114 DBMS_SCHEDULER

Data Structures

The DBMS_SCHEDULER package defines OBJECT types and TABLE types.

OBJECT Types

• JOBARG Object Type

• JOB Object Type

• JOBATTR Object Type

• SCHEDULER$_STEP_TYPE Object Type

TABLE Types

• JOBARG_ARRAY Table Type

• JOB_ARRAY Table Type

• JOBATTR_ARRAY Table Type

• SCHEDULER$_STEP_TYPE_LIST Table Type

JOBARG Object Type

This type is used by the JOB and JOBATTR object types. It represents a job argument in a batch of job arguments.

Syntax

TYPE jobarg IS OBJECT (
   arg_position         NUMBER,
   arg_text_value       VARCHAR2(4000),
   arg_anydata_value    ANYDATA,
   arg_operation        VARCHAR2(5);

Attributes

JOBARG Constructor Function

This constructor function constructs a job argument. It is overloaded. The different functionality of each form of syntax is presented along with the definitions.

Syntax

Constructs a job argument with a text value.

constructor function jobarg (
   arg_position        IN POSITIVEN,
   arg_value           IN VARCHAR2)
   RETURN SELF AS RESULT;

Constructs a job argument with an AnyData value.

constructor function jobarg (
   arg_position        IN POSITIVEN,
   arg_value           IN ANYDATA)
   RETURN SELF AS RESULT;

Constructs a job argument with a NULL value.

constructor function jobarg (
   arg_position        IN POSITIVEN,
   arg_reset           IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE)
   RETURN SELF AS RESULT;

Parameters

JOBARG_ARRAY Table Type

Syntax

TYPE jobarg_array IS TABLE OF jobarg;

JOB Object Type

This type is used by the CREATE_JOBS procedure and represents a job in a batch of jobs.

Syntax

TYPE job IS OBJECT (
   job_name             VARCHAR2(100),
   job_class            VARCHAR2(32),
   job_style            VARCHAR2(11),
   job_template         VARCHAR2(100)
   program_action       VARCHAR2(4000),
   action_type          VARCHAR2(20),
   schedule_name        VARCHAR2(65),
   repeat_interval      VARCHAR2(4000),
   schedule_limit       INTERVAL DAY(2) TO SECOND(6),
   start_date           TIMESTAMP(6) WITH TIME ZONE,
   end_date             TIMESTAMP(6) WITH TIME ZONE,
   event_condition      VARCHAR2(4000),
   queue_spec           VARCHAR2(100),
   number_of_args       NUMBER,
   arguments            JOBARG_ARRAY,
   priority             NUMBER,
   job_weight           NUMBER,
   max_run_duration     INTERVAL DAY(2) TO SECOND(6),
   max_runs             NUMBER,
   max_failures         NUMBER,
   logging_level        NUMBER,
   restartable          VARCHAR2(5),
   stop_on_window_exit  VARCHAR2(5),
   raise_events         NUMBER,
   comments             VARCHAR2(240),
   auto_drop            VARCHAR2(5),
   enabled              VARCHAR2(5),
   follow_default_tz    VARCHAR2(5),
   parallel_instances   VARCHAR2(5),
   aq_job               VARCHAR2(5),
   instance_id          NUMBER);

Object Attributes

Table Table 114-3 describes the attributes of the JOB object type. For more information about these attributes, see "SET_ATTRIBUTE Procedure".

JOB Constructor Function

This constructor function constructs a job object.

Syntax

constructor function job (
   job_name            IN VARCHAR2,
   job_style           IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'REGULAR',
   job_template        IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   program_action      IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   action_type         IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   schedule_name       IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   repeat_interval     IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   event_condition     IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   queue_spec          IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   start_date          IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE DEFAULT NULL,
   end_date            IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE DEFAULT NULL,
   number_of_args      IN NATURAL DEFAULT NULL,
   arguments           IN JOBARG_ARRAY DEFAULT NULL,
   job_class           IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'DEFAULT_JOB_CLASS',
   schedule_limit      IN INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND DEFAULT NULL,
   priority            IN NATURAL DEFAULT NULL,
   job_weight          IN NATURAL DEFAULT NULL,
   max_run_duration    IN INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND DEFAULT NULL,
   max_runs            IN NATURAL DEFAULT NULL,
   max_failures        IN NATURAL DEFAULT NULL,
   logging_level       IN NATURALN DEFAULT 64,
   restartable         IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
   stop_on_window_exit IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
   raise_events        IN NATURAL DEFAULT NULL,
   comments            IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   auto_drop           IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT TRUE,
   enabled             IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
   follow_default_tz   IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
   parallel_instances  IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
   aq_job              IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
   instance_id         IN NATURAL DEFAULT NULL)
   RETURN SELF AS RESULT;

JOB_ARRAY Table Type

Syntax

TYPE job_array IS TABLE OF job;

JOBATTR Object Type

This type is used by the SET_JOB_ATTRIBUTES procedure and represents a job attribute in a batch of job attributes.

Syntax

TYPE jobattr IS OBJECT (
   job_name             VARCHAR2(100),
   attr_name            VARCHAR2(30),
   char_value           VARCHAR2(4000),
   char_value2          VARCHAR2(4000),
   args_value           JOBARG_ARRAY,
   num_value            NUMBER,
   timestamp_value      TIMESTAMP(6) WITH TIME ZONE,
   interval_value       INTERVAL DAY(2) TO SECOND(6);

Attributes

JOBATTR Constructor Function

This constructor function constructs a job attribute. It is overloaded to create attribute values of the following types: VARCHAR2, NUMBER, TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE, INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND, and an array of JOBARG types.

Syntax

constructor function jobattr (
   job_name            IN VARCHAR2,
   attr_name           IN VARCHAR2,
   attr_value          IN VARCHAR2,
   attr_value2         IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL)
   RETURN SELF AS RESULT;

constructor function jobattr (
   job_name            IN VARCHAR2,
   attr_name           IN VARCHAR2,
   attr_value          IN [NUMBER, BOOLEAN,
                           TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE,
                           INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND, JOBARG_ARRAY])
   RETURN SELF AS RESULT;

constructor function jobattr (
   job_name            IN VARCHAR2,
   attr_name           IN VARCHAR2)
   RETURN SELF AS RESULT;

Parameters

JOBATTR_ARRAY Table Type

Syntax

TYPE jobattr_array IS TABLE OF jobattr;

SCHEDULER$_STEP_TYPE Object Type

This type is used by RUN_CHAIN to return a List of chain steps with an initial state.

Syntax

TYPE scheduler$_step_type IS OBJECT (
   step_name  VARCHAR2(32),
   step_type  VARCHAR2(32));

Attributes

SCHEDULER$_STEP_TYPE_LIST Table Type

Syntax

TYPE scheduler$_step_type_list IS TABLE OF scheduler$_step_type;

Using DBMS_SCHEDULER

This section contains topics which relate to using the DBMS_SCHEDULER package.

• Rules and Limits

• Operational Notes

Rules and Limits

The following rules apply when using the DBMS_SCHEDULER package:

• Only SYS can do anything in SYS schema.

• Several of the procedures accept comma-delimited lists of object names. When a list of names is provided, the Scheduler will stop executing the list on the very first object that returns an error. This means that the Scheduler will not perform the task on the objects in the list after the one that caused the error. For example, consider the statement DBMS_SCHEDULER.STOP_JOB ('job1, job2, job3, sys.jobclass1, sys.jobclass2, sys.jobclass3'); If job3 could not be stopped, then job1 and job2 will be stopped, but the jobs in jobclass1, jobclass2, and jobclass3 will not be stopped.

• Performing an action on an object that does not exist returns a PL/SQL exception stating that the object does not exist.

Operational Notes

The Scheduler uses a rich calendaring syntax to enable you to define repeating schedules, such as "every Tuesday and Friday at 4:00 p.m." or "the second Wednesday of every month." This calendaring syntax is used in calendaring expressions in the repeat_interval argument of a number of package subprograms. Evaluating a calendaring expression results in a set of discrete timestamps.

See Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for examples of the calendaring syntax.

Calendaring Syntax

The calendaring syntax is as follows:

repeat_interval = regular_schedule | combined_schedule
 
regular_schedule = frequency_clause
[";" interval_clause] [";" bymonth_clause] [";" byweekno_clause]
[";" byyearday_clause] [";" bydate_clause] [";" bymonthday_clause]
[";" byday_clause] [";" byhour_clause] [";" byminute_clause]
[";" bysecond_clause] [";" bysetpos_clause] [";" include_clause]
[";" exclude_clause] [";" intersect_clause][";" periods_clause]
[";" byperiod_clause]
 
combined_schedule = schedule_list [";" include_clause]
[";" exclude_clause] [";" intersect_clause]

frequency_clause = "FREQ" "=" ( predefined_frequency | user_defined_frequency )
predefined_frequency = "YEARLY" | "MONTHLY" | "WEEKLY" | "DAILY" | 
   "HOURLY" | "MINUTELY" | "SECONDLY"
user_defined_frequency = named_schedule

