Re: PL/SQL - system calls, random numbers and milliseconds

jwingram_at_whale.st.usm.edu (Jonathan Wayne Ingram) wrote:

>: iwa_at_csi.nb.ca (Ian Allen) wrote:
>: >Hi,
>: >
>: >Does anybody know how to do system call within pl/sql?
>To my knowledge this can't be done, without a Pro*C program
>running and receiving signals from stored procedures via
>Oracle signals and pipes. Oracle doesn't seem to care
>that this is a popular request. Analysts have readily
>admitted over the phone that a host command usable from
>inside stored PL/SQL is one of the more popular requests.
 

>: >Also is it possible to generate random numbers other than using the
>: >time?
>Not that I am aware of.
 

>: >Is it possible to get millisecond in pl/sql?
>In a sense....use the DBMS_Utility.Get_Time function to
>retrieve the timestamp from the database, which returns
>in hundreths of a second since some odd date.
 

>CAUTION: This timestamp rolls over to negative values
>every 497 days, at least on the HP UX version.
>Oracle's weirdness again.
 

>Hope this has been some help. It sounds like you should
>just use Pro*C to do these things....
 

>Jonathan

According to the IOUG-A (International Oracle Users Group - Americas) Product Enhancement Requests Version 1.0 book, enhancement number 155611 will allow OS commands to be performed via PL/SQL. The book also noted that this enhancement request has been accepted for future release - Version 7.3.

Regards,
Steve

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