Call a stored procedure with another in Oracle

Question

Does anyone know of a way, or even if its possible, to call a stored procedure from within another? If so, how would you do it?

Here is my test code:

Answer 1

Sure, you just call it from within the SP, there's no special syntax.

Ex:

   PROCEDURE some_sp
   AS
   BEGIN
      some_other_sp('parm1', 10, 20.42);
   END;

If the procedure is in a different schema than the one the executing procedure is in, you need to prefix it with schema name.

   PROCEDURE some_sp
   AS
   BEGIN
      other_schema.some_other_sp('parm1', 10, 20.42);
   END;

Answer 2

Your stored procedures work as coded. The problem is with the last line, it is unable to invoke either of your stored procedures.

Three choices in SQL*Plus are: call, exec, and an anoymous PL/SQL block.

call appears to be a SQL keyword, and is documented in the SQL Reference. http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14200/statements_4008.htm#BABDEHHG The syntax diagram indicates that parentesis are required, even when no arguments are passed to the call routine.

CALL test_sp_1();

An anonymous PL/SQL block is PL/SQL that is not inside a named procedure, function, trigger, etc. It can be used to call your procedure.

BEGIN
    test_sp_1;
END;
/

Exec is a SQL*Plus command that is a shortcut for the above anonymous block. EXEC <procedure_name> will be passed to the DB server as BEGIN <procedure_name>; END;

Full example:

SQL> SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
SQL> CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE test_sp 
  2  AS 
  3  BEGIN 
  4      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Test works'); 
  5  END;
  6  /

Procedure created.

SQL> CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE test_sp_1 
  2  AS
  3  BEGIN
  4      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Testing'); 
  5      test_sp; 
  6  END;
  7  /

Procedure created.

SQL> CALL test_sp_1();
Testing
Test works

Call completed.

SQL> exec test_sp_1
Testing
Test works

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> begin
  2      test_sp_1;
  3  end;
  4  /
Testing
Test works

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> 

Answer 3

To invoke the procedure from the SQLPlus command line, try one of these:

CALL test_sp_1();
EXEC test_sp_1

Answer 4

Calling one procedure from another procedure:

One for a normal procedure:

CREATE OR REPLACE SP_1() AS 
BEGIN
/*  BODY */
END SP_1;

Calling procedure SP_1 from SP_2:

CREATE OR REPLACE SP_2() AS
BEGIN
/* CALL PROCEDURE SP_1 */
SP_1();
END SP_2;

Call a procedure with REFCURSOR or output cursor:

CREATE OR REPLACE SP_1
(
oCurSp1 OUT SYS_REFCURSOR
) AS
BEGIN
/*BODY */
END SP_1;

Call the procedure SP_1 which will return the REFCURSOR as an output parameter

CREATE OR REPLACE SP_2 
(
oCurSp2 OUT SYS_REFCURSOR
) AS `enter code here`
BEGIN
/* CALL PROCEDURE SP_1 WITH REF CURSOR AS OUTPUT PARAMETER */
SP_1(oCurSp2);
END SP_2;

Answer 5

@Michael Lockwood - you don't need to use the keyword "CALL" anywhere. You just need to mention the procedure call directly.

That is

Begin
   proc1(input1, input2);
end;
/

instead of

Begin
   call proc1(input1, input2);
end;
/