Oracle® Database SQL Reference 10g Release 2 (10.2) Part Number B14200-01 |
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Purpose
Use the CREATE
TYPE
BODY
to define or implement the member methods defined in the object type specification. You create object types with the CREATE
TYPE
and the CREATE
TYPE
BODY
statements. The CREATE
TYPE
statement specifies the name of the object type, its attributes, methods, and other properties. The CREATE
TYPE
BODY
statement contains the code for the methods that implement the type.
For each method specified in an object type specification for which you did not specify the call_spec,
you must specify a corresponding method body in the object type body.
Note: If you create a SQLJ object type, then specify it as a Java class. |
Prerequisites
Every member declaration in the CREATE
TYPE
specification for object types must have a corresponding construct in the CREATE
TYPE
or CREATE
TYPE
BODY
statement.
To create or replace a type body in your own schema, you must have the CREATE
TYPE
or the CREATE
ANY
TYPE
system privilege. To create an object type in another user's schema, you must have the CREATE
ANY
TYPE
system privilege. To replace an object type in another user's schema, you must have the DROP
ANY
TYPE
system privilege.
Syntax
create_type_body::=
(subprogram_declaration::=, map_order_func_declaration::=)
subprogram_declaration::=
procedure_declaration::=
function_declaration::=
constructor_declaration::=
map_order_func_declaration::=
call_spec::=
Java_declaration::=
C_declaration::=
Semantics
Specify OR
REPLACE
to re-create the type body if it already exists. Use this clause to change the definition of an existing type body without first dropping it.
Users previously granted privileges on the re-created object type body can use and reference the object type body without being granted privileges again.
You can use this clause to add new member subprogram definitions to specifications added with the ALTER
TYPE
... REPLACE
statement.
schema
Specify the schema to contain the type body. If you omit schema
, then the database creates the type body in your current schema.
type_name
Specify the name of an object type.
subprogram_declaration
Specify the type of function or procedure subprogram associated with the object type specification.
You must define a corresponding method name and optional parameter list in the object type specification for each procedure or function declaration. For functions, you also must specify a return type.
procedure_declaration, function_declaration, Declare a procedure or function subprogram.
constructor_declaration Declare a user-defined constructor subprogram. The RETURN
clause of a constructor function must be RETURN
SELF
AS
RESULT
. This setting indicates that the most specific type of the value returned by the constructor function is the same as the most specific type of the SELF
argument that was passed in to the constructor function.
See Also:
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pl/sql_block Declare the procedure or function.
call_spec Specify the call specification (call spec) that maps a Java or C method name, parameter types, and return type to their SQL counterparts.
The Java_declaration
string identifies the Java implementation of the method.
See Also:
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map_order_func_declaration
You can declare either one MAP
method or one ORDER
method, regardless of how many MEMBER
or STATIC
methods you declare. If you declare either a MAP
or ORDER
method, then you can compare object instances in SQL.
If you do not declare either method, you can compare object instances only for equality or inequality. Instances of the same type definition are equal only if each pair of their corresponding attributes is equal.
Specify MAP
MEMBER
to declare or implement a MAP
member function that returns the relative position of a given instance in the ordering of all instances of the object. A MAP
method is called implicitly and specifies an ordering of object instances by mapping them to values of a predefined scalar type. PL/SQL uses the ordering to evaluate Boolean expressions and to perform comparisons.
If the argument to the MAP
method is null, then the MAP
method returns null and the method is not invoked.
An object type body can contain only one MAP
method, which must be a function. The MAP
function can have no arguments other than the implicit SELF
argument.
Specify ORDER
MEMBER
to specify an ORDER
member function that takes an instance of an object as an explicit argument and the implicit SELF
argument and returns either a negative integer, zero, or a positive integer, indicating that the implicit SELF
argument is less than, equal to, or greater than the explicit argument, respectively.
If either argument to the ORDER
method is null, then the ORDER
method returns null and the method is not invoked.
When instances of the same object type definition are compared in an ORDER
BY
clause, Oracle Database invokes the ORDER
MEMBER
function_declaration
.
An object specification can contain only one ORDER
method, which must be a function having the return type NUMBER
.
function_declaration Declare a function subprogram. Please refer to CREATE PROCEDURE and CREATE FUNCTION for the full syntax with all possible clauses.
AS EXTERNAL AS
EXTERNAL
is an alternative way of declaring a C method. This clause has been deprecated and is supported for backward compatibility only. Oracle recommends that you use the call_spec
syntax with the C_declaration
.
Several examples of creating type bodies appear in the "Examples" section of CREATE TYPE. For an example of re-creating a type body, please refer to "Adding a Member Function: Example" in the documentation on ALTER
TYPE
.