Overview

The DBMS_OUTPUT package allows you to send messages from stored procedures, packages, and triggers.

This package is mostly used for debugging and can display PL debugging information.

You can call the PUT or PUT_LINE stored procedure in the DBMS_OUTPUT package to put information in the buffer for other triggers, stored procedures, or packages to read. In a standalone PL subprogram or anonymous block, you can call the GET_LINE or GET_LINES stored procedure to display the buffered information.

Considerations

• Messages in the buffer will be ignored if you do not call GET_LINE.

• Generally, you should avoid having applications call the DISABLE or ENABLE stored procedure, because this might affect the display control of external tools.

  Notice

  DBMS_OUTPUT only starts sending messages as requested by a subprogram or trigger after the subprogram or trigger completes its execution. Real-time messaging between DBMS_OUTPUT and the client is not supported.

Data structure

The DBMS_OUTPUT package defines the CHARARR table type and the DBMSOUTPUT_LINESARRAY object type, which are used with the GET_LINES stored procedure.

CHARARR table type

You can use the CHARARR table type with the GET_LINES stored procedure to obtain the text submitted by the PUT and PUT_LINE stored procedures.

The syntax is as follows:

TYPE CHARARR IS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(32767) INDEX BY BINARY_INTEGER;

DBMSOUTPUT_LINESARRAY object type

The DBMSOUTPUT_LINESARRAY object type is defined outside the package. You can use it with the GET_LINES stored procedure to obtain the text submitted by the PUT and PUT_LINE stored procedures.

The syntax is as follows:

TYPE DBMSOUTPUT_LINESARRAY IS
VARRAY(2147483647) OF VARCHAR2(32767);

Subprograms

The following table describes the DBMS_OUTPUT subprograms supported by the current OceanBase Database version.