12 Object-Relational Datatypes in OCI

OCI Type Mapping Methodology

Oracle followed a distinct design philosophy when specifying the mappings of Oracle predefined types. The current system has the following benefits and advantages:

• The actual representation of datatypes like OCINumber is opaque to client applications, and the datatypes are manipulated with a set of predefined functions. This allows for the internal representation to change to accommodate future enhancements without breaking user code.

• The implementation is consistent with object-oriented paradigms in which class implementation is hidden and only the required operations are exposed.

• This implementation can have advantages for programmers. Consider a C program that wants to manipulate Oracle number variables without losing the accuracy provided by Oracle numbers. To do this in Oracle release 7, you would have had to issue a "SELECT ... FROM DUAL" statement. In later releases, this is accomplished by invoking the OCINumber*() functions

Precision of Oracle Number Operations

Oracle numbers have a precision of 38 decimal digits. All Oracle number operations are accurate to the full precision, with the following exceptions:

• Inverse trigonometric functions are accurate to 28 decimal digits.

• Other transcendental functions, including trigonometric functions, are accurate to approximately 37 decimal digits.

• Conversions to and from native floating-point types have the precision of the relevant floating-point type, not to exceed 38 decimal digits.

Date Example

The following code provides examples of how to manipulate an attribute of type OCIDate using OCI calls. For this example, assume that OCIEnv and OCIError have been initialized as described in Chapter 2, "OCI Programming Basics". See Chapter 14, "Object Advanced Topics in OCI" for information about pinning.

#define FMT "DAY, MONTH DD, YYYY"
#define LANG "American"
struct person
{
OCIDate start_date;
};
typedef struct person person;

OCIError *err;
person *tim;
sword status;                      /* error status */
uword invalid;
OCIDate last_day, next_day;
text buf[100], last_day_buf[100], next_day_buf[100];
ub4 buflen = sizeof(buf);

/* Pin tim person object in the object cache. */
/*  For this example, assume that
/* tim is pointing to the pinned object. */
/* set the start date of tim */

OCIDateSetTime(&tim->start_date,8,0,0);
OCIDateSetDate(&tim->start_date,1990,10,5);

/* check if the date is valid */
if (OCIDateCheck(err, &tim->start_date, &invalid) != OCI_SUCCESS)
/* error handling code */

if (invalid)
/* error handling code */

/* get the last day of start_date's month */
if (OCIDateLastDay(err, &tim->start_date, &last_day) != OCI_SUCCESS)
/* error handling code */

/* get date of next named day */
if (OCIDateNextDay(err, &tim->start_date, "Wednesday",    strlen("Wednesday"),
&next_day) != OCI_SUCCESS)
/* error handling code */
/* convert dates to strings and print the information out */
/* first convert the date itself*/
buflen = sizeof(buf);
if (OCIDateToText(err, &tim->start_date, FMT, sizeof(FMT)-1, LANG,
    sizeof(LANG)-1,             &buflen, buf) != OCI_SUCCESS)
/* error handling code */

/* now the last day of the month */
buflen = sizeof(last_day_buf);
if (OCIDateToText(err, &last_day, FMT, sizeof(FMT)-1, LANG,    sizeof(LANG)-1,
&buflen, last_day_buf) != OCI_SUCCESS)
/* error handling code */

/* now the first Wednesday after this date */
buflen = sizeof(next_day_buf);
if (OCIDateToText(err, &next_day, FMT, sizeof(FMT)-1, LANG,
   sizeof(LANG)-1, &buflen, next_day_buf) != OCI_SUCCESS)
/* error handling code */

/* print out the info */
printf("For: %s\n", buf);
printf("The last day of the month is: %s\n", last_day_buf);
printf("The next Wednesday is: %s\n", next_day_buf);

The output will be:

For: FRIDAY   , OCTOBER   05, 1990
The last day of the month is: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER   31, 1990
The next Wednesday is: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER   10, 1990

Datetime Functions

The following functions operate on OCIDateTime values. Some of these functions also perform arithmetic operations on datetime and interval values. Some functions may only work for certain datetime types. The possible types are:

• SQLT_DATE - DATE

• SQLT_TIMESTAMP - TIMESTAMP

• SQLT_TIMESTAMP_TZ - TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE

• SQLT_TIMESTAMP_LTZ -TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE

See the individual function descriptions for more information about input types which are valid for a particular function.

Datetime Example

The following snippet of code shows how to use an OCIDateTime datatype to select data from a TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE column:

...

/* allocate the program variable for storing the data */
OCIDateTime *tstmpltz = (OCIDateTime *)NULL;

/* Col1 is a timestamp with local time zone column */
OraText *sqlstmt = (OraText *)"SELECT col1 FROM foo";

/* Allocate the descriptor (storage) for the datatype */
status = OCIDescriptorAlloc(envhp,(void  **)&tstmpltz, OCI_DTYPE_TIMESTAMP_LTZ,
         0, (void  **)0);
....

status = OCIStmtPrepare (stmthp, errhp, sqlstmt, (ub4)strlen ((char *)sqlstmt),
         (ub4)OCI_NTV_SYNTAX, (ub4)OCI_DEFAULT);

/* specify the define buffer for col1 */
status = OCIDefineByPos(stmthp, &defnp, errhp, 1, &tstmpltz, sizeof(tstmpltz),
         SQLT_TIMESTAMP_LTZ, 0, 0, 0, OCI_DEFAULT);

/* Execute and Fetch */
OCIStmtExecute(svchp, stmthp, errhp, 1, 0,(OCISnapshot *) NULL,
         (OCISnapshot *)NULL, OCI_DEFAULT)

At this point tstmpltz contains a valid timestamp with local time zone data. You
can get the time zone name of the datetime data using:

status = OCIDateTimeGetTimeZoneName(envhp, errhp, tstmpltz, (ub1 *)buf,
         (ub4 *)&buflen);
...

