This concise and engaging book is both a companion to Oracle PL/SQL Programming (widely recognized as the "bible" for PL/SQL developers) and a guide designed to bring you up to speed as quickly as possible on the new PL/SQL features of Oracle8i. Following the style of Feuerstein's earlier books, the Guide to Oracle8i Features combines easy-to-understand descriptions of the new Oracle8i features with a wealth of interesting and informative examples.

The major Oracle8i PL/SQL features include the following:

• Autonomous transactions--the ability to commit or roll back changes without affecting the "main" transaction in the rest of your session
• Invoker rights--At compilation time, you can now decide whether a program (or all programs in a package) should run under the authority of the definer or the invoker of that program
• Native dynamic SQL--A native implementation of dynamic SQL that's faster and easier than the DBMS_SQL built-in package
• Bulk binds and collects--A major performance improvement that lets you process multiple rows in a single operation
• System-level database triggers--With this feature and Advanced Queueing (AQ), you can take advantage of the publish/subscribe capabilities of Oracle8i
• Fine-grained access control--This feature lets you implement security policies with functions and then use those functions to implement row-level security on tables or views.
• Many new and enhanced built-in packages--New packages include DBMS_JAVA, DBMS_PROFILER, DBMS_TRACE, and more. DBMS_UTILITY, DBMS_AQ, and others have been enhanced as well.
• Calling Java methods from within PL/SQL--The book includes enough Java know-how to help you build simple Java classes, load them into the Oracle8i database, and leverage those classes from within your PL/SQL code.

Some PL/SQL developers are uneasy about what the introduction of Java means to their applications--and their programming future. But the two languages are expected to work well together in Oracle8i. You'll be able to take advantage of all the power of Java without giving up the performance and usability advantages of PL/SQL!

Included with this book is a diskette containing an online tool developed by RevealNet, Inc., that provides point-and-click access to approximately 100 files of reusable source code and examples.

The Guide to Oracle8i Features showcases all the powerful new features of Oracle8i designed especially for PL/SQL developers. You'll find it indispensable as you strive to take the fullest possible advantage of everything this exciting new version has to offer.

Table of Contents:

1. Oracle8i: A Bounty for PL/SQL Developers
2. Choose Your Transaction!
3. Invoker Rights: Your Schema or Mine?
4. Native Dynamic SQL in Oracle8i
5. Bulking Up with PL/SQL 8.1
6. New Trigger Features in Oracle8i
7. New and Enhanced Built-in Packages in Oracle8i
8. Deploying Fine-Grained Access Control
9. Calling Java from PL/SQL
10. More Goodies for Oracle PL/SQL Developers