Use OCIDescribeAny to describe Procedure in a package?

Question

I used the following code retrieve the parameter information for
procedures:
OCIDescribeAny(svchp, errhp, objptr, objp_len, OCI_OTYPE_NAME,0,
          OCI_PTYPE_PROC, deschp);
if (OCIAttrGet(deschp, OCI_HTYPE_DESCRIBE, &parmh, 0,
OCI_ATTR_PARAM, errhp))
          return ;
     if (OCIAttrGet(parmh, OCI_DTYPE_PARAM, &arglst, 0,
OCI_ATTR_LIST_ARGUMENTS, errhp))
          return ;
     if (OCIAttrGet(arglst,OCI_DTYPE_PARAM, &numargs, 0,
OCI_ATTR_NUM_PARAMS, errhp))
          return ;
If I pass a procedure which exists in a package, I will get a
object does not exist error. How can I describe a procedure in a
package using OCIDescribeAny ? Thanks.

Answer 1

I tested it in the SQL Worksheet (rather than the PL/SQL editor), but I see the same behaviour as you when I try with your example in the PL/SQL editor. A little testing suggests that the problem is that the completion insight doesn't understand the context of where it is in the PL/SQL and so doesn't know what options to list.
If I try adding the end for the new procedure and then going back to after the "(":procedure Proc_test_call
is
begin
pkg_test2.proc_test2(
end proc_test_call;I just get begin and declare as options - ie completion insight thinks I am no longer in scope of the package (as other package components not listed) and starting a new block.
If I try adding an assignment before the procedure call (not logical, I know, but I had been testing with a function in my schema):procedure Proc_test_call
is
begin
  result := pkg_test2.proc_test2(I get what we should (parameters for proc_test2 and local scope items).
Your workaround of adding the closing backet for the procedure call helps the completion insight understand the context of where it is and so it can give the right options.
I have previously avoided parameter completion insight as earlier versions had big performance problems when connected to a schema with a large number of PL/SQL objects (our main schema has 5.5 million records in all_arguments), but the performance has certainly been fixed. However, the PL/SQL editor still seems pretty hit and miss as to whether the parameter completion insight works, which seems largely to be because it doesn't always the context of where it is in the PL/SQL.
theFurryOne