Interval Functions

The following functions operate exclusively on interval data. In some cases it is necessary to specify the type of interval involved. Possible types include:

• SQLT_INTERVAL_YM - interval year to month

• SQLT_INTERVAL_DS - interval day to second

See the individual function descriptions for more detailed information.

OCINumber Examples

The following two snippets show how to manipulate an attribute of type OCINumber. The second snippet shows how to convert values in OCINumber format returned from OCIDescribeAny() calls to unsigned integers.

/* Example 1  */
struct person
{
OCINumber sal;
};
typedef struct person person;
OCIError *err;
person* steve;
person* scott;
person* jason;
OCINumber  *stevesal;
OCINumber  *scottsal;
OCINumber *debsal;
sword   status;
int     inum;
double  dnum;
OCINumber ornum;
text   buffer[21];
ub4     buflen;
sword   result;

/* For this example, assume OCIEnv and OCIError are initialized. */
/* For this example, assume that steve, scott and jason are pointing to
  person objects which have been pinned in the object cache. */
stevesal = &steve->sal;
scottsal = &scott->sal;
debsal = &jason->sal;

/* initialize steve's salary to be $12,000 */
inum = 12000;
status = OCINumberFromInt(err, &inum, sizeof(inum), OCI_NUMBER_SIGNED,
    stevesal);
if (status != OCI_SUCCESS)  /* handle error from OCINumberFromInt */;

/* initialize scott's salary to be same as steve's */
OCINumberAssign(err, stevesal, scottsal);

/* initialize jason's salary to be 20% more than steve's */
dnum = 1.2;
status = OCINumberFromReal(err, &dnum, sizeof(dnum), &ornum);
if (status != OCI_SUCCESS)  /* handle error from OCINumberFromReal */;
status = OCINumberMul(err, stevesal, &ornum, debsal);
if (status != OCI_SUCCESS)  /* handle error from OCINumberMul */;

/* give scott a 50% raise */
dnum = 1.5;
status = OCINumberFromReal(err, &dnum, sizeof(dnum), &ornum);
if (status != OCI_SUCCESS)  /* handle error from OCINumberFromReal */;
status = OCINumberMul(err, scottsal, &ornum, scottsal);
if (status != OCI_SUCCESS)  /* handle error from OCINumberMul */;

/* double steve's salary */
status = OCINumberAdd(err, stevesal, stevesal, stevesal);
if (status != OCI_SUCCESS)  /* handle error from OCINumberAdd */;

/* get steve's salary in integer */
status = OCINumberToInt(err, stevesal, sizeof(inum), OCI_NUMBER_SIGNED, &inum);
if (status != OCI_SUCCESS)  /* handle error from OCINumberToInt */;

/* inum is set to 24000 */
/* get jason's salary in double */
status = OCINumberToReal(err, debsal, sizeof(dnum), &dnum);
if (status != OCI_SUCCESS)  /* handle error from OCINumberToReal */;

/* dnum is set to 14400 */
/* print scott's salary as DEM0001'8000.00 */
buflen = sizeof(buffer);
status = OCINumberToText(err, scottsal, (text *)"C0999G9999D99", 13,
         (text *)"NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS='.'' NLS_ISO_CURRENCY='Germany'",
         54, &buflen, (text *)buffer);
if (status != OCI_SUCCESS)  /* handle error from OCINumberToText */;
printf("scott's salary = %s\n", buffer);

/* compare steve and scott's salaries */
status = OCINumberCmp(err, stevesal, scottsal, &result);
if (status != OCI_SUCCESS)  /* handle error from OCINumberCmp */;

/* result is positive */
/* read jason's new salary from string */
status = OCINumberFromText(err, (text *)"48'000.00", 9, (text
*)"99G999D99", 9,
    (text *)"NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS='.''", 27, debsal);
if (status != OCI_SUCCESS)  /* handle error from OCINumberFromText */;
/* jason's salary is now 48000.00 */

Here is an example of how to convert a numeric type returned from an OCIDescribeAny() call in OCINumber format, such as OCI_ATTR_MAX or OCI_ATTR_MIN, to an unsigned C integer:

/* Example 2 */
ub4  max_seq_val  = 0;
ub1 *max_valp     = NULL;
ub4  max_val_size;
OCINumber max_val;
    OCINumberSetZero(_errhp, &max_val);
    OCIParam* parmdp = 0;
    status = OCIAttrGet ((void *)_dschp, (ub4)OCI_HTYPE_DESCRIBE, &parmdp, 0,
                         (ub4)OCI_ATTR_PARAM, _errhp);
if (isError (status, _errhp))
{
return 0;
}
status = OCIAttrGet ((void *)parmdp, (ub4)OCI_DTYPE_PARAM, &max_valp,
                     &max_val_size, (ub4)OCI_ATTR_MAX, _errhp);
//create an OCINumber object from the ORACLE NUMBER FORMAT
max_val.OCINumberPart[0] = max_val_size; //set the length byte
memcpy(&max_val.OCINumberPart[1], max_valp, max_val_size); //copy the actual bytes
//now convert max_val to an unsigned C integer, max_seq_val 
status = OCINumberToInt(_errhp, &max_val, sizeof(max_seq_val),
                        OCI_NUMBER_UNSIGNED, &max_seq_val);

String Functions

The following functions allow the C programmer to manipulate an instance of a string.

