Oracle7 Server SQL Reference

ALTER PACKAGE

Purpose

To recompile a stored package.

Prerequisites

The package must be in your own schema or you must have ALTER ANY PROCEDURE system privilege.

If you are using Trusted Oracle7 in DBMS MAC mode, your DBMS label must match the package's creation label or you must satisfy one of these criteria:

If the package's creation label is higher than your DBMS label, you must have READUP and WRITEUP system privileges

If the package's creation label is lower than your DBMS label, you must have WRITEDOWN system privilege.

If the package's creation label and your DBMS label are not comparable, you must have READUP, WRITEUP, and WRITEDOWN system privileges.

Syntax

Keywords and Parameters

schema

is the schema containing the package. If you omit schema, Oracle7 assumes the package is in your own schema.

package

is the name of the package to be recompiled.

COMPILE

recompiles the package specification or body. The COMPILE keyword is required.

PACKAGE

recompiles the package body and specification.

BODY

recompiles only the package body.

The default option is PACKAGE.

Usage Notes

You can use the ALTER PACKAGE command to explicitly recompile either a package specification and body or only a package body. Explicit recompilation eliminates the need for implicit runtime recompilation and prevents associated runtime compilation errors and performance overhead.

Because all objects in a package are stored as a unit, the ALTER PACKAGE command recompiles all package objects together. You cannot use the ALTER PROCEDURE command or ALTER FUNCTION command to individually recompile a procedure or function that is part of a package.

Note: This command does not change the declaration or definition of an existing package. To re-declare or redefine a package, you must use the CREATE PACKAGE or the CREATE PACKAGE BODY command with the OR REPLACE option.

Recompiling Package Specifications

You might want to recompile a package specification to check for compilation errors after modifying the specification. When you issue an ALTER PACKAGE statement with the COMPILE PACKAGE option, Oracle7 recompiles the package specification and body regardless of whether it is invalid. When you recompile a package specification, Oracle7 invalidates any local objects that depend on the specification, such as procedures that call procedures or functions in the package. Note that the body of a package also depends on its specification. If you subsequently reference one of these dependent objects without first explicitly recompiling it, Oracle7 recompiles it implicitly at runtime.

Recompiling Package Bodies

You might want to recompile a package body after modifying it. When you issue an ALTER PACKAGE statement with the COMPILE BODY option, Oracle7 recompiles the package body regardless of whether it is invalid. When you recompile a package body, Oracle7 first recompiles the objects on which the body depends, if any of these objects are invalid. If Oracle7 recompiles the body successfully, the body becomes valid. If recompiling the body results in compilation errors, Oracle7 returns an error and the body remains invalid. You can then debug the body using the predefined package DBMS_OUTPUT. Note that recompiling a package body does not invalidate objects that depend upon the package specification.

For more information on debugging packages, see the "Using Procedures and Packages" chapter of Oracle7 Server Application Developer's Guide. For information on how Oracle7 maintains dependencies among schema objects, including remote objects, see the "Dependencies Among Schema Objects" chapter of Oracle7 Server Concepts.

Example I

This statement explicitly recompiles the specification and body of the ACCOUNTING package in the schema BLAIR:

ALTER PACKAGE blair.accounting

	COMPILE PACKAGE

If Oracle7 encounters no compilation errors while recompiling the ACCOUNTING specification and body, ACCOUNTING becomes valid. BLAIR can subsequently call or reference all package objects declared in the specification of ACCOUNTING without runtime recompilation. If recompiling ACCOUNTING results in compilation errors, Oracle7 returns an error message and ACCOUNTING remains invalid.

Oracle7 also invalidates all objects that depend upon ACCOUNTING. If you subsequently reference one of these objects without explicitly recompiling it first, Oracle7 recompiles it implicitly at runtime.

Example II

To recompile the body of the ACCOUNTING package in the schema BLAIR, issue the following statement:

ALTER PACKAGE blair.accounting

	COMPILE BODY

If Oracle7 encounters no compilation errors while recompiling the package body, the body becomes valid. BLAIR can subsequently call or reference all package objects declared in the specification of ACCOUNTING without runtime recompilation. If recompiling the body results in compilation errors, Oracle7 returns an error message and the body remains invalid.

Because the following statement recompiles the body and not the specification of ACCOUNTING, Oracle7 does not invalidate dependent objects.