Oracle Concepts

Selvaraj V
Anna University Chennai.
Chennai – 25.
 Oracle Exceptions - Oracle Defined and User defined

1. What are exceptions in Oracle?

Exceptions are the ways in which Oracle could handle runtime errors in a PL/SQL
block. Exceptions are always useful to debug the code as well as ensure a smooth
end for a Program without interupting the calling Program/Block.

2. What are the different types of Oracle Exceptions?

The main classification is Oracle Defined and User defined Exceptions

Oracle defined:

There are many built in exceptions which we can use. Most commonly used
ones are:

a. NO_DATA_FOUND
b. TOO_MANY_ROWS_FOUND
c. VALUE_ERROR
d. ZERO_DIVIDE
e. INVALID_NUMBER
f. DUP_VALUE_ON_INDEX
g. CURSOR_ALREADY_OPEN
h. INVALID_CURSOR

User Defined:

User defined exceptions are defined in many ways.

a. New user defined Exceptions can be created using existing Oracle defined
Exceptions.

b. Entirely new Exceptions can be according to a users need. Eg: Raise an

exception if employee salary entered is less than 0.

There are mainly 3 ways to use User Defined Exceptions

A. EXCEPTION

declare
exc_user Exception;
--declare exception
begin
begin
--code--
exception
when others then
raise exc_user; --
exception raised
exception
when exc_user --handler for exc_user. exception handled
when others then --handler for others
end;

B. PRAGMA EXCEPTION_INIT

declare
exc_user Exception; --declare
exception
PRAGMA EXCEPTION_INIT(exc_user, -<oracle_error_code>); -- Oracle
code with '-'sign
begin
--code--
exception
when exc_user
--handler for exc_user --handled when error occurs with the specified
Oracle Code
when others then
--handler for others

C. RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR

declare
exc_user Exception; --declare
exception
begin
if (<logic>) then
 RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR(-20001, exc_user); --code greater
than -20000
exception
when exc_user then
--handler for exc_user-- --handled when error occurs with the specified
Oracle Code
when others then
--handler for others
3. What is Exception propagation in Oracle?

Exceptions which are not handled in a sub block gets propagated to the outer block.
When an exception occurs,

it terminates from the line where the exception occurs and the control goes to the
calling program or the next outer block.

If not handled in the outer block, it terminates that block and propagates to the next
outer block and so on. And, if exceptionoccurs in the outermost block, then the
whole program gets terminated.

4. An inner block has got an exception with the same name as in the outer
block. The exception doesnot have any handler defined in the inner block,
but has got a handler defined in the outer block. Will the Exception get
handled
assuming that when others exception handler is not defined.

Eg:

Declare
A Exception ;
Begin
Declare
A Exception; --Exception with same
name decalare in inner block
Begin
if 1=1 then
raise A;
end if;
end; --No handler for exception
A in inner block
exception
when A then
--handler-- End;

Answer:
The exception A in the inner block WILL get propagated to the outer block but WILL
NOT get handled in
the outer block. Oracle considers both Exceptions to be extremely different, even if
they have the same name.