Question

Im using the Grails database migration plugin by liquibase. Im trying to use aPLSQL statement in the migration to find and remove a constraint on a table, im using this approach as i dont know the name of the constraint and it will vary on different systems i use.

Some notes:

• Grail 1.3.7
• Database-migration 1.0

This is the code from the migration

sql("declare\n" +
      "vOldName all_constraints.constraint_name%TYPE\n" +
    "begin\n" +
      "select CONSTRAINT_NAME\n" +
      "into   vOldName\n" +
      "from   all_constraints\n" +
      "where  TABLE_NAME='TABLENAME' and CONSTRAINT_TYPE='U' and OWNER='USERNAME'\n" +
      "execute immediate 'alter table USERNAME.TABLENAMEdrop constraint '\n" +
      "|| vOldName\n" +
    "end")

When i run this i get the following error:

java.sql.SQLException: ORA-06550: line 3, column 1:
  PLS-00103: Encountered the symbol "BEGIN" when expecting one of the following:
    := ( ; not null range default character
  The symbol ";" was substituted for "BEGIN" to continue.

I have tried to add ; to the end of each statement but it them complains about seeing end-of-file in the code.

Any help please ?

Answer 1

sql("declare\n" +
      "vOldName all_constraints.constraint_name%TYPE;\n" +
    "begin\n" +
      "select CONSTRAINT_NAME\n" +
      "into   vOldName\n" +
      "from   all_constraints\n" +
      "where  TABLE_NAME='TABLENAME' and CONSTRAINT_TYPE='U' and OWNER='USERNAME';\n" +
      "execute immediate 'alter table USERNAME.TABLENAME drop constraint '\n" +
      "|| vOldName;\n" +
    "end;")

I think this will fix it. A PL/SQL block needs a semicolon after each statement. The only thing that doesn’t need a semicolon is dynamic SQL. Also, there was a missing space between TABLENAME and drop.

It might help to first make sure the code works in SQL*Plus, or some other database tool. And then paste it into a multi-line string.

Let me know if it doesn’t work.