interval_clause = "INTERVAL" "=" intervalnum
   intervalnum = 1 through 99
bymonth_clause = "BYMONTH" "=" monthlist
   monthlist = monthday ( "," monthday)*
   month = numeric_month | char_month
   numeric_month = 1 | 2 | 3 ...  12
   char_month = "JAN" | "FEB" | "MAR" | "APR" | "MAY" | "JUN" |
   "JUL" | "AUG" | "SEP" | "OCT" | "NOV" | "DEC"
byweekno_clause = "BYWEEKNO" "=" weeknumber_list
   weeknumber_list = weeknumber ( "," weeknumber)*
   weeknumber = [minus] weekno
   weekno = 1 through 53
byyearday_clause = "BYYEARDAY" "=" yearday_list
   yearday_list = yearday ( "," yearday)*
   yearday = [minus] yeardaynum
   yeardaynum = 1 through 366
bydate_clause = "BYDATE" "=" date_list
   date_list = date ( "," date)*
   date = [YYYY]MMDD [ offset | span ]
bymonthday_clause = "BYMONTHDAY" "=" monthday_list
   monthday_list = monthday ( "," monthday)*
   monthday = [minus] monthdaynum
   monthdaynum = 1 through 31
byday_clause = "BYDAY" "=" byday_list
   byday_list = byday ( "," byday)*
   byday = [weekdaynum] day
   weekdaynum = [minus] daynum
   daynum = 1 through 53 /* if frequency is yearly */
   daynum = 1 through 5  /* if frequency is monthly */
   day = "MON" | "TUE" | "WED" | "THU" | "FRI" | "SAT" | "SUN"
byhour_clause = "BYHOUR" "=" hour_list
   hour_list = hour ( "," hour)*
   hour = 0 through 23
byminute_clause = "BYMINUTE" "=" minute_list
   minute_list = minute ( "," minute)*
   minute = 0 through 59
bysecond_clause = "BYSECOND" "=" second_list
   second_list = second ( "," second)*
   second = 0 through 59
bysetpos_clause = "BYSETPOS" "=" setpos_list
   setpos_list = setpos ("," setpos)*
   setpos = [minus] setpos_num
   setpos_num = 1 through 9999

include_clause = "INCLUDE" "=" schedule_list
exclude_clause = "EXCLUDE" "=" schedule_list
intersect_clause = "INTERSECT" "=" schedule_list
schedule_list = schedule_clause ("," schedule_clause)*
schedule_clause = named_schedule [ offset ]
named_schedule = [schema "."] schedule
periods_clause = "PERIODS" "=" periodnum
byperiod_clause = "BYPERIOD" "=" period_list
period_list = periodnum ("," periodnum)*
periodnum = 1 through 100

offset = ("+" | "-") ["OFFSET:"] duration_val
span = ("+" | "-" | "^") "SPAN:" duration_val
duration_val = dur-weeks | dur_days
dur_weeks = numofweeks "W"
dur_days = numofdays "D"
numofweeks = 1 through 53
numofdays = 1 through 376
minus = "-"

In calendaring syntax, * means 0 or more.

FREQ=MONTHLY; BYDAY=MON,TUE,WED,THU,FRI; BYSETPOS=-1

3/31/2005, 6/30/2005, 9/30/2005, 12/31/2005

3/31/2005, 4/30/2005, 6/30/2005, 9/30/2005, 12/31/2005

FREQ=MONTHLY; BYMONTHDAY=-1; INTERSECT=last_sat,end_qtr

FREQ=YEARLY;BYDATE=0301,0601,0901,1201;PERIODS=4

Combining Schedules

There are two ways to combine schedules:

• Using a combined schedule expression, which is a list of individual schedules

  For example, to create a schedule for all company holidays, you provide a list of individual schedules, where each schedule in the list defines a single holiday. The Scheduler evaluates each individual schedule, and then returns a union of the timestamps returned by each individual schedule. You can follow the initial list of individual schedules with include, exclude, and intersect clauses to create more complex combinations.

• Embedding other schedules into the main schedule using include, exclude, and intersect clauses

  With this method, the embedded schedules inherit certain attributes from the main schedule.

  • Timestamps generated by the INCLUDE clause that fall into periods that are skipped by the main schedule are ignored. This is the case when the main schedule skips periods due to the INTERVAL clause, the BYPERIOD clause, or the BYMONTH clause for freq=monthly.

  • Days that are added by the INCLUDE clause follow the hourly/minutely/secondly execution pattern of the main schedule.

  • When the INCLUDE clause is present, no date-specific defaults are retrieved from the start date (but time-specific defaults can be). (See "Start Dates and Repeat Intervals", later in this section.) For example, a repeat_interval of FREQ=MONTHLY;INCLUDE=HOLIDAY executes only on holidays and not on the month/day defaults retrieved from the start date.

  The following is an example:

  BEGIN
  dbms_scheduler.create_schedule('embed_sched', repeat_interval =>
    'FREQ=YEARLY;BYDATE=0130,0220,0725');
  dbms_scheduler.create_schedule('main_sched', repeat_interval =>
    'FREQ=MONTHLY;INTERVAL=2;BYMONTHDAY=15;BYHOUR=9,17;INCLUDE=embed_sched');
  END;
  /
  
  

  In this example, the dates 1/30, 2/20, and 7/25 are added to the main schedule. However, the Scheduler does not include dates that fall in months that are skipped by the INTERVAL clause. If the start date of the main schedule is 1/1/2005, then 2/20 isn't added. On the dates that are added, the embedded schedule follows the execution pattern of the main schedule: jobs are executed at 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on 1/30 and 7/25. If the embedded schedule does not itself have a start date, it inherits the start date from the main schedule.

User Defined Frequencies

Instead of using predefined frequencies like DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, and so on, you can create your own frequencies by creating a schedule that returns the start date of each period. For example, the following repeat_interval expression is used in a schedule named fiscal_year that defines the start of each quarter in a fiscal year:

FREQ=YEARLY;BYDATE=0301,0601,0901,1201;PERIODS=4

To return the last Wednesday of every quarter, you create a schedule (the "main schedule") that uses the fiscal_year schedule as a user defined frequency:

FREQ=fiscal_year;BYDAY=-1WED

Periods in a user defined frequency do not have to be equal in length. In the main schedule, the BYSETPOS clause and numbered weekdays are recalculated based on the size of each period. To select dates in specific periods, you must use the BYPERIOD clause in the main schedule. To enable this, the schedule that is used as the user defined frequency must include a PERIODS clause, and it must set its start date appropriately. The first date returned by this schedule is used as the starting point of period 1.

As another example, assuming work days are Monday through Friday, to get the last work day of the 2nd and 4th quarters of the fiscal year, the repeat_interval clause in the main schedule is the following:

FREQ=fiscal_year;BYDAY=MON,TUE,WED,THU,FRI;BYPERIOD=2,4;BYSETPOS=-1

Start Dates and Repeat Intervals

The Scheduler retrieves the date and time from the job or schedule start date and incorporates them as defaults into the repeat_interval. For example, if the specified frequency is yearly and there is no BYMONTH or BYMONTHDAY clause in the repeat interval, the month and day on which to run the job are retrieved from the start date. Similarly, if frequency is monthly but there is no BYMONTHDAY clause in the repeat interval, the day of the month on which to run the job is retrieved from the start date. If present, BYHOUR, BYMINUTE, and BYSECOND defaults are also retrieved from the start date, and used if those clauses are not specified. Note that if the INCLUDE, EXCLUDE, or INTERSECT clauses are present, no date-related defaults are retrieved from the start date, but time-related defaults are.The following are some examples:

start_date:      4/15/05 9:00:00
repeat_interval: freq=yearly

is expanded internally to:

freq=yearly;bymonth=4;bymonthday=15;byhour=9;byminute=0;bysecond=0

The preceding schedule executes on 04/15/05 9:00:00, 04/15/06 9:00:00, 04/15/07 9:00:00, and so on.

For the next example, assume that schedule S1 has a repeat_interval of FREQ=YEARLY;BYDATE=0701.

start_date:      01/20/05 9:00:00
repeat_interval: freq=yearly;include=S1

is expanded internally to:

freq=yearly;byhour=9;byminute=0;bysecond=0;include=S1

Because an INCLUDE clause is present, date-related information is not retrieved from the start date. However, time-specific information is, so the preceding schedule executes on 07/01/05 9:00:00, 07/01/06 9:00:00, 07/01/08 9:00:00, and so on.

General Rules

When using a calendaring expression, consider the following rules:

• For a regular schedule (as opposed to a combined schedule), the calendar string must start with the frequency clause. All other clauses are optional and can be put in any order.

• All clauses are separated by a semi-colon, and each clause can be present at most once, with the exception of the include, exclude, and intersect clauses.

• Spaces are allowed between syntax elements and the strings are case insensitive.

• The list of values for a specific BY clause do not need to be ordered.

• When not enough BY clauses are present to determine what the next date is, this information is retrieved from the start date. For example, "FREQ=YEARLY" with a start date of 02/15/2003 becomes "FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=FEB; BYMONTHDAY=15", which means every year on the 15th of February.

  "FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=JAN,JUL" with start date 01/21/2003 becomes "FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=JAN,JUL;BYMONTHDAY=21", which means every year on January 21 and July 21.

• The byweekno clause is only allowed if the frequency is YEARLY. It cannot be used with other frequencies. When it is present, it will return all days in that week number. If you want to limit it to specific days within the week, you have to add a BYDAY clause. For example, "FREQ=YEARLY;BYWEEKNO=2" with a start date of 01/01/2003 will return:

  01/06/2003, 01/07/2003, 01/08/2003, 01/09/2003, 01/10/2003, 01/11/2003, 01/12/2003, 01/05/2004, 01/06/2004, 01/07/2004, .... and so on.
  
  

  Note that when the byweekno clause is used, it is possible that the dates returned are from a year other than the current year. For example, if returning dates for the year 2004 and the calendar string is "FREQ=YEARLY;BYWEEKNO=1,53" for the specified week numbers in 2004, it will return the dates:

  12/29/03, 12/30/03, 12/31/03, 01/01/04, 01/02/04, 01/03/04, 01/04/04, 12/27/04, 12/28/04, 12/29/04, 12/30/04, 12/31/04, 01/01/05, 01/02/05
  
  

• For those BY clauses that do not have a consistent range of values, you can count backward by putting a "-" in front of the numeric value. For example, specifying BYMONTHDAY=31 will not give you the last day of every month, because not every month has 31 days. Instead, BYMONTHDAY=-1 will give you the last day of the month.

  This is not supported for BY clauses that are fixed in size. In other words, BYMONTH, BYHOUR, BYMINUTE, and BYSECOND are not supported.

• The basic values for the BYDAY clause are the days of the week. When the frequency is YEARLY, or MONTHLY, you are allowed to specify a positive or negative number in front of each day of the week. In the case of YEARLY, BYDAY=40MON, indicates the 40th Monday of the year. In the case of MONTHLY, BYDAY=-2SAT, indicates the second to last Saturday of the month.

