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Home -> Community -> Usenet -> c.d.o.server -> Re: Calling C programs from stored procs/functions
In article <32F77DB1.6BB_at_not.got.one.yet>, justin_at_not.got.one.yet wrote:
> DMK42 wrote:
> >
> > Is it possible to invoke a C program from PL/SQL? In particular I'd like
> > to call a C program from a stored proc. or function (V 7.1, soon to
> > upgrade to 7.3), If possible I'd like to pass parameters to the program
> > and get data back from it.
> >
> > If the program can't be called directly perhaps PL/SQL can invoke an OS
> > command (AIX in my case) and run the program from the OS command line. Is
> > this approach possible?
> >
> > I haven't been able to find anything on this in the Oracle documentaion or
> > 3rd party PL/SQL texts.
> >
> > Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Don Kaskowitz
> > Oracle DBA
> > kaskow_at_vitek.com
>
> Try creating a Pro*C daemon that looks for requests to run specific
> programs (passing data to this Pro*C daemon can be done in a number of
> ways, DBMS_PIPE, DBMS_ALERT, UTL_FILE, or plain old table). The Pro*C
> daemon can do a fork() and exec() and spawn your required
> program/executable. Getting data back can be a little more difficult.
> Write return parameters to files or using plain return codes to the
> calling parent process (being your new Pro*C daemon). If these calling
> programs are Pro*C programs then you can use DBMS_PIPE, or pop the
> result in a table.
>
> Note : Make sure you disconnect from the database before doing the
> fork()/exec(). Because fork and exec freaks out your oracle shadow
> process.
>
> Note : Another difficulty may be in getting your PL/SQL program to wait
> for the C program to run, try using DBMS_ALERT.
>
> Cheer
>
> Justin
Returning the data is no problem either, just create a unique pipe for the session. When reading from the pipe, your caller will be blocked.
Ronald.
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