OCIStringAllocSize()

OCIStringAssign()

OCIStringAssignText()

OCIStringPtr()

OCIStringResize()

OCIStringSize()

String Example

This example assigns a text string to a string, then gets a pointer to the string part of the string, as well as the string size, and prints it out.

Note the double indirection used in passing the vstring1 parameter in OCIStringAssignText().

OCIEnv       *envhp;
OCIError     *errhp;
OCIString     *vstring1 = (OCIString *)0;
OCIString     *vstring2 = (OCIString *)0;
text          c_string[20];
text         *text_ptr;
sword        status;

strcpy((char *)c_string, "hello world");
/* Assign a text string to an OCIString */
status = OCIStringAssignText(envhp, errhp, c_string,
      (ub4)strlen((char *)c_string),&vstring1);
/* Memory for vstring1 is allocated as part of string assignment */

status = OCIStringAssignText(envhp, errhp, (text *)"hello again",
       (ub4)strlen("This is a longer string."),&vstring1);
/* vstring1 is automatically resized to store the longer string */

/* Get a pointer to the string part of vstring1 */
text_ptr = OCIStringPtr(envhp, vstring1);
/* text_ptr now points to "hello world" */
printf("%s\n", text_ptr);

Raw Functions

The following functions perform OCIRaw operations.

OCIRawAllocSize()

OCIRawAssignBytes()

OCIRawAssignRaw()

OCIRawPtr()

OCIRawResize()

OCIRawSize()

Raw Example

In this example, a raw data block is set up and a pointer to its data is obtained.

Note the double indirection in the call to OCIRawAssignBytes().

OCIEnv      *envhp;
OCIError    *errhp;
sword       status;
ub1         data_block[10000];
ub4         data_block_len = 10000;
OCIRaw      *raw1 = (OCIRaw *) 0;
ub1 *raw1_pointer;

/* Set up the RAW */
/* assume 'data_block' has been initialized */
status = OCIRawAssignBytes(envhp, errhp, data_block, data_block_len,
&raw1);

/* Get a pointer to the data part of the RAW */
raw1_pointer = OCIRawPtr(envhp, raw1);

Generic Collection Functions

Oracle provides two types of collections: variable-length arrays (varrays) and nested tables. Both varrays and nested tables can be viewed as sub-types of a generic collection type.

In C, a generic collection is represented as OCIColl *, a varray is represented as OCIArray *, and a nested table as OCITable *. Oracle provides a set of functions to operate on generic collections (such as OCIColl *). These functions start with the prefix OCIColl, as in OCICollGetElem(). The OCIColl*() functions can also be called to operate on varrays and nested tables.

The generic collection functions are grouped into two main categories:

• manipulating varray or nested table data

• scanning through a collection with a collection iterator

The generic collection functions represent a complete set of functions for manipulating varrays. Additional functions are provided to operate specifically on nested tables. They are identified by the prefix OCITable, as in OCITableExists().

Collection Data Manipulation Functions

The following generic functions manipulate collection data:

OCICollAppend()

OCICollAssign()

OCICollAssignElem()

OCICollGetElem()

OCICollGetElemArray()

OCICollIsLocator()

OCICollMax()

OCICollSize()

OCICollTrim()

Collection Scanning Functions

The following generic functions enable you to scan collections with a collection iterator. The iterator is of type OCIIter, and is created by first calling OCIIterCreate().

OCIIterCreate()

OCIIterDelete()

OCIIterGetCurrent()

OCIIterInit()

OCIIterNext()

OCIIterPrev()

Varray/Collection Iterator Example

This example creates and uses a collection iterator to scan through a varray.

OCIEnv       *envhp;
OCIError     *errhp;
text         *text_ptr;
sword        status;
OCIArray     *clients;
OCIString    *client_elem;
OCIIter      *iterator;
boolean      eoc;
void         *elem;
OCIInd       *elemind;

/* Assume envhp, errhp have been initialized */
/* Assume clients points to a varray */

/* Print the elements of clients */
/* To do this, create an iterator to scan the varray */
status = OCIIterCreate(envhp, errhp, clients, &iterator);

/* Get the first element of the clients varray */
printf("Clients' list:\n");
status = OCIIterNext(envhp, errhp, iterator, &elem,
                    (void  **) &elemind, &eoc);

while (!eoc && (status == OCI_SUCCESS))
{
  client_elem = *((OCIString **)elem);
                             /* client_elem points to the string */

 /*
    the element pointer type returned by OCIIterNext() through 'elem' is

    the same as that of OCICollGetElem(). Refer to OCICollGetElem() for
    details.  */

  /*
    client_elem points to an OCIString descriptor, so to print it out,
    get a pointer to where the text begins
  */
  text_ptr = OCIStringPtr(envhp, client_elem);

  /*
    text_ptr now points to the text part of the client OCIString, which
is a
NULL-terminated string
  */
  printf("  %s\n", text_ptr);
  status = OCIIterNext(envhp, errhp, iterator, &elem,
                      (void  **)&elemind, &eoc);
}

if (status != OCI_SUCCESS)
{
  /* handle error */
}

/* destroy the iterator */
status = OCIIterDelete(envhp, errhp, &iterator);

Nested Table Manipulation Functions

As its name implies, one table may be nested, or contained within another, as a variable, attribute, parameter or column. Nested tables may have elements deleted, by means of the OCITableDelete() function.

