oracle procedure returns integer

Question

In oracle, I want to create a delete sproc that returns an integer based on the outcome of the deletion.

this is what i have so far.

create or replace
PROCEDURE Testing
( 
iKey IN VARCHAR2
)
 AS 

BEGIN
  delete from MyTable WHERE 
  TheKey = iKey;

END Testing;

i've tried putting a RETURNS INTEGER in but the sproc won't compile.

Answer 1

Use a function and the implicit SQL cursor to determine the number of rows deleted

create or replace
FUNCTION Testing
( 
iKey IN VARCHAR2
) RETURN INTEGER
 AS 

BEGIN
  delete from MyTable WHERE 
  TheKey = iKey;

  RETURN SQL%ROWCOUNT;

END Testing;

That should work

Answer 2

A procedure does not return a value. A function returns a value, but you shouldn't be doing DML in a function (otherwise you cannot do things like reference the function in a SQL statement, you confuse permission grants since normally DBAs want to be able to grant read-only users access to all the functions so that users are doing computations consistently, etc.).

You can add an OUT parameter to the procedure to return the status. If "success" means that one or more rows were updated, you can use SQL%ROWCOUNT to get a count of the number of rows modified by the prior SQL statement and use that to populate the return parameter, i.e.

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE test_proc (
  p_iKey    IN VARCHAR2,
  p_retVal OUT INTEGER
)
AS
BEGIN
  DELETE FROM myTable
   WHERE theKey = p_iKey;

  IF( SQL%ROWCOUNT >= 1 )
  THEN
    p_retVal := 1;
  ELSE
    p_retVal := 0;
  END IF;
END test_proc;

Of course, from a general code clarity standpoint, I'm dubious about OUT parameters that appear to be trying to return a status code. You are generally much better served by assuming success and throwing exceptions in the event of an error.