What is Bulk Binding? --------------------The assignment of values to PL/SQL variables in SQL statements is called binding.

The binding of an entire collection at once is referred to as bulk binding. What is the Advantage? ---------------------Bulk binds improve performance by minimizing the number of context switches between PL/SQL and SQL engines while they pass an entire collection of elements (varray, nested tables, index-by table, or host array) as bind variables back and forth. Prior to Oracle8i, the execution of every SQL statement required a switch between the PL/SQL and SQL engines, whereas bulk binds use only one context switch. How to Bulk Bind ---------------Bulk binding includes the following: (i) Input collections, use the FORALL statement

(ii) Output collections, use BULK COLLECT clause (i) Input Collections --------------------Input collections are data passed from the PL/SQL engine to the SQL engine to execute INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements. The following is the syntax for the FORALL statement: FORALL index IN lower_bound..upper_bound sql_statement; Example 1 --------In this example, 5000 part numbers and names are loaded into index-by tables. Then, all table elements are inserted into a database table twice. First, they are inserted using a FOR loop, which completes in 8 seconds. Then, they are inserted using a FORALL statement, which completes in only 0 seconds. SQL> SET SERVEROUTPUT ON SQL> CREATE TABLE parts (pnum NUMBER(4), pname CHAR(15)); DECLARE TYPE NumTab IS TABLE OF NUMBER(4) INDEX BY BINARY_INTEGER; TYPE NameTab IS TABLE OF CHAR(15) INDEX BY BINARY_INTEGER; pnums NumTab; pnames NameTab; t1 CHAR(5); t2 CHAR(5); t3 CHAR(5); PROCEDURE get_time(t OUT NUMBER) IS BEGIN SELECT TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'SSSSS') INTO t FROM dual; END; BEGIN

FOR j IN 1..5000 LOOP -- load index-by tables pnums(j) := j; pnames(j) := 'Part No. ' || TO_CHAR(j); END LOOP; get_time(t1); FOR i IN 1..5000 LOOP -- use FOR loop INSERT INTO parts VALUES (pnums(i), pnames(i)); END LOOP; get_time(t2); FORALL i IN 1..5000 --use FORALL statement INSERT INTO parts VALUES (pnums(i), pnames(i)); get_time(t3); DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Execution Time (secs)'); DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('---------------------'); DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('FOR loop: ' || TO_CHAR(t2 - t1)); DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('FORALL: ' || TO_CHAR(t3 - t2)); END; / SQL> @bulk.sql Execution Time (secs) --------------------FOR loop: 8 FORALL: 0 PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. Rollback Behavior ----------------If a FORALL statement fails, then database changes are rolled back to an implicit savepoint marked before each execution of the SQL statement. (ii) Output Collections ----------------------Output collections are data passed from the SQL engine to the PL/SQL engine as a result of SELECT or FETCH statements. Using the BULK COLLECT clause ----------------------------The keywords BULK COLLECT can be used with SELECT INTO, FETCH INTO, and RETURNING INTO clauses. The syntax is as follows: ... BULK COLLECT INTO collection_name[, collection_name] .... Note: Examples 2, 3, and 4 use EMP and DEPT tables from the scott/tiger schema.

Example 2 --------The following is an example for the SELECT INTO clause: DECLARE TYPE NumTab IS TABLE OF emp.empno%TYPE; TYPE NameTab IS TABLE OF emp.ename%TYPE; enums NumTab; -- no need to initialize names NameTab; BEGIN SELECT empno, ename BULK COLLECT INTO enums, names FROM emp;

FOR i in enums.FIRST..enums.LAST LOOP DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(enums(i) || ' ' || names(i)); END LOOP; END; / Example 3 --------The following is an example for the FETCH INTO clause: DECLARE TYPE NameTab IS TABLE OF emp.ename%TYPE; TYPE SalTab IS TABLE OF emp.sal%TYPE; names NameTab; sals SalTab; CURSOR c1 IS SELECT ename, sal FROM emp; BEGIN OPEN c1; FETCH c1 BULK COLLECT INTO names, sals; FOR i IN names.FIRST..names.LAST LOOP DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(names(i) || ' ' || sals(i)); END LOOP; CLOSE c1; END; / Restriction ----------You cannot bulk-fetch from a cursor into a collection of records. New Cursor Attribute -------------------The new composite cursor attribute for bulk binds is %BULK_ROWCOUNT. Its syntax is as follows: IF SQL%BULK_ROWCOUNT(i) = ... THEN ..... ENDIF; Example 4 --------DECLARE TYPE NumList IS TABLE OF NUMBER; depts NumList := NumList(10,20,50); BEGIN FORALL i IN depts.FIRST..depts.LAST UPDATE emp SET sal = sal * 1.10 WHERE deptno = depts(i); IF SQL%BULK_ROWCOUNT(3) = 0 THEN DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Its 3!!!'); END IF; END;