  Note that positive or negative numbers in front of the weekdays are not supported for other frequencies and that in the case of yearly, the number ranges from -53 ... -1, 1 ... 53, whereas for the monthly frequency it is limited to -5 ... -1, 1... 5.

  If no number is present in front of the weekday it specifies, every occurrence of that weekday in the specified frequency.

• The first day of the week is Monday.

• Repeating jobs with frequencies smaller than daily follow their frequencies exactly across daylight savings adjustments. For example, suppose that a job is scheduled to repeat every 3 hours, the clock is moved forward from 1:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., and the last time the job ran was midnight. Its next scheduled time will be 4:00 a.m. Thus, the 3 hour period between subsequent job runs is retained. The same applies when the clock is moved back. This behavior is not the case for repeating jobs that have frequencies of daily or larger. For example, if a repeating job is supposed to be executed on a daily basis at midnight, it will continue to run at midnight if the clock is moved forward or backward. When the execution time of such a daily (or larger frequency) job happens to fall inside a window where the clock is moved forward, the job executes at the end of the window.

• The calendaring syntax does not allow you to specify a time zone. Instead the Scheduler retrieves the time zone from the start_date argument. If jobs must follow daylight savings adjustments you must make sure that you specify a region name for the time zone of the start_date. For example specifying the start_date time zone as 'US/Eastern' in New York will make sure that daylight saving adjustments are automatically applied. If instead the time zone of the start_date is set to an absolute offset, such as '-5:00', daylight savings adjustments are not followed and your job execution will be off by an hour half of the year.

• When start_date is NULL, the Scheduler will determine the time zone for the repeat interval as follows:

  1. It will check whether the session time zone is a region name. The session time zone can be set by either:

     • Issuing an ALTER SESSION statement, for example:

       SQL> ALTER SESSION SET time_zone = 'Asia/Shanghai';
       
       

     • Setting the ORA_SDTZ environment variable.

  2. If the session time zone is an absolute offset instead of a region name, the Scheduler will use the value of the DEFAULT_TIMEZONE Scheduler attribute. For more information, see the SET_SCHEDULER_ATTRIBUTE Procedure.

  3. If the DEFAULT_TIMEZONE attribute is NULL, the Scheduler will use the time zone of systimestamp when the job or window is enabled.

BYSETPOS Clause Rules

• The BYSETPOS clause is the last clause to be evaluated. It is processed after all other BY clauses and the INCLUDE, EXCLUDE and INTERSECT clauses have been evaluated.

• The INTERVAL clause does not change the size of the period to which the BYSETPOS clause is applied. For example, when the frequency is set to monthly and interval is set to 3, the list of timestamps to which BYSETPOS is applied is generated from a month, not a quarter. The only impact of the INTERVAL clause is to cause months to be skipped. However, you can still select the second to last workday of the quarter like this:

  FREQ=MONTHLY;INTERVAL=3;BYDAY=MON,TUE,WED,THU,FRI;BYSETPOS=-2
  
  

  provided that you set the start date in the right month. This example returns the next to last workday of a month, and repeats once a quarter.

• To get consistent results, the set to which BYSETPOS is applied is determined from the beginning of the frequency period independently of when the evaluation occurs. Whether the Scheduler evaluates

  FREQ=MONTHLY;BYDAY=MON,TUE,FRI;BYSETPOS=1,3
  
  

  on 01/01/2004 or 01/15/2004, in both cases the expression evaluates to Friday 01/02/2004, and Tuesday 01/06/2004. The only difference is that when the expression is evaluated on 01/15/2004, the Scheduler determines that there are no matches in January because the timestamps found are in the past, and it moves on to the matches in the next month, February.

BYDATE Clause Rules

• If dates in the BYDATE clause do not have their optional year component, the job runs on those dates every year.

• The job execution times on the included dates are derived from the BY clauses in the calendaring expression. For example, if repeat_interval is defined as

  freq=daily;byhour=8,13,18;byminute=0;bysecond=0;bydate=0502,0922
  
  

  then the execution times on 05/02 and 09/22 are 8:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m.

EXCLUDE Clause Rules

• Excluded dates without a time component are 24 hour periods. All timestamps that fall on an excluded date are removed. In the following example, jan_fifteen is a named schedule that resolves to the single date of 01/15:

  freq=monthly;bymonthday=15,30;byhour=8,13,18;byminute=0;bysecond=0;
       exclude=jan_fifteenth
  
  

  In this case, all three instances of the job are removed for 01/15.

OFFSET Rules

• You can adjust the dates of individual named schedules by adding positive offsets to them. For example, to execute JOB2 exactly 15 days after every occurrence of JOB1, add +OFFSET:15D to the schedule of JOB1, as follows:

  BEGIN
  dbms_scheduler.create_schedule('job2_schedule', repeat_interval =>
    'job1_schedule+OFFSET:15D');
  END;
  /
  
  

  Note that negative offsets to named schedules are not supported.

Example: Putting It All Together

This example demonstrates the use of user defined frequencies, spans, offsets, and the BYSETPOS and INCLUDE clauses. (Note that the OFFSET: keyword in an offset clause is optional.)

Many companies in the retail industry share the same fiscal year. The fiscal year starts on the Sunday closest to February 1st, and subsequent quarters start exactly 13 weeks later. The fiscal year schedule for the retail industry can be defined as the following:

begin
 dbms_scheduler.create_schedule('year_start', repeat_interval=>
       'FREQ=YEARLY;BYDATE=0201^SPAN:1W;BYDAY=SUN');
 dbms_scheduler.create_schedule('retail_fiscal_year',
        to_timestamp_tz('15-JAN-2005 12:00:00','DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS'),
         'year_start,year_start+13w,year_start+26w,year_start+39w;periods=4');
end;
/

The following schedule can be used to execute a job on the 5th day off in the 2nd and the 4th quarters of the retail industry. This assumes that Saturday and Sunday are off days as well as the days in the existing holiday schedule.

begin
 dbms_scheduler.create_schedule('fifth_day_off', repeat_interval=>
  'FREQ=retail_fiscal_year;BYDAY=SAT,SUN;INCLUDE=holiday;
    BYPERIOD=2,4;BYSETPOS=5');
end;
/

Summary of DBMS_SCHEDULER Subprograms

ADD_EVENT_QUEUE_SUBSCRIBER Procedure

This procedure adds a user as a subscriber to the Scheduler event queue SYS.SCHEDULER$_EVENT_QUEUE, and grants the user permission to dequeue from this queue using the designated agent.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.ADD_EVENT_QUEUE_SUBSCRIBER (
   subscriber_name         IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

The subscription is rule-based. The rule permits the user to see only events raised by jobs that the user owns, and filters out all other messages. If an AQ agent with the same name already exists, an error is raised.

ADD_WINDOW_GROUP_MEMBER Procedure

This procedure adds one or more windows to an existing window group.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.ADD_WINDOW_GROUP_MEMBER (
   group_name              IN VARCHAR2,
   window_list             IN VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Usage Notes

If an already open window is added to a window group, the Scheduler will not pick up jobs that point to this window group until the next window in the window group opens.

Adding a window to a group requires the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege.

Note that a window group cannot be a member of another window group.

ALTER_CHAIN Procedure

This procedure alters specified steps of a chain. This affects all future runs of the specified steps.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.ALTER_CHAIN (
   chain_name              IN VARCHAR2,
   step_name               IN VARCHAR2,
   attribute               IN VARCHAR2,
   value                   IN BOOLEAN);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Altering a chain requires ALTER privileges on the chain either by being the owner of the chain, or by having the ALTER object privilege on the chain or by having the CREATE ANY JOB system privilege.

ALTER_RUNNING_CHAIN Procedure

This procedure alters specified steps of a running chain. This will affect only steps of this running instance of the chain.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.ALTER_RUNNING_CHAIN (
   job_name                IN VARCHAR2,
   step_name               IN VARCHAR2,
   attribute               IN VARCHAR2,
   value                   IN [BOOLEAN|VARCHAR2]);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Altering a running chain requires alter privileges on the job which is running (either by being the owner, or by having ALTER privileges on the job or by having the CREATE ANY JOB system privilege).

CLOSE_WINDOW Procedure

This procedure closes an open window prematurely. A closed window means that it is no longer in effect. When a window is closed, the Scheduler will switch the resource plan to the one that was in effect outside the window or in the case of overlapping windows to another window.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CLOSE_WINDOW (
   window_name             IN VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Usage Notes

If you try to close a window that does not exist or is not open, an error is generated.

A job that is running will not stop when the window it is running in closes unless the attribute stop_on_window_close was set to TRUE for the job. However, the resources allocated to the job may change because the resource plan may change.

When a running job has a window group as its schedule, the job will not be stopped when its window is closed if another window that is also a member of the same window group then becomes active. This is the case even if the job has the attribute stop_on_window_close set to TRUE.

Closing a window requires the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege.

COPY_JOB Procedure

This procedure copies all attributes of an existing job to a new job. The new job is created disabled, while the state of the existing job is unaltered.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.COPY_JOB (
   old_job                IN VARCHAR2,
   new_job                IN VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Copying a job requires privileges to create a job in the schema of the new job (the CREATE JOB system privilege if it is in the user's own schema, and the CREATE ANY JOB system privilege otherwise). If the old job is not in the user's own schema, then he needs to additionally have ALTER privileges on the old job or the CREATE ANY JOB system privilege.

CREATE_CHAIN Procedure

This procedure creates a new chain. The chain name can be optionally qualified with a schema name (for example, myschema.myname).

A chain is always created disabled and must be enabled with the ENABLE Procedure before it can be used.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_CHAIN (
   chain_name              IN VARCHAR2,
   rule_set_name           IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   evaluation_interval     IN INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND DEFAULT NULL,
   comments                IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Creating a chain in one's own schema requires the CREATE JOB system privilege. Creating a chain in a different schema requires the CREATE ANY JOB system privilege. If no rule_set_name is given, a rule set and evaluation context will be created in the schema that the chain is being created in, so the user will need to have the privileges required to create these objects. See the DBMS_RULE_ADM.CREATE_RULE_SET and DBMS_RULE_ADM.CREATE_EVALUATION_CONTEXT procedures for more information.

