Chapter 5. Records

A record, a construct structurally and conceptually similar to a row in a database table, is a named collection of elements. Each element, or field, has its own name, datatype, and value. The record itself doesn’t have a value; it’s simply a named pointer to the collection of fields. One of the main advantages of records is their ability to simplify your code by grouping disparate elements into a logical unit. For example, rather than passing five parameters to a procedure, you can pass just one record that contains five fields. This chapter tests your ability to define a record’s structure, create and use record variables, and set and retrieve values for a record’s fields.

Beginner

5-1.

Which of the following statements about a PL/SQL record are true, and which are false?

  1. A record is a scalar datatype.

  2. A record is a composite datatype, because more than one piece of information can be associated with the record.

  3. A record contains a recording of a sound for storage in the Oracle database.

  4. You can define a record that has the same structure of a cursor, table, or tablespace.

  5. You can define a record to hold any combination of valid PL/SQL scalar data structures.

5-2.

Which of the following lines of code demonstrate the correct method for referencing a string field named “favorite_flavor” in a record named “ice_cream”?

  1. ice_cream (favorite_flavor)

  2. ice_cream-favorite_flavor

  3. ice_cream.favorite_flavor

  4. favorite_flavor.ice_cream

5-3.

Declare a record that has the same structure as the ...

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