Developing Stored Procedures: An Overview

To develop Java stored procedures, take the four steps listed below. For a detailed example showing the design and implementation of a Java stored procedures application, see Chapter 5.

Write or Reuse the Procedures

Use your favorite Java IDE to write the procedures, or simply reuse existing procedures that meet your needs. Oracle's Java facilities support a variety of Java development tools and client-side programmatic interfaces. For example, the Aurora JVM accepts programs developed in popular Java IDEs such as Symantec's Visual Café, Oracle's JDeveloper, and Borland's JBuilder.

Load the Procedures into the RDBMS

Load the Java source, class, and resource files into the Oracle RDBMS using the loadjava command-line utility, which allows you to specify several options. For more information, see Chapter 2.

Publish the Procedures in the Oracle Data Dictionary

For each Java method that is callable from SQL, write call a spec, which exposes the method's top-level entry point to Oracle. For more information, see Chapter 3.

Call the Procedures from SQL and PL/SQL

Call your Java stored procedures directly from SQL DML statements and from PL/SQL blocks and subprograms. Also, using the SQL CALL statement, call the stored procedures from the top level (in SQL*Plus for example) and from database triggers. For more information, see Chapter 4.

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