CREATE_CREDENTIAL Procedure

This procedure creates a stored username/password pair in a database object called a credential.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_CREDENTIAL (
   credential_name         IN VARCHAR2,
   username                IN VARCHAR2,
   password                IN VARCHAR2,
   database_role           IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   windows_domain          IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   comments                IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Credentials reside in a particular schema and can be created by any user with the CREATE JOB system privilege. To create a credential in a schema other than your own, you must have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

The user name is case sensitive. It cannot contain double quotes or spaces.

CREATE_EVENT_SCHEDULE Procedure

This procedure creates an event schedule, which is used to start a job when a particular event is raised.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_EVENT_SCHEDULE (
   schedule_name           IN VARCHAR2,
   start_date              IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE DEFAULT NULL,
   event_condition         IN VARCHAR2,
   queue_spec              IN VARCHAR2,
   end_date                IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE DEFAULT NULL,
   comments                IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

This procedure requires the CREATE JOB privilege to create a schedule in one's own schema or the CREATE ANY JOB privilege to create a schedule in someone else's schema by specifying schema.schedule_name. Once a schedule has been created, it can be used by other users. The schedule is created with access to PUBLIC. Therefore, there is no need to explicitly grant access to the schedule.

CREATE_JOB Procedures

This procedure creates a single job (regular or lightweight).

The procedure is overloaded. The different functionality of each form of syntax is presented along with the syntax declaration.

Syntax

Creates a job in a single call without using an existing program or schedule:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_JOB (
   job_name             IN VARCHAR2,
   job_type             IN VARCHAR2,
   job_action           IN VARCHAR2,
   number_of_arguments  IN PLS_INTEGER              DEFAULT 0,
   start_date           IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE DEFAULT NULL,
   repeat_interval      IN VARCHAR2                 DEFAULT NULL,
   end_date             IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE DEFAULT NULL,
   job_class            IN VARCHAR2                 DEFAULT 'DEFAULT_JOB_CLASS',
   enabled              IN BOOLEAN                  DEFAULT FALSE,
   auto_drop            IN BOOLEAN                  DEFAULT TRUE,
   comments             IN VARCHAR2                 DEFAULT NULL);

Creates a job using a named schedule object and a named program object:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_JOB (
   job_name                IN VARCHAR2,
   program_name            IN VARCHAR2,
   schedule_name           IN VARCHAR2,
   job_class               IN VARCHAR2              DEFAULT 'DEFAULT_JOB_CLASS',
   enabled                 IN BOOLEAN               DEFAULT FALSE,
   auto_drop               IN BOOLEAN               DEFAULT TRUE,
   comments                IN VARCHAR2              DEFAULT NULL,
   job_style               IN VARCHAR2              DEFAULT 'REGULAR');

Creates a job using a named program object and an inlined schedule:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_JOB (
   job_name             IN VARCHAR2,
   program_name         IN VARCHAR2,
   start_date           IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE DEFAULT NULL,
   repeat_interval      IN VARCHAR2                 DEFAULT NULL,
   end_date             IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE DEFAULT NULL,
   job_class            IN VARCHAR2                 DEFAULT 'DEFAULT_JOB_CLASS',
   enabled              IN BOOLEAN                  DEFAULT FALSE,
   auto_drop            IN BOOLEAN                  DEFAULT TRUE,
   comments             IN VARCHAR2                 DEFAULT NULL,
   job_style               IN VARCHAR2              DEFAULT 'REGULAR');

Creates a job using a named schedule object and an inlined program:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_JOB (
   job_name                IN VARCHAR2,
   schedule_name           IN VARCHAR2,
   job_type                IN VARCHAR2,
   job_action              IN VARCHAR2,
   number_of_arguments     IN PLS_INTEGER       DEFAULT 0,
   job_class               IN VARCHAR2          DEFAULT 'DEFAULT_JOB_CLASS',
   enabled                 IN BOOLEAN           DEFAULT FALSE,
   auto_drop               IN BOOLEAN           DEFAULT TRUE,
   comments                IN VARCHAR2          DEFAULT NULL);

Creates a job using an inlined program and an event:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_JOB (
   job_name                IN VARCHAR2,
   job_type                IN VARCHAR2,
   job_action              IN VARCHAR2,
   number_of_arguments     IN PLS_INTEGER       DEFAULT 0,
   start_date              IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE,
   event_condition         IN VARCHAR2,
   queue_spec              IN VARCHAR2,
   end_date                IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE,
   job_class               IN VARCHAR2          DEFAULT 'DEFAULT_JOB_CLASS',
   enabled                 IN BOOLEAN           DEFAULT FALSE,
   auto_drop               IN BOOLEAN           DEFAULT TRUE,
   comments                IN VARCHAR2          DEFAULT NULL);

Creates a job using a named program object and an event:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_JOB (
   job_name                IN VARCHAR2,
   program_name            IN VARCHAR2,
   start_date              IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE,
   event_condition         IN VARCHAR2,
   queue_spec              IN VARCHAR2,
   end_date                IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE,
   job_class               IN VARCHAR2          DEFAULT 'DEFAULT_JOB_CLASS',
   enabled                 IN BOOLEAN           DEFAULT FALSE,
   auto_drop               IN BOOLEAN           DEFAULT TRUE,
   comments                IN VARCHAR2          DEFAULT NULL,
   job_style               IN VARCHAR2              DEFAULT 'REGULAR');

Parameters

Usage Notes

Jobs are created disabled by default. You must explicitly enable them so that they will become active and scheduled. Before enabling a job, ensure that all program arguments, if any, are defined, either by defining default values in the program object or by supplying values with the job.

To create a job in your own schema, you need to have the CREATE JOB privilege. A user with the CREATE ANY JOB privilege can create a job in any schema. If the job being created will reside in another schema, the job name must be qualified with the schema name. For a job of type EXECUTABLE (or for a job that points to a program of type EXECUTABLE), the job owner must have the CREATE EXTERNAL JOB system privilege before the job can be enabled or run.

Associating a job with a particular class or program requires EXECUTE privileges for that class or program.

Not all possible job attributes can be set with CREATE_JOB. Some must be set after the job is created. For example, job arguments must be set with the SET_JOB_ARGUMENT_VALUE Procedures or the SET_JOB_ANYDATA_VALUE Procedures. Other job attributes, such as job_priority and max_runs, are set with the SET_ATTRIBUTE Procedure.

To create multiple jobs efficiently, use the CREATE_JOBS procedure.

CREATE_JOB_CLASS Procedure

This procedure creates a job class. Job classes are created in the SYS schema.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_JOB_CLASS (
   job_class_name            IN VARCHAR2,
   resource_consumer_group   IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   service                   IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   logging_level             IN PLS_INTEGER
                                DEFAULT DBMS_SCHEDULER.LOGGING_RUNS,
   log_history               IN PLS_INTEGER DEFAULT NULL,
   comments                  IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

For users to create jobs that belong to a job class, the job owner must have EXECUTE privileges on the job class. Therefore, after the job class has been created, EXECUTE privileges must be granted on the job class so that users create jobs belonging to that class. You can also grant the EXECUTE privilege to a role.

Creating a job class requires the MANAGE SCHEDULER system privilege.

CREATE_JOBS Procedure

This procedure creates multiple jobs (regular or lightweight) and sets the values of their arguments in a single call.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_JOBS (
   job_array         IN JOB_ARRAY,
   commit_semantics  IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'STOP_ON_FIRST_ERROR');

Parameters

Usage Notes

This procedure allows for the creation of a large number of jobs in the context of a single transaction. To realize the desired performance gains, the jobs to create must be grouped into batches of sufficient size. Calling CREATE_JOBS with a small array size may not be much faster than calling CREATE_JOB once for each job.

CREATE_PROGRAM Procedure

This procedure creates a program.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_PROGRAM (
   program_name             IN VARCHAR2,
   program_type             IN VARCHAR2,
   program_action           IN VARCHAR2,
   number_of_arguments      IN PLS_INTEGER DEFAULT 0,
   enabled                  IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
   comments                 IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

To create a program in his own schema, a user needs the CREATE JOB privilege. A user with the CREATE ANY JOB privilege can create a program in any schema. A program is created in a disabled state by default (unless the enabled field is set to TRUE). It cannot be executed by a job until it is enabled.

For other users to use your programs, they must have EXECUTE privileges, therefore once a program has been created, you have to grant EXECUTE privileges on it.

CREATE_SCHEDULE Procedure

This procedure creates a schedule.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_SCHEDULE (
   schedule_name          IN VARCHAR2,
   start_date             IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIMEZONE DEFAULT NULL,
   repeat_interval        IN VARCHAR2,
   end_date               IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIMEZONE DEFAULT NULL,
   comments               IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

This procedure requires the CREATE JOB privilege to create a schedule in one's own schema or the CREATE ANY JOB privilege to create a schedule in someone else's schema by specifying schema.schedule_name. Once a schedule has been created, it can be used by other users. The schedule is created with access to PUBLIC. Therefore, there is no need to explicitly grant access to the schedule.

CREATE_WINDOW Procedures

This procedure creates a recurring time window and associates it with a resource plan. The window can then be used to schedule jobs, which run under the associated resource plan.

The procedure is overloaded.

Syntax

Creates a window using a named schedule object:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_WINDOW (
   window_name             IN VARCHAR2,
   resource_plan           IN VARCHAR2,
   schedule_name           IN VARCHAR2,
   duration                IN INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND,
   window_priority         IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'LOW',
   comments                IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Creates a window using an inlined schedule:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_WINDOW (
   window_name             IN VARCHAR2,
   resource_plan           IN VARCHAR2,
   start_date              IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE DEFAULT NULL,
   repeat_interval         IN VARCHAR2,
   end_date                IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE DEFAULT NULL,
   duration                IN INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND,
   window_priority         IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'LOW',
   comments                IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Creating a window requires the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege. Windows always reside in the SYS schema.

