Question

I’m starting to work with PL/SQL and learning how to write procedures and exceptions but I cant seem to grasp how to show an error. The procedure is a simple one, its only supposed to do simple math as you can see below:

create or replace
procedure get_simple_math
  (n_num1 in number,
   n_num2 in number,
   n_answer out number,
   n_err_code out number,
   n_err_msg out varchar2)
as
begin
  n_answer := (n_num1 / n_num2);
  dbms_output.put_line('Answer is '||n_answer);

  n_err_code := 0;
exception
  when others
  then
    n_err_code := SQLCODE;
    n_err_msg := 'Error in get_simple_math '||SQLERRM;
    raise_application_error (-20002,n_err_msg);
end get_simple_math;

As you can see its nothing fancy, but I cant for the life of me get the block to run:

set serveroutput on
declare
  n_answer number := 0;
  n_err_code number;
  n_err_msg varchar2;
begin
  get_simple_math(10,5,n_answer);
end;

I’m assuming I need to declare the variables that are set to out, which is why they are there. I also tried adding them to the procedure execute like:

get_simple_math(10,5,n_answer,n_err_code,n_err_msg);

But that didn’t seem to do the trick, so I am just looking for some help in solving this problem. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Run this and you’ll get your answer:

declare
  n_answer number := 0;
  n_err_code number;
  --> n_err_msg varchar2; -- Incorrect
  n_err_msg varchar2(300);     -- Correct
begin
  --> get_simple_math(10,5,n_answer); -- Incorrect call to proc...
  get_simple_math(10,5,n_answer, n_err_code, n_err_msg); -- add out parameters
end;
/

General suggestion for the procedure part: use substr – optional:

  n_err_msg := 'Error in get_simple_math '||substr(SQLERRM, 1, 250);