Stored proc parameters referencing in code

Question

Hi,
Quick question ...
I want my stored proc to accept two parameters : a source table name and a destination table name. The stored proc's goal is to update the destingation table with data in the source table.
Here is my code :
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE UPDATE_FPSYNTHESE (
sourcetable IN VARCHAR2,
targettable IN VARCHAR2
IS
BEGIN
INSERT INTO targettable (SELECT * FROM sourcetable WHERE id NOT IN (SELECT id FROM targettable));
UPDATE targettable SET name = (select name from sourcetable where targettable.id = sourcetable.id);
END;
Here's when I want to create it :
Errors for PROCEDURE UPDATE_FPSYNTHESE:
LINE/COL ERROR
10/1 PL/SQL: SQL Statement ignored
10/40 PL/SQL: ORA-00942: table or view does not exist
11/1 PL/SQL: SQL Statement ignored
11/8 PL/SQL: ORA-00942: table or view does not exist
Warning: Procedure created with compilation errors.
It doesn't seem to dereference the parameters ...
what am I doing wrong ?
Thanks in advance,
Best regards,
Steve

Answer 1

If the source and target tables must be dynamic, you would have to use dynamic SQL
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE update_fpsynthese (
  sourcetable IN VARCHAR2,
  targettable IN VARCHAR2 )
AS
  sqlStmt VARCHAR2(4000);
BEGIN
  sqlStmt := 'INSERT INTO ' || targettable ||
             ' (SELECT * ' ||
             '    FROM ' || sourcetable ||
             '   WHERE id NOT IN (SELECT id ' ||
             '                      FROM ' || targettable || '))';
  EXECUTE IMMEDIATE sqlStmt;
END;Since you are building up strings and executing them, you'll also have to worry about things like SQL injection attacks. You also lose compile-time syntax checking and generally complicate your life from a development & maintenance perspective. Are there really that many tables that you need to do this procedure with?
Justin
Distributed Database Consulting, Inc.
http://www.ddbcinc.com/askDDBC