How to print a table in SQL Developer inside a procedure?

Question

I want to print a single dimensional table, that is being populated inside a procedure, by using DBMS_OUTPUP.PUTLINE(); command in order to validate that I am getting the correct data.

Is the proper way to include the DBMS_OUTPUT.PUTLINE(); command into a for loop?

Do you recommend any other debugging ways to printing data during a procedure execution?

Thanks in advance, Antonis

What do you mean by a "single dimensional table"? A database table, a collection ? . Please explain how, that table which you say, is being populated etc. — Kaushik Nayak, Feb 24 '18 at 11:18
Yes, `dbms_output` is a primitive debugging tool. Other options might be writing to a file with `utl_file`, writing to http with `htp.p` or saving to a database table, possibly as part of a logging system. — William Robertson, Feb 24 '18 at 12:57
Or even use the closest thing there is to an industry standard, the open source Logger package. [Available on github](https://github.com/OraOpenSource/Logger) — APC, Feb 24 '18 at 13:07
@KaushikNayak I am populating a collection (1 field) with BULK COLLECT INTO. — Anthony D., Feb 24 '18 at 20:50

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 25 '18 at 05:43

Here's a simple block that will output any query down the page - you might find it useful

SQL> set serverout on size 999999
SQL> declare
  2      p_query varchar2(32767) := q'{select * from scott.emp}';
  3
  4      l_theCursor     integer default dbms_sql.open_cursor;
  5      l_columnValue   varchar2(4000);
  6      l_status        integer;
  7      l_descTbl       dbms_sql.desc_tab;
  8      l_colCnt        number;
  9      n number := 0;
 10    procedure p(msg varchar2) is
 11      l varchar2(4000) := msg;
 12    begin
 13      while length(l) > 0 loop
 14        dbms_output.put_line(substr(l,1,80));
 15        l := substr(l,81);
 16      end loop;
 17    end;
 18  begin
 19      execute immediate
 20      'alter session set nls_date_format=''dd-mon-yyyy hh24:mi:ss'' ';
 21
 22      dbms_sql.parse(  l_theCursor,  p_query, dbms_sql.native );
 23      dbms_sql.describe_columns( l_theCursor, l_colCnt, l_descTbl );
 24
 25      for i in 1 .. l_colCnt loop
 26          dbms_sql.define_column(l_theCursor, i, l_columnValue, 4000);
 27      end loop;
 28
 29      l_status := dbms_sql.execute(l_theCursor);
 30
 31      while ( dbms_sql.fetch_rows(l_theCursor) > 0 ) loop
 32          for i in 1 .. l_colCnt loop
 33              dbms_sql.column_value( l_theCursor, i, l_columnValue );
 34              p( rpad( l_descTbl(i).col_name, 30 )
 35                || ': ' ||
 36                l_columnValue );
 37          end loop;
 38          dbms_output.put_line( '-----------------' );
 39          n := n + 1;
 40      end loop;
 41      if n = 0 then
 42        dbms_output.put_line( chr(10)||'No data found '||chr(10) );
 43      end if;
 44  end;
 45  /
EMPNO                         : 7369
ENAME                         : SMITH
JOB                           : CLERK
MGR                           : 7902
HIREDATE                      : 17-dec-1980 00:00:00
SAL                           : 800
COMM                          :
DEPTNO                        : 20
-----------------
EMPNO                         : 7499
ENAME                         : ALLEN
JOB                           : SALESMAN
MGR                           : 7698
HIREDATE                      : 20-feb-1981 00:00:00
SAL                           : 1600
COMM                          : 300
DEPTNO                        : 30
-----------------
EMPNO                         : 7521
ENAME                         : WARD
JOB                           : SALESMAN
MGR                           : 7698
HIREDATE                      : 22-feb-1981 00:00:00
SAL                           : 1250
COMM                          : 500
DEPTNO                        : 30
-----------------
EMPNO                         : 7566
ENAME                         : JONES
JOB                           : MANAGER
MGR                           : 7839
HIREDATE                      : 02-apr-1981 00:00:00
SAL                           : 2975
COMM                          :
DEPTNO                        : 20
-----------------
EMPNO                         : 7654
ENAME                         : MARTIN
JOB                           : SALESMAN
MGR                           : 7698
HIREDATE                      : 28-sep-1981 00:00:00
SAL                           : 1250
COMM                          : 1400
DEPTNO                        : 30
-----------------
EMPNO                         : 7698
ENAME                         : BLAKE
JOB                           : MANAGER
MGR                           : 7839
HIREDATE                      : 01-may-1981 00:00:00
SAL                           : 2850
COMM                          :
DEPTNO                        : 30
-----------------
EMPNO                         : 7782
ENAME                         : CLARK
JOB                           : MANAGER
MGR                           : 7839
HIREDATE                      : 09-jun-1981 00:00:00
SAL                           : 2450
COMM                          :
DEPTNO                        : 10
-----------------
EMPNO                         : 7788
ENAME                         : SCOTT
JOB                           : ANALYST
MGR                           : 7566
HIREDATE                      : 09-dec-1982 00:00:00
SAL                           : 3000
COMM                          :
DEPTNO                        : 20
-----------------
EMPNO                         : 7839
ENAME                         : KING
JOB                           : PRESIDENT
MGR                           :
HIREDATE                      : 17-nov-1981 00:00:00
SAL                           : 5000
COMM                          :
DEPTNO                        : 10
-----------------
EMPNO                         : 7844
ENAME                         : TURNER
JOB                           : SALESMAN
MGR                           : 7698
HIREDATE                      : 08-sep-1981 00:00:00
SAL                           : 1500
COMM                          :
DEPTNO                        : 30
-----------------
EMPNO                         : 7876
ENAME                         : ADAMS
JOB                           : CLERK
MGR                           : 7788
HIREDATE                      : 12-jan-1983 00:00:00
SAL                           : 1100
COMM                          :
DEPTNO                        : 20
-----------------
EMPNO                         : 7900
ENAME                         : JAMES
JOB                           : CLERK
MGR                           : 7698
HIREDATE                      : 03-dec-1981 00:00:00
SAL                           : 950
COMM                          :
DEPTNO                        : 30
-----------------
EMPNO                         : 7902
ENAME                         : FORD
JOB                           : ANALYST
MGR                           : 7566
HIREDATE                      : 03-dec-1981 00:00:00
SAL                           : 3000
COMM                          :
DEPTNO                        : 20
-----------------
EMPNO                         : 7934
ENAME                         : MILLER
JOB                           : CLERK
MGR                           : 7782
HIREDATE                      : 23-jan-1982 00:00:00
SAL                           : 1300
COMM                          :
DEPTNO                        : 10
-----------------


PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

How to print a table in SQL Developer inside a procedure?

1 Answers1