Scheduler windows are the principal mechanism used to automatically switch resource plans according to a schedule. You can also manually activate a resource plan by using the ALTER SYSTEM SET RESOURCE_MANAGER_PLAN statement or the DBMS_RESOURCE_MANAGER.SWITCH_PLAN package procedure. Note that either of these manual methods can also disable resource plan switching by Scheduler windows. For more information, see Oracle Database Administrator's Guide and "SWITCH_PLAN Procedure".

CREATE_WINDOW_GROUP Procedure

This procedure creates a new window group.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_WINDOW_GROUP (
   group_name            IN VARCHAR2,
   window_list           IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   comments              IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Creating a window group requires the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege. Window groups reside in the SYS schema. Window groups, like windows, are created with access to PUBLIC, therefore, no privileges are required to access window groups.

A window group cannot contain another window group.

DEFINE_ANYDATA_ARGUMENT Procedure

This procedure defines a name or default value for a program argument that is of a complex type and must be encapsulated within an ANYDATA object. A job that references the program can override the default value.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DEFINE_ANYDATA_ARGUMENT (
   program_name            IN VARCHAR2,
   argument_position       IN PLS_INTEGER,
   argument_name           IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   argument_type           IN VARCHAR2,
   default_value           IN SYS.ANYDATA,
   out_argument            IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);

Parameters

Usage Notes

All program arguments from 1 to the number_of_arguments value must be defined before a program can be enabled. If a default value for an argument is not defined with this procedure, a value must be defined in the job.

Defining a program argument requires that you be the owner of the program or have ALTER privileges on that program. You can also define a program argument if you have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

DEFINE_CHAIN_EVENT_STEP Procedure

This procedure adds or replaces a chain step and associates it with an event schedule or an inline event. Once started in a running chain, this step will not complete until the specified event has occurred. Every step in a chain must be defined before the chain can be enabled and used. Defining a step gives it a name and specifies what happens during the step. If a step already exists with this name, the new step will replace the old one.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DEFINE_CHAIN_EVENT_STEP (
   chain_name              IN VARCHAR2,
   step_name               IN VARCHAR2,
   event_schedule_name     IN VARCHAR2,
   timeout                 IN INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND DEFAULT NULL);

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DEFINE_CHAIN_EVENT_STEP (
   chain_name              IN VARCHAR2,
   step_name               IN VARCHAR2,
   event_condition         IN VARCHAR2,
   queue_spec              IN VARCHAR2,
   timeout                 IN INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Defining a chain step requires ALTER privileges on the chain either by being the owner of the chain, or by having the ALTER object privilege on the chain or by having the CREATE ANY JOB system privilege.

DEFINE_CHAIN_RULE Procedure

This procedure adds a new rule to an existing chain, specified as a condition-action pair. The condition is expressed using either SQL or the Scheduler chain condition syntax, and indicates the prerequisites for the action to occur. The action specifies what is to be done as a result of the condition being met.

An actual rule object is created to store the rule in the schema in which the chain resides. If a rule name is given, this name will be used for the rule object. If a rule name is given and a rule already exists with this name in the chain's schema, the existing rule will be altered. (A schema different than the chain's schema cannot be specified). If no rule name is given, one will be generated of the form SCHED_RULE${N}.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DEFINE_CHAIN_RULE (
   chain_name              IN VARCHAR2,
   condition               IN VARCHAR2,
   action                  IN VARCHAR2,
   rule_name               IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   comments                IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Chain Condition Syntax

The Scheduler chain condition syntax provides an easy way to construct a condition using the states and error codes of steps in the current chain. The following are the available constructs, all of which are boolean expressions:

TRUE
FALSE
stepname [NOT] SUCCEEDED 
stepname [NOT] FAILED 
stepname [NOT] STOPPED 
stepname [NOT] COMPLETED 
stepname ERROR_CODE IN (integer, integer, integer ...)
stepname ERROR_CODE NOT IN (integer, integer, integer ...)
stepname ERROR_CODE = integer
stepname ERROR_CODE != integer
stepname ERROR_CODE <> integer
stepname ERROR_CODE > integer
stepname ERROR_CODE >= integer
stepname ERROR_CODE < integer
stepname ERROR_CODE <= integer

The following boolean operators are available to create more complex conditions:

expression AND expression
expression OR expression
NOT (expression)

integer can be positive or negative. Parentheses may be used for clarity or to enforce ordering. You must use parentheses with the NOT operator.

Usage Notes

Defining a chain rule requires ALTER privileges on the chain (either by being the owner, or by having ALTER privileges on the chain or by having the CREATE ANY JOB system privilege).

You must define at least one rule that starts the chain and at least one that ends it. See the section "Adding Rules to a Chain" in Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for more information.

Examples

The following are examples of using rule conditions and rule actions.

Rule Conditions Using Scheduler Chain Condition Syntax

'step1 completed'
-- satisfied when step step1 has completed. (step1 completed is also TRUE when any 
-- of the following are TRUE: step1 succeeded, step1 failed, step1 stopped.)

'step1 succeeded and step2 succeeded'
-- satisfied when steps step1 and step2 have both succeeded

'step1 error_code > 100'
-- satisfied when step step1 has failed with an error_code greater than 100

'step1 error_code IN (1, 3, 5, 7)'
-- satisfied when step step1 has failed with an error_code of 1, 3, 5, or 7

Rule Conditions Using SQL Syntax

':step1.completed = ''TRUE'' AND :step1.end_date >SYSDATE-1/24'
--satisfied when step step1 completed less than an hour ago

':step1.duration > interval ''5'' minute'
-- satisfied when step step1 has completed and took longer than 5 minutes to complete

Rule Actions

'AFTER 01:00:00 START step1, step2'
--After an hour start steps step1 and step2

'STOP step1'
--Stop step step1

END step4.error_code'
--End the chain with the error code that step step4 finished with. If step4 has not completed, the chain will be ended unsuccessfully with error code 27435.

'END' or 'END 0'
--End the chain successfully (with error_code 0)

'END 100'
--End the chain unsuccessfully with error code 100.

DEFINE_CHAIN_STEP Procedure

This procedure adds or replaces a chain step and associates it with a program or a nested chain. When the chain step is started, the specified program or chain is run. If a step already exists with the name supplied in the chain_name argument, the new step replaces the old one.

The chain owner must have EXECUTE privileges on the program or chain associated with the step. Only one program or chain can run during a step.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DEFINE_CHAIN_STEP (
   chain_name              IN VARCHAR2,
   step_name               IN VARCHAR2,
   program_name            IN VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Defining a chain step requires ALTER privileges on the chain (either by being the owner, or by having ALTER privileges on the chain or by having the CREATE ANY JOB system privilege).

DEFINE_METADATA_ARGUMENT Procedure

This procedure defines a special metadata argument for the program. The Scheduler can pass Scheduler metadata through this argument to your stored procedure or other executable. You cannot set values for jobs using this argument.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DEFINE_METADATA_ARGUMENT (
  program_name            IN VARCHAR2,
  metadata_attribute      IN VARCHAR2,
  argument_position       IN PLS_INTEGER,
  argument_name           IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Defining a program argument requires that you be the owner of the program or have ALTER privileges on that program. You can also define a program argument if you have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

All metadata attributes except event_message can also be used in PL/SQL blocks that you enter into the job_action or program_action attributes of jobs or programs, respectively. You use the attribute name as you use any other PL/SQL identifier, and the Scheduler assigns it a value.

DEFINE_PROGRAM_ARGUMENT Procedures

This procedure defines a name or default value for a program argument. If no default value is defined for a program argument, the job that references the program must supply an argument value. (The job can also override a default value.)

This procedure is overloaded.

Syntax

Defines a program argument without a default value:

PROCEDURE define_program_argument(
   program_name            IN VARCHAR2,
   argument_position       IN PLS_INTEGER,
   argument_name           IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   argument_type           IN VARCHAR2,
   out_argument            IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);

Defines a program argument with a default value:

PROCEDURE define_program_argument(
   program_name            IN VARCHAR2,
   argument_position       IN PLS_INTEGER,
   argument_name           IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
   argument_type           IN VARCHAR2,
   default_value           IN VARCHAR2,
   out_argument            IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);

Parameters

Usage Notes

All program arguments from 1 to the number_of_arguments value must be defined before a program can be enabled. If a default value for an argument is not defined with this procedure, a value must be defined in the job.

Defining a program argument requires that you be the owner of the program or have ALTER privileges on that program. You can also define a program argument if you have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

DISABLE Procedure

This procedure disables a program, job, chain, window, or window group.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DISABLE (
   name              IN VARCHAR2,
   force             IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
   commit_semantics  IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'STOP_ON_FIRST_ERROR');

Parameters

Usage Notes

Disabling an object that is already disabled does not generate an error. Because the DISABLE procedure is used for several Scheduler objects, when disabling windows and window groups, they must be preceded by SYS.

The purpose of the force option is to point out dependencies. No dependent objects are altered.

To run DISABLE for a window or window group, you must have the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege. Otherwise, you must be the owner of the object being disabled or have ALTER privileges on that object or have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

Jobs

Disabling a job means that, although the metadata of the job is there, it should not run and the job coordinator will not pick up these jobs for processing. When a job is disabled, its state in the job queue is changed to disabled.

If force is set to FALSE and the job is currently running, an error is returned.

If force is set to TRUE, the job is disabled, but the currently running instance is allowed to finish.

Programs

When a program is disabled, the status is changed to disabled. A disabled program implies that, although the metadata is still there, jobs that point to this program cannot run.

If force is set to FALSE, the program must not be referenced by any job, otherwise an error will occur.

If force is set to TRUE, those jobs that point to the program will not be disabled, however, they will fail at runtime because their program will not be valid.

Running jobs that point to the program are not affected by the DISABLE call, and are allowed to continue

Any argument that pertains to the program will not be affected when the program is disabled.

Windows

This means that the window will not open, however, the metadata of the window is still there, so it can be reenabled.

If force is set to FALSE, the window must not be open or referenced by any job otherwise an error will occur.

If force is set to TRUE, disabling a window that is open will succeed but the window will not be closed. It will prevent the window from opening in the future until it is re-enabled.

When the window is disabled, those jobs that have the window as their schedule will not be disabled.