For example, suppose a table is created with 10 elements, and OCITableDelete() is used to delete elements at index 0 through 4 and 9. The first existing element is now element 5, and the last existing element is element 8.

As noted previously, the generic collection functions may be used to map to and manipulate nested tables. In addition, the following functions are specific to nested tables. They should not be used on varrays.

OCITableDelete()

OCITableExists()

OCITableFirst()

OCITableLast()

OCITableNext()

OCITablePrev()

OCITableSize()

Nested Table Locators

You can retrieve a locator to a nested table. A locator is like a handle to a collection value, and it contains information about the database snapshot which exists at the time of retrieval. This snapshot information helps the database retrieve the correct instantiation of a collection value at a later time when collection elements are fetched using the locator.

Unlike a LOB locator, a collection locator cannot be used to modify a collection instance, they merely locate the correct data. Using the locator enables an application to return a handle to a nested table without having to retrieve the entire collection, which may be quite large.

A user specifies when a table is created if a locator should be returned when a collection column or attribute is fetched, using the RETURN AS LOCATOR specification.

You can use the OCICollIsLocator() function to determine whether a collection is a locator.

Multilevel Collection Type Example

Assume that the following types and tables are used for the example:

type_1 (a NUMBER, b NUMBER)
NT1 TABLE OF type_1
NT2 TABLE OF NT1

The following snippet of code iterates over the multilevel collection:

...
OCIColl *outer_coll;
OCIColl *inner_coll;
OCIIter *itr1, *itr2;
Type_1 *type_1_instance;
..
/* assume outer_coll points to a valid coll of type NT2 */
checkerr(errhp, OCIIterCreate(envhp, errhp, outer_coll, &itr1));
for(eoc = FALSE;!OCIIterNext(envhp, errhp, itr1, (void  **) &elem,
                               (void  **) &elem_null, &eoc) && !eoc;)
{
   inner_coll = (OCIColl *)elem;
   /* iterate over inner collection.. */
   checkerr(errhp, OCIIterCreate(envhp, errhp, inner_coll, &itr2));
   for(eoc2 = FALSE;!OCIIterNext(envhp, errhp, itr2, (void  **)&elem2,
              (void  **) &elem2_null, &eoc2) && !eoc2;)
       {
        type_1_instance = (Type_1 *)elem2;
        /* use the fields of type_1_instance */
       }
   /* close iterator over inner collection */
   checkerr(errhp, OCIIterDelete(envhp, errhp, &itr2));
}
/* close iterator over outer collection */
checkerr(errhp, OCIIterDelete(envhp, errhp, &itr1));
...

REF Manipulation Functions

The following functions perform REF operations.

OCIRefAssign()

OCIRefClear()

OCIRefFromHex()

OCIRefHexSize()

OCIRefIsEqual()

OCIRefIsNull()

OCIRefToHex()

REF Example

This example tests two REFs for NULL, compares them for equality, and assigns one REF to another. Note the double indirection in the call to OCIRefAssign().

OCIEnv       *envhp;
OCIError     *errhp;
sword        status;
boolean      refs_equal;
OCIRef       *ref1, *ref2;

/* assume refs have been initialized to point to valid objects */
/*Compare two REFs for equality */
refs_equal = OCIRefIsEqual(envhp, ref1, ref2);
printf("After first OCIRefIsEqual:\n");
if(refs_equal)
   printf("REFs equal\n");
else
   printf("REFs not equal\n");

/*Assign ref1 to ref2 */
status = OCIRefAssign (envhp, errhp, ref1, &ref2);
if(status != OCI_SUCCESS)
/*error handling*/

/*Compare the two REFs again for equality */
refs_equal = OCIRefIsEqual(envhp, ref1, ref2);
printf("After second OCIRefIsEqual:\n");
if(refs_equal)
   printf("REFs equal\n");
else
   printf("REFs not equal\n");

Descriptor Objects

When a given type is created with the CREATE TYPE statement, it is stored in the server and associated with a type descriptor object (TDO). In addition, the database stores descriptor objects for each data attribute of the type, each method of the type, each parameter of each method, and the results returned by methods. The following table lists the OCI datatypes associated with each type of descriptor object.

Several OCI functions (including OCIBindObject() and OCIObjectNew()) require a TDO as an input parameter. An application can obtain the TDO by calling OCITypeByName(), which gets the type's TDO in an OCIType variable. Once you obtain the TDO, you can pass it, as necessary to other calls.

Type Interfaces

The type interfaces can be used to construct named as well as anonymous transient object types (structured with attributes) and collection types. The OCITypeBeginCreate() call is used to begin type construction of transient object types as well as collection types (the typecode parameter determines which one is being constructed).

You need to allocate a parameter handle using OCIDescriptorAlloc(). Subsequently, type information (for attributes of an object type as well as for the collection element's type) needs to be set using OCIAttrSet(). For object types, use OCITypeAddAttr() to add the attribute information to the type. After information on the last attribute has been added, you must call OCITypeEndCreate().

