Stored Subprograms

Normally, tools (like Oracle Forms) which incorporate the PL/SQL engine can store subprograms locally for later, strictly local execution. Though, to become available for normal use, the subprograms should be stored in an Oracle database.

To create subprograms and store them everlastingly in an Oracle database, you can use the CREATE PROCEDURE and CREATE FUNCTION statements that you can execute interactively from the SQL Plus. For illustration, in the SQL Plus, you might create the procedure fire_employee, whih is as shown:

SQL> list

1 CREATE PROCEDURE fire_employee (emp_id NUMBER) AS

2 BEGIN

3 DELETE FROM emp WHERE empno = emp_id;

4* END;

SQL> /

Procedure created.

For the readability, at time creating the subprograms, you can use the keyword AS rather than IS in the specification.