Preface

This book is a comprehensive user's guide and reference for SQL*Module, an Oracle application development tool.

This Guide includes a complete description of Module Language, an ANSI/ISO SQL standard for developing applications that access data stored in a relational database. Module Language uses parameterized procedures to encapsulate SQL statements. The procedures can then be called from an Ada application.

This Guide also describes how you can use SQL*Module to call PL/SQL procedures stored in an Oracle database. A number of complete examples using Module Language, Ada code, and stored database procedures are provided.

This Preface contains these topics:

• Intended Audience

• Documentation Accessibility

• Structure

• Related Documents

• Conventions

Intended Audience

Oracle SQL*Module for Ada Programmer's Guide is intended for systems architects, analysts, and developers who are writing large-scale applications that access an Oracle Server. Chapter 1 of this Guide can also be used by managers who need to determine if SQL*Module is an appropriate tool for a planned project.

To use this Guide effectively, you need a working knowledge of the following topics:

• applications programming in Ada

• the SQL database language

• Oracle database concepts and terminology

Familiarity with SQL-standard Module Language is not a prerequisite. This Guide fully documents Module Language.

Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For additional information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at

http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/

Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

JAWS, a Windows screen reader, may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, JAWS may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation

This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.

Standards Conformance

SQL*Module conforms to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Standards Organization (ISO) standards for Module Language. This includes complete conformance with Chapter 7 of ANSI document X3.135-1989, Database Language SQL with Integrity Enhancement.

In addition, SQL*Module conforms to the "Entry SQL" subset of the SQL92 standard, as defined in Chapter 12 of the ANSI Document X3.135-1992.

Note: SQL92 is known officially as International Standard ISO/IEC 9075:1992, Database Language SQL.

SQL*Module supports the Ada83 language standard for Ada.

Oracle has also implemented extensions to the SQL language and to Module Language. This Guide describes both the SQL standard Module Language and the complete set of Oracle extensions. SQL*Module provides an option, called the FIPS flagger, which flags all non-standard extensions to SQL and to Module Language, as mandated by the Federal Information Processing Standard for Database Language SQL, FIPS publication 127-1. This publication is available from

National Technical Information Service US Department of Commerce Springfield VA 22161 U.S.A

Structure

This document contains:

Chapter 1, " Introduction to SQL*Module"

This chapter introduces you to Oracle's Module Language compiler. You learn what SQL*Module is, when it is appropriate to use SQL*Module for a project, and what features the SQL*Module compiler offers. The chapter also provides an overview showing how to develop an application using SQL*Module.

Chapter 2, " Module Language"

This chapter documents SQL standard Module Language, and also describes the Oracle extensions to the Module Language standard.

Chapter 3, " Accessing Stored Procedures"

This chapter describes how to use SQL*Module to generate code output files that contain interface procedures (stubs) used to call PL/SQL procedures stored in an Oracle database.

Chapter 4, " Developing the Ada Application"

This chapter describes the steps you take to develop an application using SQL*Module. This chapter also includes a sample application in Module Language. The Module Language code and the SQL scripts that build the sample database are listed; they are also available on-line, in the demo directory.

Chapter 5, " Running SQL*Module"

This chapter tells you how to invoke SQL*Module, what input and output files are required and are generated, and describes all the command-line options.

Chapter 6, " Demonstration Programs"

This chapter describes Ada-specific aspects of using SQL*Module, including parameter passing conventions and binding of Ada datatypes to SQL datatypes. This chapter also contains several sample programs that call stored procedures and Module Language procedures.

Appendix A, " New Features"

This appendix provides lists of new statements and other new features in release 8.0.

Appendix B, " Module Language Syntax"

This appendix presents the formal syntax of Module Language using syntax diagrams.

Appendix C, " Reserved Words"

This appendix lists the keywords and reserved words that you cannot use for names of modules, cursors, procedures, and procedure parameters in a Module Language application.

Appendix D, " SQLSTATE Codes"

This appendix contains a table of the SQLSTATE codes.

Appendix E, " System-Specific References"

This appendix contains a list of all system-dependent aspects of SQL*Module for Ada that are mentioned elsewhere in this guide.

Related Documents

Printed documentation is available for sale in the Oracle Store at

http://oraclestore.oracle.com/

To download free release notes, installation documentation, white papers, or other collateral, please visit the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). You must register online before using OTN; registration is free and can be done at

http://otn.oracle.com/membership/

If you already have a username and password for OTN, then you can go directly to the documentation section of the OTN Web site at

http://otn.oracle.com/documentation/

Conventions

This section describes the conventions used in the text and code examples of this documentation set. It describes:

• Conventions in Text

• Conventions in Code Examples

The style of the Ada Language Reference Manual is generally followed: reserved words are lowercase, identifiers are uppercase. In running text, reserved words are bold and identifiers are uppercase. Filenames are lowercase.

Additionally, we use various conventions in text to help you more quickly identify special terms. The following table describes those conventions and provides examples of their use.

Code examples illustrate SQL, PL/SQL, SQL*Plus, or other command-line statements. They are displayed in a monospace (fixed-width) font and separated from normal text as shown in this example:

SELECT username FROM dba_users WHERE username = 'MIGRATE';

The following table describes typographic conventions used in code examples and provides examples of their use.

[ ]

DECIMAL (digits [ , precision ])

{ }

{ENABLE | DISABLE}

|

{ENABLE | DISABLE}
[COMPRESS | NOCOMPRESS]

...

CREATE TABLE ... AS subquery;

SELECT col1, col2, ... , coln FROM employees;

.
 .
 .

SQL> SELECT NAME FROM V$DATAFILE;
NAME
------------------------------------
/fsl/dbs/tbs_01.dbf
/fs1/dbs/tbs_02.dbf
.
.
.
/fsl/dbs/tbs_09.dbf
9 rows selected.

acctbal NUMBER(11,2);
acct    CONSTANT NUMBER(4) := 3;

Italics

CONNECT SYSTEM/system_password
DB_NAME = database_name

UPPERCASE

SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM employees;
SELECT * FROM USER_TABLES;
DROP TABLE hr.employees;

lowercase

SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM employees;
sqlplus hr/hr
CREATE USER mjones IDENTIFIED BY ty3MU9;