For example:

OCITypeBeginCreate( ...)        /* Begin Type Creation */
OCIDescriptorAlloc(...)
OCIAttrSet(...)
OCITypeAddAttr(...)             /* Add attribute 1 */
OCIAttrSet(...)
OCITypeAddAttr(...)             /* Add attribute 2 */
...
OCITypeEndCreate(...)           /* End Type Creation */

For collection types, the information on the collection element type needs to be set with OCITypeSetCollection(). Subsequently, OCITypeEndCreate() is called to finish construction.

For example:

OCITypeBeginCreate( ...)        /* Begin Type Creation */
OCIDescriptorAlloc(...)
OCIAttrSet(...)
OCITypeSetCollection(...)       /* Set information on collection element */
OCITypeEndCreate(...)           /* End Type Creation */

The OCIDescribeAny() call can be used to obtain the OCIType corresponding to a persistent type.

OCIDescribeAny(svchp, errhp. (void  *)"HR.EMPLOYEES",
               (ub4)strlen("HR.EMPLOYEES"),
               (ub1)OCI_OTYPE_NAME, (ub1)OCI_DEFAULT, OCI_PTYPE_TYPE, dschp);

OCIAnyData Interfaces

An OCIAnyData encapsulates type information as well as a data instance of that type (that is, self descriptive data). An OCIAnyData can be created from any built-in or user-defined type instance using the OCIAnyDataConvert() call. This call does a conversion (cast) to an OCIAnyData.

Alternatively, object types and collection types can be constructed piece by piece (an attribute at a time for object types or a collection element at a time). To construct in this fashion, OCIAnyDataBeginCreate() should be called with the type information (OCIType). Subsequently OCIAnyDataAttrSet() can be used for object types and OCIAnyDataCollAddElem() can be used for collection types. OCIAnyDataEndCreate() must then be called to finish the construction process.

Subsequently, the access routines can be invoked. To convert (cast) an OCIAnyData to the corresponding type instance, the OCIAnyDataAccess() call can be used.

An OCIAnyData that is based on an object or collection type can also be accessed piece by piece.

Special collection construction and access calls are provided for performance improvement. These calls can be used to avoid unnecessary creation and copying of the entire collection in memory. For example:

OCIAnyDataConvert(...)        /* Cast a built-in or user-defined type instance
                                 to an OCIAnyData in 1 call. */

OCIAnyDataBeginCreate(...)    /* Begin AnyData Creation */

OCIAnyDataAttrSet(...)        /* Attribute-wise construction for object types */

or,

OCIAnyDataCollAddElem(...)    /* Element-wise construction for collections */

OCIAnyDataEndCreate(...)      /* End OCIAnyData Creation */

NCHAR Typecodes for OCIAnyData Functions

The function OCIAnyDataTypeCodeToSqlt() converts the OCITypeCode for an AnyData value to the SQLT code that corresponds to the representation of the value as returned by the OCIAnyData API.

The following typecodes are used in the OCIAnyData functions only:

• OCI_TYPECODE_NCHAR

• OCI_TYPECODE_NVARCHAR2

• OCI_TYPECODE_NCLOB

In calls to other functions, such as OCIDescribeAny(), these typecodes are not returned and you must use the charset form to determine if the data is NCHAR (if charset form is SQLCS_NCHAR).

OCIAnyDataTypeCodeToSqlt() converts OCI_TYPECODE_CHAR as well as OCI_TYPECODE_VARCHAR2 to the output values SQLT_VST (which corresponds to the OCIString mapping) with a charset form of SQLCS_IMPLICIT. OCI_TYPECODE_NVARCHAR2 will also return SQLT_VST (OCIString mapping is used by OCIAnyData API) with a charset form of SQLCS_NCHAR.

OCIAnyDataSet Interfaces

An OCIAnyDataSet encapsulates type information as well as a set of instances of that type. OCIAnyDataSetBeginCreate() is called to begin the construction process. OCIAnyDataSetAddInstance() is called to add a new instance and this call returns the OCIAnyData corresponding to that instance.

Then, the OCIAnyData functions can be invoked to construct this instance. OCIAnyDataSetEndCreate() is called once all instances have been added.

For access, call OCIAnyDataSetGetInstance() to get the OCIAnyData corresponding to the instance. Only sequential access is supported. Subsequently, the OCIAnyData access functions can be invoked. For example:

OCIAnyDataSetBeginCreate(...)   /* Begin AnyDataSet Creation */
OCIAnyDataSetAddInstance(...)   /* Add a new instance to the AnyDataSet */
                                /* Use the OCIAnyData*() functions to create
                                   the instance */
OCIAnyDataSetEndCreate(...)     /* End OCIAnyDataSet Creation */

Named Datatype Binds

For a named datatype (object type or collection) bind, a second bind call is necessary following OCIBindByName(), or OCIBindByPos(). The OCI Bind Object Type call, OCIBindObject(), sets up additional attributes specific to the object type bind. An OCI application uses this call when fetching data from a table which has a column with an object datatype.

The OCIBindObject() call takes, among other parameters, a Type Descriptor Object (TDO) for the named datatype. The TDO, of datatype OCIType is created and stored in the database when a named datatype is created. It contains information about the type and its attributes. An application can obtain a TDO by calling OCITypeByName().

The OCIBindObject() call also sets up the indicator variable or structure for the named datatype bind.

When binding a named datatype, use the SQLT_NTY datatype constant to indicate the datatype of program variable being bound. SQLT_NTY indicates that a C struct representing the named datatype is being bound. A pointer to this structure is passed to the bind call.