Window Groups

When a window group is disabled, jobs, other than a running job, that has the window group as its schedule will not run even if the member windows open. However, if the job had one of the window group members as its schedule, it would still run.

The metadata of the window group is still there, so it can be reenabled. Note that the members of the window group will still open.

If force is set to FALSE, the window group must not have any members that are open or referenced by any job otherwise an error will occur.

If force is set to TRUE:

• The window group is disabled and the open window will be not closed or disabled. It will be allowed to continue to its end.

• The window group is disabled but those jobs that have the window group as their schedule will not be disabled.

Job Chains

When a chain is disabled, the metadata for the chain is still there, but jobs that point to it will not be able to be run. This allows changes to the chain to be made safely without the risk of having an incompletely specified chain run.If force is set to FALSE, the chain must not be referenced by any job, otherwise an error will occur.If force is set to TRUE, those jobs that point to the chain will not be disabled, however, they will fail at runtime.Running jobs that point to this chain are not affected by the DISABLE call and are allowed to complete.

DROP_CHAIN Procedure

This procedure drops an existing chain.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_CHAIN (
   chain_name              IN VARCHAR2,
   force                   IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Dropping a chain requires alter privileges on the chain (either by being the owner, or by having ALTER privileges on the chain or by having the CREATE ANY JOB system privilege).

All steps associated with the chain are dropped. If no rule set was specified when the chain was created, then the automatically created rule set and evaluation context associated with the chain are also dropped, so the user needs to have the privileges required to do this. See the DBMS_RULE_ADM.DROP_RULE_SET and DBMS_RULE_ADM.DROP_EVALUATION_CONTEXT procedures for more information.

If force is FALSE, no jobs may be using this chain. If force is TRUE, any jobs that use this chain will be disabled before dropping the chain (and any of these jobs that are running will be stopped).

DROP_CHAIN_RULE Procedure

This procedure removes a rule from an existing chain. The rule object corresponding to this rule will also be dropped. The chain will not be disabled. If dropping this rule makes the chain invalid, the user should first disable the chain to ensure that it does not run.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_CHAIN_RULE (
   chain_name              IN VARCHAR2,
   rule_name               IN VARCHAR2,
   force                   IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Dropping a chain rule requires alter privileges on the chain (either by being the owner, or by having ALTER privileges on the chain or by having the CREATE ANY JOB system privilege).

Dropping a chain rule also drops the underlying rule database object so the user needs to have the privileges to drop this rule object. See the DBMS_RULE_ADM.DROP_RULE procedure for more information.

DROP_CHAIN_STEP Procedure

This procedure drops a chain step. If this chain step is still used in the chain rules, the chain will be disabled.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_CHAIN_STEP (
   chain_name              IN VARCHAR2,
   step_name               IN VARCHAR2,
   force                   IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Dropping a chain step requires ALTER privileges on the chain (either by being the owner, or by having ALTER privileges on the chain or by having the CREATE ANY JOB system privilege).

DROP_CREDENTIAL Procedure

This procedure drops a credential.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_CREDENTIAL (
   credential_name         IN VARCHAR2,
   force                   IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Only the owner of a credential or a user with the CREATE ANY JOB system privilege may drop the credential.

Running jobs that point to the credential are not affected by this procedure and are allowed to continue.

DROP_JOB Procedure

This procedure drops a job or all jobs in a job class. It results in the job being removed from the job queue, its metadata being removed, and no longer being visible in the *_SCHEDULER_JOBS views. Therefore, no more runs of the job will be executed. Dropping a job also drops all argument values set for that job.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_JOB (
   job_name                IN VARCHAR2,
   force                   IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
   commit_semantics        IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'STOP_ON_FIRST_ERROR');

Parameters

Usage Notes

Dropping a job requires ALTER privileges on the job either by being the owner of the job, or by having the ALTER object privilege on the job or by having the CREATE ANY JOB system privilege.

DROP_JOB_CLASS Procedure

This procedure drops a job class. Dropping a job class means that all the metadata about the job class is removed from the database.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_JOB_CLASS (
   job_class_name          IN VARCHAR2,
   force                   IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Dropping a job class requires the MANAGE SCHEDULER system privilege.

DROP_PROGRAM Procedure

This procedure drops a program. Any arguments that pertain to the program are also dropped when the program is dropped.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_PROGRAM (
   program_name            IN VARCHAR2,
   force                   IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Dropping a program requires that you be the owner of the program or have ALTER privileges on that program. You can also drop a program if you have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

DROP_PROGRAM_ARGUMENT Procedures

This procedure drops a program argument. An argument can be specified by either name (if one has been given) or position.

The procedure is overloaded.

Syntax

Drops a program argument by position:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_PROGRAM_ARGUMENT (
   program_name            IN VARCHAR2,
   argument_position       IN PLS_INTEGER);

Drops a program argument by name:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_PROGRAM_ARGUMENT (
   program_name            IN VARCHAR2,
   argument_name           IN VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Dropping a program argument requires that you be the owner of the program or have ALTER privileges on that program. You can also drop a program argument if you have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

DROP_SCHEDULE Procedure

This procedure drops a schedule.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_SCHEDULE (
   schedule_name    IN VARCHAR2,
   force            IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);

Parameters

Usage Notes

You must be the owner of the schedule being dropped or have ALTER privileges for the schedule or the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

DROP_WINDOW Procedure

This procedure drops a window. All metadata about the window is removed from the database. All references to the window are removed from window groups.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_WINDOW (
   window_name             IN VARCHAR2,
   force                   IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Dropping a window requires the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege.

DROP_WINDOW_GROUP Procedure

This procedure drops a window group but not the windows that are members of this window group.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_WINDOW_GROUP (
   group_name              IN VARCHAR2
   force                   IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);

Parameters

Usage Notes

If you want to drop all the windows that are members of this group but not the window group itself, you can use the DROP_WINDOW procedure and provide the name of the window group to the call.

To drop a window group, you must have the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege.

ENABLE Procedure

This procedure enables a program, job, chain, window, or window group. When an object is enabled, the enabled flag is set to TRUE. By default, jobs, chains, and programs are created disabled and windows and window groups are created enabled.

Validity checks are performed before enabling an object. If the check fails, the object is not enabled, and an appropriate error is returned. This procedure does not return an error if the object was already enabled.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.ENABLE (
   name              IN VARCHAR2,
   commit_semantics  IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'STOP_ON_FIRST_ERROR');

Parameters

Usage Notes

Because the ENABLE procedure is used for several Scheduler objects, when enabling windows or window groups, they must be preceded by SYS.

To run ENABLE for a window or window group, you must have the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege. Otherwise, you must be the owner of the object being enabled or have ALTER privileges on that object or have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege. For a job of type EXECUTABLE (or for a job that points to a program of type EXECUTABLE), the job owner must have the CREATE EXTERNAL JOB system privilege before the job can be enabled or run.

EVALUATE_CALENDAR_STRING Procedure

You can define repeat intervals of jobs, windows or schedules using the Scheduler's calendaring syntax. This procedure evaluates the calendar expression and tells you what the next execution date of a job or window will be. This is very useful for testing the correct definition of the calendar string without having to actually schedule the job or window.

This procedure can also be used to get multiple steps of the repeat interval by passing the next_run_date returned by one invocation as the return_date_after argument of the next invocation of this procedure.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.EVALUATE_CALENDAR_STRING (
   calendar_string    IN  VARCHAR2,
   start_date         IN  TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE,
   return_date_after  IN  TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE,
   next_run_date      OUT TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE);

Parameters

Examples

The following code fragment can be used to determine the next five dates a job will run given a specific calendar string.

SET SERVEROUTPUT ON;
ALTER SESSION set NLS_DATE_FORMAT = 'DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS';
Session altered.

DECLARE
start_date        TIMESTAMP;
return_date_after TIMESTAMP;
next_run_date     TIMESTAMP;
BEGIN
start_date :=
  to_timestamp_tz('01-JAN-2003 10:00:00','DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS');
return_date_after := start_date;
FOR i IN 1..5 LOOP
  DBMS_SCHEDULER.EVALUATE_CALENDAR_STRING(  
    'FREQ=DAILY;BYHOUR=9;BYMINUTE=30;BYDAY=MON,TUE,WED,THU,FRI',
    start_date, return_date_after, next_run_date);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('next_run_date: ' || next_run_date);
return_date_after := next_run_date;
END LOOP;
END;
/

next_run_date: 02-JAN-03 09.30.00.000000 AM
next_run_date: 03-JAN-03 09.30.00.000000 AM
next_run_date: 06-JAN-03 09.30.00.000000 AM
next_run_date: 07-JAN-03 09.30.00.000000 AM
next_run_date: 08-JAN-03 09.30.00.000000 AM

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Usage Notes

No specific Scheduler privileges are required.

EVALUATE_RUNNING_CHAIN Procedure

This procedure forces reevaluation of the rules of a running chain to trigger any rules for which the conditions have been satisfied. The job passed as an argument must point to a chain and must be running. If the job is not running, an error is thrown. (RUN_JOB can be used to start the job.)

If any of the steps of the chain are themselves running chains, another EVALUATE_RUNNING_CHAIN is performed on each of the nested running chains.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.EVALUATE_RUNNING_CHAIN (
   job_name              IN VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Running EVALUATE_RUNNING_CHAIN on a job requires alter privileges on the job (either by being the owner, or by having ALTER privileges on the job or by having the CREATE ANY JOB system privilege).

GENERATE_JOB_NAME Function

This function returns a unique name for a job. The name will be of the form {prefix}N where N is a number from a sequence. If no prefix is specified, the generated name will, by default, be JOB$_1, JOB$_2, JOB$_3, and so on. If 'SCOTT' is specified as the prefix, the name will be SCOTT1, SCOTT2, and so on.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.GENERATE_JOB_NAME (
   prefix        IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'JOB$_') RETURN VARCHAR2;

Parameters

Usage Notes

If the prefix is explicitly set to NULL, the name will be just the sequence number. In order to successfully use such numeric names, they must be surrounded by double quotes throughout the DBMS_SCHEDULER calls. A prefix cannot be longer than 18 characters and cannot end with a digit.

