 1

Ah, I think I can see what you are saying.
Yes, it can be declared in either place, or even declared in both places, but it shouldn't be declared in both.
One is a "public" state variable and the other is a "private" state variable, so when it creates the package state, they are both marked differently within the state and therefore unique, hence it compiles.
The public one can be accessed from outside the package, because it's clear to Oracle which is being referred to...
SQL> create or replace package pk_test as
  2  v_var varchar2(50);
  3  procedure pk_p_test;
  4  end ;
  5  /
Package created.
SQL> ed
Wrote file afiedt.buf
  1  create or replace package body pk_test as
  2    v_var varchar2(50) := 'aaa';
  3    procedure pk_p_test is
  4    begin
  5      null;
  6    end;
  7* end;
SQL> /
Package body created.
SQL> exec pk_test.v_var := 'aaa';
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> set serverout on
SQL> exec dbms_output.put_line(pk_test.v_var);
aaa
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.However if you try and access the variable from inside the package, the body is able to reference both the public and private variables, so it doesn't know which one to use. Hence the compilation error previously seen.
It's not a bug, because the packages are being flexible to allow for public and private variables, but what you are experiencing just indicates poor package design and lack of understanding of package state variables.