With inheritance and instance substitutability, you can bind a subtype instance where the supertype is expected.

It is possible that working with named datatypes may require the use of three bind calls in some circumstances. For example, to bind a static array of named datatypes to a PL/SQL table, three calls must be invoked: OCIBindByName(), OCIBindArrayOfStruct(), and OCIBindObject().

Binding REFs

As with named datatypes, binding REFs is a two-step process. First, call OCIBindByName() or OCIBindByPos(), and then call OCIBindObject().

REFs are bound using the SQLT_REF datatype. When SQLT_REF is used, then the program variable being bound must be of type OCIRef *.

With inheritance and REF substitutability, you can bind a REF value to a subtype instance where a REF to the supertype is expected.

Information for Named Datatype and REF Binds

This section presents some additional important information to keep in mind when working with named datatype and REF binds. It includes pointers about memory allocation and indicator variable usage.

• If the datatype being bound is SQLT_NTY, the indicator struct parameter of the OCIBindObject() call (void ** indpp) is used, and the scalar indicator is completely ignored.

• If the datatype is SQLT_REF, the scalar indicator is used, and the indicator struct parameter of OCIBindObject() is completely ignored.

• The use of indicator structures is optional. The user can pass a NULL pointer in the indpp parameter for the OCIBindObject() call. During the bind, this means that the object is not atomically NULL and none of its attributes are NULL.

• The indicator struct size pointer, indsp, and program variable size pointer, pgvsp, in the OCIBindObject() call is optional. Users can pass NULL if these parameters are not needed.

Defining Named Datatype Output Variables

For a named datatype (object type, nested table, varray) define, two define calls are necessary. The application should first call OCIDefineByPos(), specifying SQLT_NTY in the dty parameter. Following OCIDefineByPos(), the application must call OCIDefineObject(). In this case, the data buffer pointer in OCIDefineByPos() is ignored and additional attributes pertaining to a named datatype define are set up using the OCI Define Object attributes call, OCIDefineObject().

There SQLT_NTY datatype constant is specified for a named datatype define. In this case, the application fetches the result data into a host-language representation of the named datatype. In most cases, this will be a C struct generated by the Object Type Translator.

When making an OCIDefineObject() call, a pointer to the address of the C struct (preallocated or otherwise) must be provided. The object may have been created with OCIObjectNew(), allocated in the cache, or with user-allocated memory.

However, in the presence of inheritance, we strongly recommend using objects in the object cache and not passing objects allocated out of user memory from the stack. The reason is that due to instance substitutability, the server may send back a subtype instance when the client is expecting a supertype instance. This requires the server to dynamically re-size the object -- which is possible only for objects in the cache.

Defining REF Output Variables

As with named datatypes, defining for a REF output variable is a two-step process. The first step is a call to OCIDefineByPos(), and the second is a call to OCIDefineObject(). Also as with named datatypes, the SQLT_REF datatype constant is passed to the dty parameter of OCIDefineByPos().

SQLT_REF indicates that the application will be fetching the result data into a variable of type OCIRef *. This REF can then be used as part of object pinning and navigation, as described in Chapter 6.

Information for Named Datatype and REF Defines, and PL/SQL OUT Binds

This section presents some additional important information to keep in mind when working with named datatype and REF defines. It includes pointers about memory allocation and indicator variable usage.

A PL/SQL OUT bind refers to binding a placeholder to an output variable in a PL/SQL block. Unlike a SQL statement, where output buffers are set up with define calls, in a PL/SQL block, output buffers are set up with bind calls. Refer to the section "Binding Placeholders in PL/SQL" for more information.

• If the datatype being defined is SQLT_NTY, the indicator struct parameter of the OCIDefineObject() call (void ** indpp) is used, and the scalar indicator is completely ignored.

• If the datatype is SQLT_REF, the scalar indicator is used, and the indicator struct parameter of OCIDefineObject() is completely ignored.

• The use of indicator structures is optional. The user can pass a NULL pointer in the indpp parameter for the OCIDefineObject() call. During a fetch or PL/SQL OUT bind, this means that the user is not interested in any information about being null.

• In a SQL define or PL/SQL OUT bind, you can pass in preallocated memory for either the output variable or the indicator. Then that preallocated memory is used to store result data, and all secondary memory (out-of-line memory), if any, will be deallocated. The preallocated memory must come from the cache (the result of an OCIObjectNew() call).

  Note:

  If a client application wants to allocate memory from its own private memory space, instead of the cache, it must insure that there is no secondary out-of-line memory in the object.

For an object define with type SQLT_NTY, client applications wanting to preallocate object memory must use the OCIObjectNew() function. Client applications should not allocate the object in its own private memory space, such as with malloc() or on the stack. The OCIObjectNew() function allocates the object in the object cache. The allocated object can be freed using OCIObjectFree(). Refer to Chapter 18, "OCI Navigational and Type Functions" for details on OCIObjectNew() and OCIObjectFree().

• In a SQL define or PL/SQL OUT bind, if the user passes in a NULL address for the output variable or the indicator, memory for the variable or the indicator will be implicitly allocated by OCI.

• If an output object of type SQLT_NTY is atomically NULL (in a SQL define or PL/SQL OUT bind), only the NULL indicator struct will get allocated (implicitly if necessary) and populated accordingly to indicate the atomic nullity of the object. The top-level object, itself, will not get implicitly allocated.