Note that, even though the GENERATE_JOB_NAME function will never return the same job name twice, there is a small chance that the returned name matches an already existing database object.

No specific Scheduler privileges are required to use this function.

GET_ATTRIBUTE Procedure

This procedure retrieves the value of an attribute of a Scheduler object. It is overloaded to output values of the following types: VARCHAR2, TIMESTAMP WITH TIMEZONE, BOOLEAN, PLS_INTEGER, and INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.GET_ATTRIBUTE (
   name           IN VARCHAR2,
   attribute      IN VARCHAR2,
   value          OUT {VARCHAR2|TIMESTAMP WITH TIMEZONE| 
                     PLS_INTEGER|BOOLEAN|INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND});

DBMS_SCHEDULER.GET_ATTRIBUTE (
   name           IN VARCHAR2,
   attribute      IN VARCHAR2,
   value          OUT {VARCHAR2|TIMESTAMP WITH TIMEZONE| 
                     PLS_INTEGER|BOOLEAN|INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND});
   value2         OUT VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Usage Notes

To run GET_ATTRIBUTE for a job class, you must have the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege or have EXECUTE privileges on the class. For a schedule, window, or a window group, no privileges are necessary. Otherwise, you must be the owner of the object or have ALTER or EXECUTE privileges on that object or have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

GET_FILE Procedure

This procedure retrieves a file from the operating system file system of a specified host. The file is copied to a destination, or its contents are returned in a procedure output parameter.

This procedures differs from the equivalent UTL_FILE procedure in that it uses a credential and can retrieve files from remote hosts that have only a Scheduler agent (and not an Oracle Database) installed.

You can also use this procedure to retrieve the standard output or error text for a run of an external job that has an associated credential.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.GET_FILE (
   source_file                  IN VARCHAR2,
   source_host                  IN VARCHAR2,
   credential_name              IN VARCHAR2,
   file_contents                OUT {BLOB|CLOB});

DBMS_SCHEDULER.GET_FILE (
   source_file                  IN VARCHAR2,
   source_host                  IN VARCHAR2,
   credential_name              IN VARCHAR2,
   destination_file_name        IN VARCHAR2,
   destination_directory_object IN VARCHAR2,
   destination_permissions      IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

The caller must have the CREATE EXTERNAL JOB system privilege and have EXECUTE privileges on the credential.

GET_SCHEDULER_ATTRIBUTE Procedure

This procedure retrieves the value of a Scheduler attribute.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.GET_SCHEDULER_ATTRIBUTE (
   attribute      IN VARCHAR2,
   value          OUT VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Usage Notes

To run GET_SCHEDULER_ATTRIBUTE, you must have the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege.

Table 114-51 lists the Scheduler attributes that you can retrieve. For more detail on these attributes, see Table 114-75 and the section "Configuring the Scheduler" in Oracle Database Administrator's Guide.

OPEN_WINDOW Procedure

This procedure opens a window independent of its schedule. This window will open and the resource plan associated with it, will take effect immediately for the duration specified or for the normal duration of the window if no duration is given. Only an enabled window can be manually opened.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.OPEN_WINDOW (
   window_name             IN VARCHAR2,
   duration                IN INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND,
   force                   IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE);

Parameters

Usage Notes

If there are jobs running when the window opens, the resources allocated to them might change due to the switch in resource plan.

Opening a window manually has no impact on regular scheduled runs of the window. The next open time of the window is not updated, and will be as determined by the regular scheduled opening.

When a window that was manually opened closes, the rules about overlapping windows are applied to determine which other window should be opened at that time if any at all.

If a window fails to switch resource plans because the designated resource plan no longer exists or because resource plan switching by windows is disabled (for example, by using the ALTER SYSTEM statement with the force option), the failure to switch resource plans is recorded in the window log.

Opening a window requires the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege.

PURGE_LOG Procedure

By default, the Scheduler automatically purges all rows in the job log and window log that are older than 30 days. The PURGE_LOG procedure is used to purge additional rows from the job and window log.

Rows in the job log table pertaining to the steps of a chain are purged only when the entry for the main chain job is purged (either manually or automatically).

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.PURGE_LOG (
   log_history             IN PLS_INTEGER  DEFAULT 0,
   which_log               IN VARCHAR2     DEFAULT 'JOB_AND_WINDOW_LOG',
   job_name                IN VARCHAR2     DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

This procedure requires the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege.

Examples

The following will completely purge all rows from both the job log and the window log:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.PURGE_LOG();

The following will purge all rows from the window log that are older than 5 days:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.PURGE_LOG(5, 'window_log');

The following will purge all rows from the window log that are older than 1 day and all rows from the job log that are related to jobs in jobclass1 and that are older than 1 day:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.PURGE_LOG(1, 'job_and_window_log', 'sys.jobclass1');

PUT_FILE Procedure

This procedure saves a file to the operating system file system of a specified remote host or of the local computer. It differs from the equivalent UTL_FILE procedure in that it uses a credential and can save files to a remote host that has only a Scheduler agent (and not an Oracle Database) installed.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.PUT_FILE (
   destination_file         IN VARCHAR2,
   destination_host         IN VARCHAR2,
   credential_name          IN VARCHAR2,
   file_contents            IN {BLOB|CLOB},
   destination_permissions  IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

DBMS_SCHEDULER.PUT_FILE (
   destination_file         IN VARCHAR2,
   destination_host         IN VARCHAR2,
   credential_name          IN VARCHAR2,
   source_file_name         IN VARCHAR2,
   source_directory_object  IN VARCHAR2,
   destination_permissions  IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

The caller must have the CREATE EXTERNAL JOB system privilege and have EXECUTE privileges on the credential.

REMOVE_EVENT_QUEUE_SUBSCRIBER Procedure

This procedure unsubscribes a user from the Scheduler event queue SYS.SCHEDULER$_EVENT_QUEUE.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.REMOVE_EVENT_QUEUE_SUBSCRIBER (
   subscriber_name         IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

After the agent is unsubscribed, it is deleted. If the agent does not exist or is not currently subscribed to the Scheduler event queue, an error is raised.

REMOVE_WINDOW_GROUP_MEMBER Procedure

This procedure removes one or more windows from an existing window group.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.REMOVE_WINDOW_GROUP_MEMBER (
   group_name              IN VARCHAR2,
   window_list             IN VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Usage Notes

If any of the windows specified is either invalid, does not exist, or is not a member of the given group, the call fails. Removing a window from a group requires the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege.

Dropping an open window from a window group has no impact on running jobs that has the window as its schedule since the jobs would only be stopped when a window closes.

RESET_JOB_ARGUMENT_VALUE Procedures

This procedure resets (clears) the value previously set to an argument for a job.

RESET_JOB_ARGUMENT_VALUE is overloaded.

Syntax

Clears a previously set job argument value by argument position:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.RESET_JOB_ARGUMENT_VALUE (
   job_name                IN VARCHAR2,
   argument_position       IN PLS_INTEGER);

Clears a previously set job argument value by argument name:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.RESET_JOB_ARGUMENT_VALUE (
   job_name                IN VARCHAR2,
   argument_name           IN VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Usage Notes

If the corresponding program argument has no default value, the job will be disabled. Resetting a program argument of a job belonging to another user requires ALTER privileges on that job. Arguments can be specified by position or by name.

RESET_JOB_ARGUMENT_VALUE requires that you be the owner of the job or have ALTER privileges on that job. You can also reset a job argument value if you have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

RUN_CHAIN Procedures

This procedure immediately runs a chain or part of a chain by creating a run-once job with the job name given. If no job_name is given, one will be generated of the form RUN_CHAIN$_chainnameN, where chainname is the first 8 characters of the chain name and N is an integer.If a list of start steps is given, only those steps will be started when the chain begins running. Steps not in the list that would normally have started are skipped and paused (so that they or the steps after them do not run). If start_steps is NULL, then the chain will start normally—that is, an initial evaluation will be done to see which steps to start running).

If a list of initial step states is given, the newly created chain job sets every listed step to the state specified for that step before evaluating the chain rules to see which steps to start. (Steps in the list are not started.)

Syntax

Runs a chain, with a list of start steps.

DBMS_SCHEDULER.RUN_CHAIN (
   chain_name                IN VARCHAR2,
   start_steps               IN VARCHAR2,
   job_name                  IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Runs a chain, with a list of initial step states.

DBMS_SCHEDULER.RUN_CHAIN (
   chain_name               IN VARCHAR2, 
   step_state_list          IN SYS.SCHEDULER$_STEP_TYPE_LIST, 
   job_name                 IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

Running a chain requires CREATE JOB if the job is being created in the user's schema, or CREATE ANY JOB otherwise. In addition, the owner of the job being created needs execute privileges on the chain (by being the owner of the chain, by having the EXECUTE privilege on the chain, or by having the EXECUTE ANY PROGRAM system privilege).

Examples

The following example illustrates how to start a chain in the middle by providing the initial state of some chain steps.

declare
  initial_step_states sys.scheduler$_step_type_list;
begin
  initial_step_states := sys.scheduler$_step_type_list(
    sys.scheduler$_step_type('step1', 'SUCCEEDED'),
    sys.scheduler$_step_type('step2', 'FAILED 27486'),
    sys.scheduler$_step_type('step3', 'SUCCEEDED'),
    sys.scheduler$_step_type('step5', 'SUCCEEDED'));
  dbms_scheduler.run_chain('my_chain', initial_step_states);
end;
/

RUN_JOB Procedure

This procedure runs a job immediately.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.RUN_JOB (
   job_name                IN VARCHAR2,
   use_current_session     IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT TRUE);

Parameters

Usage Notes

The job does not have to be enabled. If the job is disabled, the following validity checks are performed before running it:

• The job points to a valid job class.The job owner has EXECUTE privileges on the job class.If a program or chain is referenced, the program/chain exists.If a program or chain is referenced, the job owner has privileges to execute the program/chain.All argument values have been set (or have defaults).The job owner has the CREATE EXTERNAL JOB privilege if this is an external job.

