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	PLSQL Program Variables State (details)
	Dear Bryn, I love PL/SQL and it would be great if you could it easier for us to obtain and log the values/state of all arguments and local variables in a subprogram. This is incredibly useful when tracing execution and logging errors. Thanks!

The problem... When an exception is raised in a PLSQL program, developers usually need to re-run the program with some trace statements, in order to inspect the values of local and input/output variables at the time exception occurred. This is to gain more information so that the problem can be fixed.
What would like to see... Having a facility in Oracle to dump the state of all local and input/output variables would help a lot. This will be something similar to a WATCH in debug mode.
Example of problematic code... CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION raise_error(pi_arg1 NUMBER, pi_arg2 NUMBER, ....) IS l_arg1 NUMBER; l_arg2 NUMBER; BEGIN ........ -- Processing EXCEPTION WHEN OTHERS THEN -- Exception is raised and control comes here. END;
Example of desired code... CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION raise_error(pi_arg1 NUMBER, pi_arg2 NUMBER, ....) IS l_arg1 NUMBER; l_arg2 NUMBER; BEGIN ........ -- Processing EXCEPTION WHEN OTHERS THEN -- Exception is raised and control comes here. -- Dump the state of l_arg1, pi_arg1, pi_arg2.. END;

Steven Feuerstein, PL/SQL Evangelist, Quest Software: "Help me help Oracle improve the PL/SQL language!"

Bryn Llewellyn: "We love to hear from PL/SQL developers. Let us know what is important to you!"