• An application can free indicators by calling OCIObjectFree(). If there is a top-level object (as in the case of a non-atomically NULL object), then the indicator is freed when the top-level object is freed with OCIObjectFree(). If the object is atomically null, then there is no top-level object, so the indicator must be freed separately.

• The indicator struct size pointer, indsp, and program variable size pointer, pgvsp, in the OCIDefineObject() call is optional. Users can pass NULL if these parameters are not needed.

Bind and Define Examples

The examples in this section demonstrate how variables of type OCINumber can be used in OCI bind and define operations.

Assume, for this example, that the following person object type was created:

CREATE TYPE person AS OBJECT
(name     varchar2(30),
salary     number);

This type is then used to create an employees table which has a column of type person.

CREATE TABLE employees
(emp_id    number,
job_title  varchar2(30),
emp        person);

The Object Type Translator (OTT) generates the following C struct and null indicator struct for person:

struct person
{   OCIString * name;
   OCINumber salary;};
typedef struct person person;

struct person_ind
{   OCIInd  _atomic;
   OCIInd  name;
   OCIInd  salary;}
typedef struct person_ind person_ind;

Assume that the employees table has been populated with values, and an OCI application has declared a person variable:

person *my_person;

and fetched an object into that variable through a SELECT statement, like

text *mystmt = (text *) "SELECT person FROM employees
                        WHERE emp.name='Andrea'";

This would require defining my_person to be the output variable for this statement, using appropriate OCI define calls for named datatypes, as described in the section "Advanced Define Operations in OCI". Executing the statement would retrieve the person object named Andrea into the my_person variable.

Once the object is retrieved into my_person, the OCI application now has access to the attributes of my_person, including the name and the salary.

The application could go on to update another employee's salary to be the same as Andrea's, as in

text *updstmt = (text *) "UPDATE employees SET emp.salary = :newsal 
                            WHERE emp.name = 'MONGO'";

Andrea's salary (stored in my_person->salary) would be bound to the placeholder :newsal, specifying an external datatype of VARNUM (datatype code=6) in the bind operation:

OCIBindByName(...,":newsal",...,&my_person->salary,...,6,...);
OCIStmtExecute(...,updstmt,...);

Executing the statement updates Mongo's salary in the database to be equal to Andrea's, as stored in my_person.

Conversely, the application could update Andrea's salary to be the same as Mongo's, by querying the database for Mongo's salary, and then making the necessary salary assignment:

text *selstmt = (text *) "SELECT emp.salary FROM employees 
                           WHERE emp.name = 'MONGO'";
OCINumber mongo_sal;
...
OCIDefineByPos(...,1,...,&mongo_sal,...,6,...);
OCIStmtExecute(...,selstmt,...);
OCINumberAssign(...,&mongo_sal, &my_person->salary);

In this case, the application declares an output variable of type OCINumber and uses it in the define step. In this case we define an output variable for position 1, and use the appropriate datatype code (6 for VARNUM).

The salary value is fetched into the mongo_sal OCINumber, and the appropriate OCI function, OCINumberAssign(), is used to assign the new salary to the copy of the Andrea object currently in the cache. To modify the data in the database, the change must be flushed to the server.

Salary Update Examples

The examples in the previous section should give some idea of the flexibility which the Oracle datatypes provide for bind and define operations. The goal of this section is to show how the same operation can be performed in several different ways. The goal is to give you some idea of the variety of ways in which these datatypes can be used in OCI applications.

The examples in this section are intended to demonstrate the flow of calls used to perform certain OCI tasks. An expanded pseudocode is used for the examples in this section. Actual function names are used, but for the sake of simplicity not all parameters and typecasts are filled in. Additionally, other necessary OCI calls, like handle allocations, have been omitted.

The Scenario

The scenario for these examples is as follows:

1. An employee named BRUCE exists in the employees table for a hospital. See person type and employees table creation statements in the previous section.

2. Bruce's current job title is RADIOLOGIST.

3. Bruce is being promoted to RADIOLOGY_CHIEF, and along with the promotion comes a salary increase.

4. Hospital salaries are in whole dollar values, are set according to job title, and stored in a table called salaries, defined as follows:

   CREATE TABLE salaries
   (job_title   varchar2(20),
   salary       integer));
   
   

5. Bruce's salary needs to be updated to reflect his promotion.

Accomplishing the preceding task requires that the application retrieve the salary corresponding to RADIOLOGY_CHIEF from the salaries table, and update Bruce's salary. A separate step would write his new title and the modified object back to the database.

Assuming that a variable of type person has been declared

person * my_person;

and the object corresponding to Bruce has been fetched into it, the following sections present three different ways in which the salary update could be performed.

#define INT_TYPE 3        /* datatype code for sword integer define */

text *getsal = (text *) "SELECT salary FROM salaries
                        WHERE job_title='RADIOLOGY_CHIEF'";
sword    new_sal;
OCINumber   orl_new_sal;
...
OCIDefineByPos(...,1,...,new_sal,...,INT_TYPE,...);
                        /* define int output */
OCIStmtExecute(...,getsal,...);
                        /* get new salary as int */
OCINumberFromInt(...,new_sal,...,&orl_new_sal);
                        /* convert salary to OCINumber */
OCINumberAssign(...,&orl_new_sal, &my_person->salary);
                        /* assign new salary */

