Oracle

Explore Oracle 10g's updated sample schemas

Each new release of Oracle database brings with it new features to explore. It can be a challenge to create adequate sample tables to play with a given feature. Read more »

Control null data in Oracle using the ORDER BY clause

NULL data, which is sometimes called "absent" data, can be difficult to work with in relational databases. Learn how to control null data in Oracle using the ORDER BY clause. Read more »

Understanding roles in Oracle-stored procedures

Permissions in Oracle granted indirectly via roles are not available when compiling stored procedures, functions, and packages. Direct grants are required when creating these objects in the database. Read more »

Set named restore points for easier flashback in Oracle 10gR2

The MERGE statement, introduced in Oracle 9i Release 2, is often called an "upsert" because it can both update and insert rows in the same pass. Rows that don't already exist in the data warehouse are inserted, and rows that do exist are updated. Read more »

Switching Oracle Portal to a new database is easier than Oracle Tech Support says

If you do not have to support an Oracle Portal, consider yourself lucky. We recently ran into a problem that forced us to quickly move to a new metadata database. Read more »

Avoid Oracle Portal at all costs

If your boss ever brings up the subject of Oracle Portal, you should run screaming from the building. It is easily one of the buggiest pieces of software I have ever encountered. Read more »

Sometimes a variables table is better than hard coding into a package

When writing PL/SQL packages, there are times where it’s better to store a variable in a table instead of coding it into the package. It’s most useful for a variable that you might want to change fairly often. Read more »

Capture an Oracle 10g audit trail in XML format

The Oracle database has long had the ability to audit selected types of operations against the database, storing the audit trail in a system table. This table, SYS.AUD$, resides in the data dictionary. On some operating systems, you can also write audit records to the operating system's own event logging subsystem. Read more »

Three ways to avoid Case Not Found errors in PL/SQL

Unlike some languages, PL/SQL's CASE statement generates an error if none of the cases are matched. We present three ways to code around this error. Read more »

Sending blob attachments in e-mail with utl_smtp

Last time, I showed how to send an HTML-formatted e-mail from an Oracle PL/SQL application using utl_smtp. I promised I would extend the package a little with a second method that allows you to send Binary Large OBject (blob) attachments in the e-mails. Read more »

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    I recently wrote an introduction to the Google Web Toolkit based on Lars Rasmussen's session at the Google Developer Day 2008 in Sydney. Following the introductory session Lars gave us a deeper insight into GWT, particularly what's new in version 1.5. Read more »

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