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Saving the World from Fat-finger moments – with regexp_like
It’s not uncommon for a database application to have it’s behaviour defined, to an extent at least, by records in reference data tables.By it’s nature, this data is static and the tables in which it...
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DETERMINISTIC and RESULT_CACHE PL/SQL functions
Recent events here in the UK have once again emphasised the value of being careful with your “cache”. To this end, I’m going to take a look at how PL/SQL functions defined using the DETERMINISTIC or...
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Generating Journal Triggers with help from DBMS_UTILITY
It’s good to see modern working practices being implemented in Government, especially in Downing Street, where they seem to have embraced the idea of hot-desking.Not to say there isn’t room for...
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Flipping Plans ! Retrieving past execution plans from AWR
SQL is a special programming language.It’s quite possible that I’ll be interrupted at this point by some Tech Bro arguing that SQL is not a programming language actually. The phrase “Turing Complete”...
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Building a Master-Detail Drill-Down with APEX
APEX is one of those technologies that I get to use intensively for a short period of time and then don’t touch for years.As I’ve recently acquired an OCI Free Tier Database (version 19c) and,...
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Converting a non-partitioned table to partitioned in Oracle
Teddy tells me that his New Year’s Resolution is to teach an old dog new tricks.I’ve no idea which particular “Old Dog” he has in mind. Anyway, it looks like 2023 is going to be The Year of The...
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Conditionally calling a script in a SQL*Plus control script
For those of us who haven’t quite gotten around to incorporating Liquibase in our database code release pipeline, we sometimes find ourselves in a situation where it would be extremely useful to be...
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The Oracle SQL Limit Clause and teaching a New Dog Old Tricks
It’s been a few weeks now and I’ve finally gotten over England’s latest World Cup penalty drama.I’m not so sure about Teddy though… “Merde !” Anyhow, he has decided that I need to know about the SQL...
View ArticleFORALL DML – why context isn’t everything
This post is the latest in an occasional series on the theme of stuff that doesn’t work quite how I thought it did. It is the result of finding out the fun way that, rather than being “much faster”...
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Loading selected fields from a delimited file into Oracle using an External...
If you’ve dealt with ETL processes for any length of time, sooner or later, you’ll be faced with the need to load data from a delimited file into your database.In the case of Oracle, External Tables...
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Loading data into Oracle directly from compressed or enrcypted files
Whilst it’s not uncommon to transfer data between systems by means of text files, the files themselves often turn-up in a binary format.They may have been compressed or even encrypted before...
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(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Query !) – the easy way to use External...
Since the days when dinosaurs roamed the Earth – and I realised that programming was indoor work with little physical effort – the CSV file has been an ETL workhouse in the world of Data...
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The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and… how big is my Oracle Table ?
At a time when the debate rages about how much you should trust what AI tells you, it’s probably worth recalling Deep Thought’s wildly incorrect assertion that the answer to the Ultimate Question of...
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The Oracle Database Features Site – reducing Oracle Documentation Drudgery
If there’s one thing Teddy approves of it’s eating you’re own Dog Food…although, he does appreciate the value of a varied diet… Some nameless heroes in the Oracle Documentation Team seem to agree and...
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Happy Hatters and Oracle Interval Partitioning
I wouldn’t say that Simon is obsessed about Luton Town FC, but he has been known to express his affection through the medium of creosote : Needless to say, he’s quite looking forward to next season as...
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Things that make you go VAAARRRGGGHHHH ! – ORA-38104 in a Stored Program Unit
I do have some empathy with Lauren James getting quite cross at work.OK, it’s not as pressurised as striving to reach a World Cup Quarter Final, but I am known to become somewhat annoyed when Oracle...
View ArticleCut-and-Paste-Driven-Development – Using utPLSQL to build a test harness in...
If you’re working on a Decision Support System (DSS) then sooner or later you’re likely to need to create or change a package which runs as part of a lengthy batch process.In such cirumstances, it...
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Dr Who and Oracle SQL Pivot
Dr Who recently celebrated it’s 60th Anniversary and the BBC marked the occasion by making all episodes since 1963 available to stream.This has given me the opportunity to relive those happy childhood...
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Using STANDARD_HASH to generate synthetic key values
In Oracle, identity columns are a perfect way of generating a synthetic key value as the underlying sequence will automatically provide you with a unique value every time it’s invoked, pretty much...
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Using the APEX_DATA_EXPORT package directly from PL/SQL
As Data Warehouse developers, there is frequently a need for us to produce user reports in a variety of formats (ok, Excel).Often these reports are the output of processes running as part of an...
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