The job can be run in two different modes. One is in the current user session. In this case, the call to RUN_JOB will block until it has completed the job. Any errors that occur during the execution of the job will be returned as errors to the RUN_JOB procedure. The other option is to run the job immediately like a regular job. In this case, RUN_JOB returns immediately and the job will be picked up by the coordinator and passed on to a job slave for execution. The Scheduler views and logs must be queried for the outcome of the job.

Multiple user sessions can use RUN_JOB in their sessions simultaneously when use_current_session is set to TRUE.

When using RUN_JOB with jobs that point to chains, use_current_session must be FALSE.

RUN_JOB requires that you be the owner of the job or have ALTER privileges on that job. You can also run a job if you have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

SET_AGENT_REGISTRATION_PASS Procedure

This procedure sets the agent registration password for a database. A Scheduler agent must register with the database before the database can submit jobs to the agent. The agent must provide this password when registering.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.SET_AGENT_REGISTRATION_PASS (
   registration_password   IN VARCHAR2,
   expiration_date         IN TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE DEFAULT NULL,
   max_uses                IN NUMBER DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

To prevent abuse, this password can be set to expire after a given date or a maximum number of successful registrations. This procedure will overwrite any password already set. This requires the MANAGE SCHEDULER system privilege.

By default, max_uses is set to NULL which means that there will be no limit on the number of successful registrations.

Oracle recommends that an agent registration password be reset after every agent registration or every known set of agent registrations. Furthermore, Oracle recommends that this password be set to NULL if no new agents are being registered.

SET_ATTRIBUTE Procedure

This procedure changes an attribute of an object. It is overloaded to accept values of the following types: VARCHAR2, TIMESTAMP WITH TIMEZONE, BOOLEAN, PLS_INTEGER, and INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND. To set an attribute to NULL, the SET_ATTRIBUTE_NULL procedure should be used. What attributes can be set depends on the object being altered. With the exception of the object name, all object attributes can be changed.

SET_ATTRIBUTE is overloaded.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.SET_ATTRIBUTE (
   name           IN VARCHAR2,
   attribute      IN VARCHAR2,
   value          IN {VARCHAR2|TIMESTAMP WITH TIMEZONE|
                      PLS_INTEGER|BOOLEAN|INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND});

DBMS_SCHEDULER.SET_ATTRIBUTE (
   name           IN VARCHAR2,
   attribute      IN VARCHAR2,
   value          IN {VARCHAR2|TIMESTAMP WITH TIMEZONE|
                      PLS_INTEGER|BOOLEAN|INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND});
   value2         IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

Parameters

Usage Notes

If an object is altered and it was in the enabled state, the Scheduler will first disable it, make the change and then re-enable it. If any errors are encountered during the enable process, the object is not re-enabled and an error is generated.

If an object is altered and it was in the disabled state, it will remain disabled after it is altered.

To run SET_ATTRIBUTE for a window, window group, or job class, you must have the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege. Otherwise, you must be the owner of the object being altered or have ALTER privileges on that object or have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

Job

If there is a running instance of the job when the SET_ATTRIBUTE call is made, it is not affected by the call. The change is only seen in future runs of the job.

If any of the schedule attributes of a job are altered while the job is running, the time of the next job run will be scheduled using the new schedule attributes. Schedule attributes of a job include schedule_name, start_date, end_date, and repeat_interval.

If any of the program attributes of a job are altered while the job is running, the new program attributes will take effect the next time the job runs. Program attributes of a job include program_name, job_action, job_type, and number_of_arguments. This is also the case for job argument values that have been set.

Granting ALTER on a job will let a user alter all attributes of that job except its program attributes (program_name, job_type, job_action, program_action, and number_of_arguments) and will not allow a user to use a PL/SQL expression to specify the schedule for a job.

Oracle recommends that you not alter a job that was automatically created for you by the database. Jobs that were created by the database have the column SYSTEM set to TRUE in job views.

Program

If any currently running jobs use the program that is altered, they will continue to run with the program definition prior to the alter. The job will run with the new program definition the next time the job executes.

Schedule

If a schedule is altered, the change will not affect running jobs and open windows that use this schedule. The change will only be in effect the next time the jobs runs or the window opens.

Job Class

With the exception of the default job class, all job classes can be altered. To alter a job class, you must have the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege.

When a job class is altered, running jobs that belong to the class are not affected. The change only takes effect for jobs that have not started running yet.

Window

When a window is altered, it does not affect an active window. The changes only take effect the next time the window opens.

If there is no current resource plan when a window opens that designates a resource plan, the Resource Manager activates with that plan.

Regular Job Attribute Values

Table 114-62 lists attribute values for regular jobs.

Lightweight Job Attribute Values

Table 114-63 lists attribute values for persistent lightweight jobs.

Program Attribute Values

Table 114-65 lists program attribute values.

Job Class Attribute Values

Table 114-66 lists job class attribute values.

Window Attribute Values

Table 114-67 lists window attribute values.

Window Group Attribute Values

Table 114-68 lists window group attribute values.

Schedule Attribute Values

Table 114-69 lists schedule attribute values.

Chain Attribute Values

Table 114-70 lists chain attribute values.

SET_ATTRIBUTE_NULL Procedure

This procedure sets an attribute of an object to NULL. What attributes can be set depends on the object being altered. If the object is enabled, it will be disabled before being altered and be reenabled afterward. If the object cannot be reenabled, an error is generated and the object will be left in a disabled state.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.SET_ATTRIBUTE_NULL (
   name              IN VARCHAR2,
   attribute         IN VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Usage Notes

To run SET_ATTRIBUTE_NULL for a window, window group, or job class, you must have the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege. Otherwise, you must be the owner of the object being altered or have ALTER privileges on that object or have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

SET_JOB_ANYDATA_VALUE Procedures

This procedure sets the value for an argument of the associated program for a job, encapsulated in an AnyData object. It overrides any default value set for the program argument. NULL is a valid assignment for a program argument. The argument can be specified by position or by name. You can specify by name only when:

• The job points to a saved program object

• The argument was assigned a name with the DEFINE_ANYDATA_ARGUMENT Procedure

No type checking of the argument is done at any time by the Scheduler.

SET_JOB_ANYDATA_VALUE is overloaded.

Syntax

Sets a program argument by its position.

DBMS_SCHEDULER.SET_JOB_ANYDATA_VALUE (
   job_name                IN VARCHAR2,
   argument_position       IN PLS_INTEGER,
   argument_value          IN SYS.ANYDATA);

Sets a program argument by its name.

DBMS_SCHEDULER.SET_JOB_ANYDATA_VALUE (
   job_name                IN VARCHAR2,
   argument_name           IN VARCHAR2,
   argument_value          IN SYS.ANYDATA);

Parameters

Usage Notes

SET_JOB_ANYDATA_VALUE requires that you be the owner of the job or have ALTER privileges on that job. You can also set a job argument value if you have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

SET_JOB_ANYDATA_VALUE does not apply to lightweight jobs because lightweight jobs cannot take AnyData arguments.

SET_JOB_ARGUMENT_VALUE Procedures

This procedure sets the value of an argument of the associated program for a job. It overrides any default value set for the program argument. NULL is a valid assignment for a program argument. The argument can be specified by position or by name. You can specify by name only when:

• The job points to a saved program object

• The argument was assigned a name with the DEFINE_PROGRAM_ARGUMENT Procedures or the DEFINE_METADATA_ARGUMENT Procedure

No type checking of the argument is done at any time by the Scheduler.

SET_JOB_ARGUMENT_VALUE is overloaded.

Syntax

Sets an argument value by position:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.SET_JOB_ARGUMENT_VALUE (
   job_name                IN VARCHAR2,
   argument_position       IN PLS_INTEGER,
   argument_value          IN VARCHAR2);

Sets an argument value by name:

DBMS_SCHEDULER.SET_JOB_ARGUMENT_VALUE (
   job_name                IN VARCHAR2,
   argument_name           IN VARCHAR2,
   argument_value          IN VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Usage Notes

SET_JOB_ARGUMENT_VALUE requires that you be the owner of the job or have ALTER privileges on that job. You can also set a job argument value if you have the CREATE ANY JOB privilege.

SET_JOB_ARGUMENT_VALUE can be used to set arguments of lightweight jobs but only if the argument is of type VARCHAR2.

SET_JOB_ATTRIBUTES Procedure

This procedure changes an attribute of a job.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.SET_JOB_ATTRIBUTES (
   jobattr_array     IN JOBATTR_ARRAY,
   commit_semantics  IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'STOP_ON_FIRST_ERROR');

Parameters

Usage Notes

Calling SET_ATTRIBUTE on an enabled job disables the job, changes the attribute value, and re-enables the job. SET_JOB_ATTRIBUTES changes the attribute values in the context of a single transaction.

SET_SCHEDULER_ATTRIBUTE Procedure

This procedure sets the value of a Scheduler attribute. This takes effect immediately but the resulting changes may not be seen immediately. The attributes you can set are default_timezone, max_job_slave_processes, and log_history.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.SET_SCHEDULER_ATTRIBUTE (
   attribute      IN VARCHAR2,
   value          IN VARCHAR2);

Parameters

Usage Notes

To run SET_SCHEDULER_ATTRIBUTE, you must have the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege.

STOP_JOB Procedure

This procedure stops currently running jobs or all jobs in a job class. Any instance of the job will be stopped. After stopping the job, the state of a one-time job will be set to STOPPED whereas the state of a repeating job will be set to SCHEDULED or COMPLETED depending on whether the next run of the job is scheduled.

If a job pointing to a chain is stopped, all steps of the running chain that are running will be stopped.

For external jobs, STOP_JOB stops only the external process that was directly started by the job action. It does not stop child processes of external jobs.

Syntax

DBMS_SCHEDULER.STOP_JOB (
   job_name         IN VARCHAR2
   force            IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE
   commit_semantics IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'STOP_ON_FIRST_ERROR');

Parameters

Usage Notes

STOP_JOB without the force option requires that you be the owner of the job or have ALTER privileges on that job. You can also stop a job if you have the CREATE ANY JOB or MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege.

STOP_JOB with the force option requires that you have the MANAGE SCHEDULER privilege.