utilities for oracle developers
Below you'll find a small number of utilities that might come in handy from time to time. Feel free to use as you wish (please read this disclaimer first).
- Dictionary Long Application
Two versions of an application to encapsulate the data dictionary views that have LONG columns. LONGs are converted to CLOBs in pipelined functions, enabling us to search, copy and manipulate these columns with string functions. A static version supports 9.2 and 10.1 and a dynamic ANYDATASET version supports 10.2 onwards. August 2007 (updated July 2010) - Collection Sorter Utility
A package of two functions to sort collections, including support for descending and distinct sorts. Works with versions from 9i Release 2 onwards but can be easily edited to support 8i. November 2009 - Collection Cardinality Utility
A utility to provide the CBO with the correct cardinality of small collections used in TABLE() queries (such as variable in-lists). This helps to achieve better execution plans without having to use the undocumented CARDINALITY hint. Supports versions from 10g onwards. November 2009 - Xplan Utility
A utility to add parent ID and execution order information to plans reported by DBMS_XPLAN. The XPLAN package includes DISPLAY, DISPLAY_CURSOR and DISPLAY_AWR wrappers for use in exactly the same way as their DBMS_XPLAN equivalents. In addition, a free-standing SQL script for DISPLAY_CURSOR output is provided for environments where XPLAN can't be created. Supports versions from 10g onwards. January 2009 - Mystats Utility
A variation on Jonathan Lewis's SNAP_MY_STATS package to report the resource consumption of a unit of work between two snapshots. Designed to work under constrained developer environments, this version has enhancements such as the option to report on specific statistics. June 2007 (updated January 2009) - PL/SQL Counter
A simple package to start and maintain a session-based counter. Useful for debugging and instrumentation. May 2008 - Runstats Utility
Four variations on Tom Kyte's invaluable runstats utility that compares the resource consumption of two alternative units of work. These versions are designed to work under constrained developer environments and build on the original with enhancements such as "pause and resume" functionality and the option to report on specific statistics. January 2007 - REPLACEF
A function to simplify string building and debugging by replacing multiple placeholders from a collection of inputs. January 2007 - Showplan Utility
Simple sqlplus utilities to output the real execution plans used by running or cached SQL statements. Available for 9i Release 2 and 10g. October 2006 - IS_NUMBER
Two common, simple and effective IS_NUMBER functions for SQL and PL/SQL. October 2006 - PL/SQL Timer
A simple package to output the elapsed time between two points. Supports versions from 8i onwards. July 2005 - Data Dump Utility
Procedure to dump the contents of a table or the results of a query to flat file. February 2004 - Merge Counter
A package to capture and report separate INSERT and UPDATE rowcounts from a MERGE statement. February 2004 - Call Stack Parser
A small package of functions for parsing the PL/SQL call stack. Includes an implementation of "WHOAMI" and "CALLER". September 2003 - PUT_LINE
A simple wrapper to DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE to workaround the 255 byte limit (not needed from 10.2 onwards). April 2002 - Export-Import Scripts
A collection of Korn shell scripts to export and import tables or schemas, with or without compression. February 2002