#define VARNUM_TYPE 6         /* datatype code for defining VARNUM */

text *getsal = (text *) "SELECT salary FROM salaries
                              WHERE job_title='RADIOLOGY_CHIEF'";
OCINumber   orl_new_sal;
...
OCIDefineByPos(...,1,...,orl_new_sal,...,VARNUM_TYPE,...);
                                     /* define OCINumber output */
OCIStmtExecute(...,getsal,...);      /* get new salary as OCINumber */
OCINumberAssign(...,&orl_new_sal, &my_person->salary); 
                                     /* assign new salary */

#define VARNUM_TYPE 6         /* datatype code for defining VARNUM */

text *getsal = (text *) "SELECT salary FROM salaries
                            WHERE job_title='RADIOLOGY_CHIEF'";
...
OCIDefineByPos(...,1,...,&my_person->salary,...,VARNUM_TYPE,...);
            /* define bruce's salary in cache as output variable */
OCIStmtExecute(...,getsal,...);
             /* execute and fetch directly */

SQLT_NTY Bind Example

/*
** This example performs a SQL insert statement
*/
void insert(envhp, svchp, stmthp, errhp, insstmt, nrows)
OCIEnv *envhp;
OCISvcCtx *svchp;
OCIStmt *stmthp;
OCIError *errhp;
text *insstmt;
ub2   nrows;
{
  OCIType *addr_tdo = (OCIType *)0 ;
  address  addrs;
  null_address naddrs;
  address *addr = &addrs;
  null_address *naddr = &naddrs;
  sword custno =300;
  OCIBind *bnd1p, *bnd2p;
  ub2 i;

  /* define the application request  */
  checkerr(errhp, OCIStmtPrepare(stmthp, errhp, (text *) insstmt,
           (ub4) strlen((char *)insstmt),
           (ub4) OCI_NTV_SYNTAX, (ub4) OCI_DEFAULT));

  /* bind the input variable */
 checkerr(errhp, OCIBindByName(stmthp, &bnd1p, errhp, (text *) ":custno",
          (sb4) -1, (void  *) &custno,
          (sb4) sizeof(sword), SQLT_INT,
          (void  *) 0, (ub2 *)0, (ub2 *)0, (ub4) 0, (ub4 *) 0,
          (ub4) OCI_DEFAULT));

  checkerr(errhp, OCIBindByName(stmthp, &bnd2p, errhp, (text *) ":addr",
          (sb4) -1, (void  *) 0,
          (sb4) 0, SQLT_NTY, (void  *) 0, (ub2 *)0, (ub2 *)0,
          (ub4) 0, (ub4 *) 0, (ub4) OCI_DEFAULT));

  checkerr(errhp,
                OCITypeByName(envhp, errhp, svchp, (const text *)
                SCHEMA, (ub4) strlen((char *)SCHEMA),
                (const text *)"ADDRESS_VALUE",
                (ub4) strlen((char *)"ADDRESS_VALUE"),
                (text *)0, 0, OCI_DURATION_SESSION,
                OCI_TYPEGET_HEADER, &addr_tdo));

  if(!addr_tdo)
  {
    printf("Null tdo returned\n");
    return;
  }

  checkerr(errhp, OCIBindObject(bnd2p, errhp, addr_tdo, (void  **) &addr,
        (ub4 *) 0, (void  **) &naddr, (ub4 *) 0));

SQLT_NTY Define Example

/*
** This example executes a SELECT statement from a table which includes
** an object.
*/

void selectval(envhp, svchp, stmthp, errhp)
OCIEnv *envhp;
OCISvcCtx *svchp;
OCIStmt *stmthp;
OCIError *errhp;
{
  OCIType *addr_tdo = (OCIType *)0;
  OCIDefine *defn1p, *defn2p;
  address *addr = (address *)NULL;
  sword custno =0;
  sb4 status;

  /* define the application request  */
  checkerr(errhp, OCIStmtPrepare(stmthp, errhp, (text *) selvalstmt,
                        (ub4) strlen((char *)selvalstmt),
                        (ub4) OCI_NTV_SYNTAX, (ub4) OCI_DEFAULT));

  /* define the output variable */
checkerr(errhp, OCIDefineByPos(stmthp, &defn1p, errhp, (ub4) 1, (void  *)
       &custno, (sb4) sizeof(sword), SQLT_INT, (void  *) 0, (ub2 *)0,
       (ub2 *)0, (ub4) OCI_DEFAULT));

checkerr(errhp, OCIDefineByPos(stmthp, &defn2p, errhp, (ub4) 2, (void  *)
        0, (sb4) 0, SQLT_NTY, (void  *) 0, (ub2 *)0,
        (ub2 *)0, (ub4) OCI_DEFAULT));

checkerr(errhp,
               OCITypeByName(envhp, errhp, svchp, (const text *)
               SCHEMA, (ub4) strlen((char *)SCHEMA),
               (const text *) "ADDRESS_VALUE",
               (ub4) strlen((char *)"ADDRESS_VALUE"),
               (text *)0, 0, OCI_DURATION_SESSION,
               OCI_TYPEGET_HEADER, &addr_tdo));

  if(!addr_tdo)
  {
    printf("NULL tdo returned\n");
    return;
  }


  checkerr(errhp, OCIDefineObject(defn2p, errhp, addr_tdo, (void  **)
       &addr, (ub4 *) 0, (void  **) 0, (ub4 *) 0));

  checkerr(errhp, OCIStmtExecute(svchp, stmthp, errhp, (ub4) 1, (ub4) 0,
       (OCISnapshot *) NULL, (OCISnapshot *) NULL, (ub4) OCI_DEFAULT));