NAME

extproc_perl - Oracle Perl Procedure Library

SYNOPSIS

FUNCTION SYNTAX

select perl_sub('sub1','1','2') from dual;

PROCEDURE SYNTAX

exec perl_sub('sub2','arg1');

DESCRIPTION

extproc_perl enables Oracle stored procedures and functions to be written in Perl. It uses Oracle 8's external procedure interface to create Perl interpreters on the fly to execute Perl subroutines. Code is stored in a central "bootstrap" file that is interpreted after each interpreter is initialized. In the current implementation of Oracle external procedures, the Perl interpreter is persistent for the life of a client session. This has the effect of keeping both interpreted code and data in memory for the life of that particular session.

MODULES

The Oracle external procedure process and DynaLoader do not work well together. In fact, DynaLoader doesn't work at all in this environment. Therefore, in order to use dynamically loaded modules like Socket, hooks for each module need to be compiled into the extproc_perl shared library. This means that for each module you want to use, you must declare it at build time. The Makefile.PL file provides gives you the option of declaring these modules. Note that this restriction does not apply to Perl-only modules, but it's safe to declare them as well during this process -- they will be ignored.

ExtProc is a module that is statically linked into the extproc_perl object. It provides several functions that interact with the Oracle database itself. See the ExtProc(3) manpage for details.

SPECIAL SUBROUTINES

The following subroutines are reserved for extproc_perl, and can be called like any other Perl subroutine from Oracle.

_flush()

Destroys Perl interpreter and all Perl data. A new interpreter will be started for the next query.

_version()

Reports the version of the currently loaded extproc_perl.

AUTHOR

Jeff Horwitz <jeff@smashing.org>

SEE ALSO

perl(1), perlembed(1), ExtProc(3)