DCOracle and sqlplus?

[Erik Myllymaki]

in article 39F6B944.53B9366A at python.com, Thomas A. Bryan at
tbryan at python.com wrote on 10/25/2000 3:43 AM:

> Erik Myllymaki wrote:
> 
>> I am quite new to Oracle and don't know how I would go about using a
>> pre-written sqlplus report through DCOracle. I am guessing I can't use
>> DCOracle for this at all but would have to hit sqlplus from a command-line
>> call and bring the text in that way.
> 
> That depends what you mean by "a pre-written sqlplus report."  If you just
> mean that someone has written a bunch of SQL and PL/SQL and put it in a file
> for you to run like
> 
> SQL> @report1
> 
> at the sqlplus prompt, then you can probably migrate some or all of it to
> Python using DCOracle.  I believe that you can call a PL/SQL block using
> DCOracle, but I'm not sure whether I have ever done it.  Once I have Python
> in the picture, I usually do all of the scrolling through cursors in Python.
> 
> If the report has a bunch of commands for sqlplus to do things like set up
> the sqlplus environment so that the output looks right (doesn't line-wrap,
> etc.), 
> then you'll need to modify the report before running it in Python.
> 
> In fact, I'm not sure why you'd bother replicating an existing sqlplus report
> in Python unless you plan to gain something by it.  Are you simply having fun
> with using Python, or are you replacing all sqlplus scripts with Python to
> restrict direct database access.  You may also be planning to process the data
> within Python to do some nifty computations or to customize the output, such
> as 
> using the Win32 extensions to write the output into a spreadsheet.
> 
> Each command in a sqlplus script is
> 1) an SQL command (trivial to move into Python)
> 2) a part of a PL/SQL block (you may want to translate it to Python)
> 3) a command to the sqlplus environment (drop these and either replicate the
> intent in Python or ignore them, depending on your goal)
> 
>> Any examples or advice would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Post an example or a simplified example of what you're trying to do and why
> you're trying to do it, and it would be much easier to give you appropriate
> examples. :)  
> 
> ---Tom

I am using DCOracle so I can access Oracle through Zope. My idea is to use
exisiting sqlplus reports and throw them on the web. They all make use of
sqlplus-only syntax/environment and I don't want to reformat them through
python OR zope. 

Thanks again,

Erik Myllymaki
erik at pacific-shores.com