PL/SQL Developer - Creating dynamic SQL - sql

Question

I'm using PL/SQL Developer. I'm trying to get query results to excel via vba. Since query is so long, i decided to create table with the query results and then simply get the table results with vba. In order to create table via excel i needed to create procedure with dynamic sql. So this is what i tried so far (even this simple example doesn't work):
create or replace procedure d_x IS
str VARCHAR(81) = 'create table as select 1 as x from dual'
BEGIN
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE str;
END;
Procedure completes without error. But when i try to execute it to create table it throws an error.
Execute statement:
EXECUTE d_x;
The execute statement throws 'ORA-00900' Invalid sql statement error.
I'm kinda new to pl sql so i couldn't find a solution to this.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Answer 1

Procedure you posted can't possibly execute without errors because it is invalid. When fixed, looks like this:
SQL> create or replace procedure d_x IS
2 str VARCHAR(81) := 'create table test as select 1 as x from dual';
3 BEGIN
4 EXECUTE IMMEDIATE str;
5 END;
6 /
Procedure created.
In tools that support execute, you can run it as:
SQL> execute d_x
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> select * from test;
X
----------
1
"Correct" way - which works anywhere - is to enclose it (the procedure) into begin-end block:
SQL> drop table test;
Table dropped.
SQL> begin
2 d_x;
3 end;
4 /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL>
I suggest you do that.

Answer 2

In PL/SQL Developer you can click on the procedure name and choose 'Test', which will generate a calling script as a Test window.
You can only use execute in a Command window, because it's a SQL*Plus command and not part of SQL or PL/SQL, and the Command window is a SQL*Plus emulator.
In a SQL window you could either use a complete PL/SQL block:
begin
d_x;
end
/
or use the SQL call command:
call d_x();
Note that call() requires brackets regardless of whether or not the procedure has any parameters.
The / character is useful as a separator when using PLSQL blocks in a SQL window where you have more than one statement, otherwise PL/SQ Developer won't know where one ends and the next starts.
A Test window can only have one statement and only a single PL/SQL block or SQL statement is allowed, so there is no / character at the end.