Re: HELP w/ PL/SQL writing to a flat file.

>How much data are you pulling out and why use PL/SQL ?
>
>Using PL/SQL for text output to flat files is not exactly a pleasent
>experience, especially if there is a lot of formatting or massging required.
>
>PERL5 has some very nice text formatting/handling capabilities and can access
>an Oracle v7 database with relative ease and efficiency via the DBI and DBD-
>Oracle modules. PERL or any other such language may not be as portable as
>well written PL/SQL however.
>
>Also the prospect of installing a 7.3 instance just to get access to one
>feature seems a trifle overkill to me. It may be that you plan to go 7.3 (and
>not 8.x) as the next upgrade so this may not be a big issue.
>
>Just my 0.02

Your 0.02 is much appreciated. The issue on the 7.3 instance is not really an  issue from an upgrade and management perspective -- we would have created a  new instance for phase 2 of the project, so we're just moving it up a phase.  7.3 seems to be our upgrade path (we have several dozen instances in the shop,  some 7.2, some 7.3 -- we're already in transition, just our source data  instances won't be upgraded in the phase 1 timeframe.)

Portability is an issue but not as big of one as experience of the developers.  We know PL/SQL and have a variety of experience levels in-house; the  experience gained will help support other areas in the group. PERL5 would need  to be bought, installed, developers trained, etc. etc. Would delay the  project, which is only an option if there is no other possible recourse.

On the flip side it is A LOT of data -- millions of rows to be processed --  very long record lengths to be output too (and 500,000 records?) But there is  minimal formatting. Run a query, output tab-delimited columns to flat file,  run a query, append additional records, run a query.... And we will run batch  overnight.

But hey! Isn't that what a prototype is all about? <g>

Opinions always welcome -- that's how I learn the real art of design --  trade-offs and calculated risk! Thanks! Received on Wed Nov 12 1997 - 00:00:00 CST