Oracle SQLPlus [Electronic resources] : The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition نسخه متنی

Structure of This Book

This book is divided into fourteen chapters and two appendixes. Many
chapters are task-oriented and show you how you can use SQL*Plus to
perform common tasks such as printing a report, or extracting data to
a file. The appendixes contain reference material, such as a list of
all SQL*Plus commands.

Chapter 1, goes into more detail about what
SQL*Plus really is and why you should master it. It gives you a taste
of the many different tasks SQL*Plus can be used for. A short history
of SQL*Plus is included, as well as a description of the database
used for many of the examples in this book, particularly the
reporting examples.

Chapter 2, shows you how to start command-line
SQL*Plus, and how to enter, execute, and edit commands. This is basic
information you need to know.

Chapter 3, is all new, and shows you the basics
of interacting with i SQL*Plus, a three-tier
application you access through any standard web browser. Now you can
access SQL*Plus from anywhere, without having to first install Oracle
software on your client.

Chapter 4, is another new chapter, and one that
you'll want to read if SQL is new to you. It
provides a swift and fast-paced introduction to the basic SQL
statements used in retrieving, modifying, and deleting data in a
database. Once you've been introduced to the core
statements, the chapter goes on to cover key points about
transactions, walks you through the treacherous territory of the null
value (which isn't a value at all), and explains
common operations such as table joins and union queries.

Chapter 5, introduces the reporting features of
SQL*Plus, and presents a step-by-step method for creating a report
that has worked well for me.

Chapter 6, is an exciting new chapter, or at
least it was for me to write. This chapter shows some of the
incredible things you can do using SET MARKUP to invoke
SQL*Plus's ability to generate HTML output. As I
researched and wrote this chapter, I was pleasantly surprised at the
great-looking web reports that I could produce using SQL*Plus. It was
great fun watching my old friend SQL*Plus generate such good-looking
HTML.

Chapter 7, picks up where Chapter 5 leaves off, and shows you how to use the
more advanced reporting features of SQL*Plus to generate totals and
subtotals, generate grand totals, place the date and other values
into page headers, format object columns, and produce summary reports
that show only totals, subtotals, and the like, but no detail.
You'll see an interesting way in which you can use
SQL's UNION operator to combine the results from
several queries into one report.

Chapter 8, explains the basic scripting
capabilities of SQL*Plus. Primarily, this chapter shows how SQL*Plus
substitution variables work, and how you can use them to your
advantage. In addition, it covers the subject of getting input from a
user, and shows you how to control the output the user sees as the
script is executed.

Chapter 9, shows how you can use SQL*Plus to
extract data from an Oracle database and place it into a text file
suitable for loading into another program such as a spreadsheet. This
text file may be delimitedby commas, for exampleor may
consist of fixed-width columns. You'll also learn
how to use SQL*Loader to reload the data. The chapter ends with an
example showing the use of the relatively new external table feature
introduced in Oracle9 i Database.

Chapter 10, shows how you can query
Oracle's data dictionary tables to see the structure
of commonly used database objects, such as tables and indexes.

Chapter 11, builds on Chapter 8, but covers some advanced, and sometimes
unusual, scripting techniques. This chapter introduces bind
variables, and explains how they differ from user variables. This
chapter also shows some creative techniques you can use to add some
limited branching, and even some looping, to your SQL*Plus scripts.

Chapter 12, presents the SQL*Plus features that
support the tuning of SQL statements. Also covered in this chapter is
Oracle's EXPLAIN PLAN statement, which gives you a
look at the execution strategy that the Oracle optimizer will use for
any given SQL statement.

Chapter 13, introduces a security feature that a
database administrator can use to limit what a user can do with
SQL*Plus. The product user profile allows you to turn off specific
SQL statements and SQL*Plus commands for one user or a group of
users. It can be used to limit a user's access to
certain roles while connected via SQL*Plus.

Chapter 14, shows a number of ways in which you
may customize your SQL*Plus environment. The site and user profiles
are explained, as well as several environment settings that affect
SQL*Plus's behavior.

Appendix A, contains syntax diagrams for all
SQL*Plus commands.

Appendix B, describes the various format
elements that may be used to build up format strings to be used with
commands, such as COLUMN and ACCEPT, that format output or accept
user input.