Re: a need to store a few rows of data before final output

On 24 Sep 2004 20:53:18 -0700, rafel.coyle_at_pfshouston.com (UnixUser) wrote:

>I need to write a pl/sql block that will allow me to select a small
>quantity of rows from a table. These rows need to be manipulated with
>some further processing and finally all of the rows need to be
>returned from the procedure. I am using Delphi with Oracle 8I. If
>you cannot post a complete example please give me a book reference,
>link or somethink that I can follow without having to post back and
>forth 5 or 10 times.

 The feature that sounds like it matches most closely is Pipelined Table Functions, but they're only available from 9i.

 What's the nature of the manipulation and processing; can it not be done in an SQL statement?

 Other things to look up could perhaps be Global Temporary Tables and Ref Cursors (do your data munging in a global temporary table, and then return a ref cursor selecting that data). Or return a PL/SQL table type - if your Delphi interface supports this type.

-- 
Andy Hassall / <andy@andyh.co.uk> / <http://www.andyh.co.uk>
<http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space> Space: disk usage analysis tool