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Plsql - Records

A PL/SQL record is a data structure that can hold data items of different kinds. Records consist of different fields, similar to a row of a database table.

For example, you want to keep track of your books in a library. You might want to track the following attributes about each book like, Title, Author, Subject, Book ID. A record containing a field for each of these items allows treating a BOOK as a logical unit and allows you to organize and represent its information in a better way.

PL/SQL can handle the following types of records:

Table-based
Cursor-based records
User-defined records

Table-Based Records

The %ROWTYPE attribute enables a programmer to create table-based and cursor-based records.

The following example would illustrate the concept of table-based records. We will be using the CUSTOMERS table we had created and used in the previous chapters:

DECLARE
customer_rec customers%rowtype;
BEGIN
SELECT * into customer_rec
FROM customers
WHERE id = 5;
dbms_output.put_line('Customer ID: ' || customer_rec.id);
dbms_output.put_line('Customer Name: ' || customer_rec.name);
dbms_output.put_line('Customer Address: ' || customer_rec.address);
dbms_output.put_line('Customer Salary: ' || customer_rec.salary);
END;
/

When the above code is executed at SQL prompt, it produces the following result:

Customer ID: 5
Customer Name: Hardik
Customer Address: Bhopal
Customer Salary: 9000
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Cursor-Based Records

The following example would illustrate the concept of cursor-based records. We will be using the CUSTOMERS table we had created and used in the previous chapters:

DECLARE
CURSOR customer_cur is
SELECT id, name, address
FROM customers;
customer_rec customer_cur%rowtype;
BEGIN
OPEN customer_cur;
LOOP
FETCH customer_cur into customer_rec;
EXIT WHEN customer_cur%notfound;
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(customer_rec.id || ' '
|| customer_rec.name);
END
LOOP; END;
/

When the above code is executed at SQL prompt, it produces the following result:

1 Ramesh
2 Khilan
3 kaushik
4 Chaitali
5 Hardik
6 Komal
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

User-Defined Records

PL/SQL provides a user-defined record type that allows you to define different record structures. Records consist of different fields. Suppose you want to keep track of your books in a library. You might want to track the following attributes about each book:

Title
Author
Subject
Book ID

Defining a Record

The record type is defined as:

TYPE
type_name IS RECORD
( field_name1 datatype1 [NOT NULL] [:= DEFAULT EXPRESSION],
field_name2 datatype2 [NOT NULL] [:= DEFAULT EXPRESSION],
...
field_nameN datatypeN [NOT NULL] [:= DEFAULT EXPRESSION);
record-name type_name;

Here is the way you would declare the Book record:

DECLARE
TYPE books IS RECORD
(title varchar(50),
author varchar(50),
subject varchar(100),
book_id number);
book1 books;
book2 books;

Accessing Fields

To access any field of a record, we use the dot (.) operator. The member access operator is coded as a period between the record variable name and the field that we wish to access. Following is the example to explain usage of record:

DECLARE
type books is record
(title varchar(50),
author varchar(50),
subject varchar(100),
book_id number);
book1 books;
book2 books;
BEGIN
-- Book 1 specification
book1.title := 'C Programming';
book1.author := 'Nuha Ali ';
book1.subject := 'C Programming Tutorial';
book1.book_id := 6495407;
-- Book 2 specification
book2.title := 'Telecom Billing';
book2.author := 'Zara Ali';
book2.subject := 'Telecom Billing
Tutorial'; book2.book_id := 6495700;
-- Print book 1 record
dbms_output.put_line('Book 1 title : '|| book1.title);
dbms_output.put_line('Book 1 author : '|| book1.author);
dbms_output.put_line('Book 1 subject : '|| book1.subject);
dbms_output.put_line('Book 1 book_id : ' || book1.book_id);
-- Print book 2 record
dbms_output.put_line('Book 2 title : '|| book2.title);
dbms_output.put_line('Book 2 author : '|| book2.author);
dbms_output.put_line('Book 2 subject : '|| book2.subject);
dbms_output.put_line('Book 2 book_id : '|| book2.book_id);
END;
/

When the above code is executed at SQL prompt, it produces the following result:

Book 1 title : C Programming
Book 1 author : Nuha Ali
Book 1 subject : C Programming Tutorial
Book 1 book_id : 6495407
Book 2 title : Telecom Billing
Book 2 author : Zara Ali
Book 2 subject : Telecom Billing Tutorial
Book 2 book_id : 6495700
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Records as Subprogram Parameters

You can pass a record as a subprogram parameter in very similar way as you pass any other variable. You would access the record fields in the similar way as you have accessed in the above example:

DECLARE
type books is record
(title varchar(50),
author varchar(50),
subject varchar(100),
book_id number);
book1 books;
book2 books;
PROCEDURE printbook (book books) IS
BEGIN
dbms_output.put_line ('Book title : ' || book.title);
dbms_output.put_line('Book author : ' || book.author);
dbms_output.put_line( 'Book subject : ' || book.subject);
dbms_output.put_line( 'Book book_id : ' || book.book_id);
END;
BEGIN
-- Book 1 specification
book1.title := 'C Programming';
book1.author := 'Nuha Ali ';
book1.subject := 'C Programming Tutorial';
book1.book_id := 6495407;
-- Book 2 specification
book2.title := 'Telecom Billing';
book2.author := 'Zara Ali';
book2.subject := 'Telecom Billing
Tutorial'; book2.book_id := 6495700;
-- Use procedure to print book
info printbook(book1);
printbook(book2)
; END;
/

When the above code is executed at SQL prompt, it produces the following result:

Book title : C Programming
Book author : Nuha Ali
Book subject : C Programming Tutorial
Book book_id : 6495407
Book title : Telecom Billing
Book author : Zara Ali
Book subject : Telecom Billing Tutorial
Book book_id : 6495700
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

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Plsql - Records