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PL/SQL Brain Teaser: How can BULK COLLECT be used?

No sonnets, no songs, just a simple question that has mostly obvious answers, but maybe not completely:

What are the different ways (essentially different kinds of statements) that BULK COLLECT can appear in PL/SQL code?
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  1. João Borges BarretoApril 22, 2015 at 10:25 AM

    Well, out of my head without consulting any manual (but testing in sqlplus first) here they are:

    CLEAR SCREEN
    SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
    CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE plch_integer_ntt IS TABLE OF INTEGER;
    /
    -- implicit cursor bulk collect into collection
    DECLARE
    l_coll plch_integer_ntt := plch_integer_ntt ();
    BEGIN
    SELECT LEVEL
    BULK COLLECT INTO l_coll
    FROM DUAL
    CONNECT BY LEVEL <= 10;

    FOR f_idx IN 1 .. l_coll.COUNT
    LOOP
    DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line (f_idx || '-' || l_coll (f_idx));
    END LOOP;
    END;
    /
    -- explicit cursor bulk collect into collection
    DECLARE
    l_coll plch_integer_ntt := plch_integer_ntt ();

    CURSOR ten_values_cur
    IS
    SELECT LEVEL val
    FROM DUAL
    CONNECT BY LEVEL <= 10;
    BEGIN
    OPEN ten_values_cur;

    FETCH ten_values_cur
    BULK COLLECT INTO l_coll;

    CLOSE ten_values_cur;

    FOR f_idx IN 1 .. l_coll.COUNT
    LOOP
    DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line (f_idx || '-' || l_coll (f_idx));
    END LOOP;
    END;
    /
    -- explicit cursor bulk collect into collection with limits
    DECLARE
    l_coll plch_integer_ntt := plch_integer_ntt ();

    CURSOR ten_values_cur
    IS
    SELECT LEVEL val
    FROM DUAL
    CONNECT BY LEVEL <= 1000;
    BEGIN
    OPEN ten_values_cur;

    LOOP
    FETCH ten_values_cur
    BULK COLLECT INTO l_coll
    LIMIT 100;

    EXIT WHEN l_coll.COUNT = 0;

    FOR f_idx IN 1 .. 10
    LOOP
    DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line (f_idx || '-' || l_coll (f_idx));
    END LOOP;

    exit ; -- exit now for sample purposes
    END LOOP;

    CLOSE ten_values_cur;
    END;
    /

    ReplyDelete
  2. Steven FeuersteinApril 22, 2015 at 10:53 AM

    An excellent beginning! Next?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Julius ZaldokasApril 22, 2015 at 11:31 AM

    Joao's first example could also be rewritten with:

    EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'select level from dual connect by level<=10'
    BULK COLLECT INTO l_coll;

    ReplyDelete
  4. Steven FeuersteinApril 22, 2015 at 11:31 AM

    Excellent, Julius. That's another one!

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownApril 22, 2015 at 11:45 AM

    Alos DML returning bulk collect into, like this
    DECLARE
    TYPE number$table IS TABLE OF NUMBER;
    t_ids number$table;
    BEGIN
    DELETE FROM emp WHERE salary > 100 RETURNIG id BULK COLLECT INTO t_ids;
    END;

    ReplyDelete
  6. Steven FeuersteinApril 22, 2015 at 12:00 PM

    There you go, Ilya - that was the one I thought would be hardest to recall or be aware of. When you use RETURNING for a DML statement that modifies more than one row, you will need to BULK COLLECT the values returned.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oren Nakdimon (@DBoriented)April 22, 2015 at 1:35 PM

      Hi Steven.
      You wrote: "When you use RETURNING for a DML statement that modifies more than one row, you will need to BULK COLLECT the values returned".
      Another option is to use an aggregate function, like:
      UPDATE T SET... RETURNING SUM(COL1) INTO VAR1;
      Thanks,
      Oren.

      Delete
    2. Steven FeuersteinApril 22, 2015 at 1:46 PM

      Thanks for pointing that out, Oren.

      Delete
  7. iudithApril 22, 2015 at 12:10 PM

    Hello Steven,

    When I started to write my post, there were still no comments on this thread ...
    now, before I post it, there are already 6 of them, you can really be proud :):)

    So, I will post my comment **before** reading the other ones :)

    In a first quick attempt to cover all the cases, the list seems to be as follows:

    SELECT ... BULK COLLECT INTO ...

    FETCH ... BULK COLLECT INTO ...

    UPDATE ...
    RETURNING ... BULK COLLECT INTO ...

    DELETE ...
    RETURNING ... BULK COLLECT INTO ...

    FORALL ...
    UPDATE ...
    RETURNING ... BULK COLLECT INTO ...

    FORALL ...
    DELETE ...
    RETURNING ... BULK COLLECT INTO ...

    FORALL ...
    INSERT ... VALUES ...
    RETURNING ... BULK COLLECT INTO ...

    as well as their dynamic counter-parts, like

    EXECUTE IMMEDIATE
    'SELECT ... '
    BULK COLLECT INTO ...

    EXECUTE IMMEDIATE
    'UPDATE ... RETURNING ... INTO ...'
    RETURNING BULK COLLECT INTO ...

    EXECUTE IMMEDIATE
    'DELETE ... RETURNING ... INTO ...'
    RETURNING BULK COLLECT INTO ...

    and so on.

    I would just add that, since INSERT SELECT ... RETURNING ... is not supported,
    we should use a properly designed FORALL with a single row insert, like:

    FORALL ...
    INSERT ... VALUES ...
    RETURNING ... BULK COLLECT INTO ...

    as a work-around.

    All the FORALL cases can also use a dynamic statement, like in

    FORALL ...
    EXECUTE IMMEDIATE
    'UPDATE ... RETURNING ... INTO ...'
    USING ...
    RETURNING BULK COLLECT INTO ...


    I hope that I covered all the possible cases but, if not, I am very curious what is it that I forgot.

    Thanks a lot & Best Regards,
    Iudith

    ReplyDelete
  8. Steven FeuersteinApril 22, 2015 at 12:11 PM

    Very nice compilation, Iudith.

    ReplyDelete
  9. ShumailApril 22, 2015 at 10:13 PM

    Hi Steven
    Nice explanation, but I have a question regarding 1 piece of code.
    You mentioned the following code in your 2nd program:

    -- explicit cursor bulk collect into collection
    DECLARE
    l_coll plch_integer_ntt := plch_integer_ntt ();

    but I think calling a constructor is not necessary,if you are using bulk collect.
    we can change this something like below:
    l_coll plch_integer_ntt ;--:= plch_integer_ntt ();

    Please correct me if you find me wrong. Thanks

    Regards
    Shu

    ReplyDelete
  10. Steven FeuersteinApril 23, 2015 at 4:16 AM

    You are correct, Shu. When populating a collection with BULK COLLECT it is not necessary to initialize or extend first.

    ReplyDelete
  11. rahul rajApril 26, 2015 at 2:41 PM

    Kool but any practical use of using bulk collect with returning clause?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Steven FeuersteinApril 27, 2015 at 6:29 AM

    I confess that I have not used it in any of my production code (PL/SQL Challenge), but I could see it being handy if I needed to produce a report or log in some way the rows modified and what to.

    Anyone else out there with a use case?

    ReplyDelete

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