Stored procedure using Dynamic SQL to create new table in Oracle - oracle

Question

The question is as follows: create a stored procedure (NEW_TABLE) with two strings as input parameters:
String 1: Name of the table to be generated
String 2: Name of columns and their datatypes.
For example: 'ID Number, ProductName varchar2(50), Quantity'
I implemented the following code:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE GENERATE_NEW_TABLE
(TEMP_PRODS varchar2, COLUMNS_DATATYPES varchar2)
is
begin
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE
'CREATE TABLE '||TEMP_PRODS||'('||COLUMNS_DATATYPES||')';
end;
I called it as follows:
EXEC GENERATE_NEW_TABLE('PRODUCTS','ID Number, PRODUCT_NAME VARCAR2(50), QUANTITY')
The procedure was created without compilation error, but when I executed this procedure there was error
missing right parenthesis
Kindly share how can I resolve this. I'm only required to take two strings as input parameters for procedure.

Answer 1

When working with dynamic SQL, always display what you're going to execute (using dbms_output.put_line). Only if it is OK, then execute (immediate) it.
SQL> CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE GENERATE_NEW_TABLE
2 (TEMP_PRODS varchar2, COLUMNS_DATATYPES varchar2)
3 is
4 l_str varchar2(200);
5 begin
6 l_str :=
7 'CREATE TABLE '||TEMP_PRODS||'('||COLUMNS_DATATYPES||')';
8 dbms_output.put_line(l_str);
9 --execute immediate l_str; --> don't run it until you make sure L_STR is correct
10 end;
11 /
Procedure created.
Testing:
SQL> set serveroutput on
SQL> EXEC GENERATE_NEW_TABLE('PRODUCTS','ID Number, PRODUCT_NAME VARCAR2(50), QUANTITY')
CREATE TABLE PRODUCTS(ID Number, PRODUCT_NAME VARCAR2(50), QUANTITY) --> this will be executed
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL>
Statement you're about to execute is
CREATE TABLE PRODUCTS(ID Number, PRODUCT_NAME VARCAR2(50), QUANTITY)
------- ---
typo missing datatype
Does it look OK to you? Doesn't to me (and other as well).
When fixed:
SQL> EXEC GENERATE_NEW_TABLE('PRODUCTS','ID Number, PRODUCT_NAME VARCHAR2(50), QUANTITY NUMBER')
CREATE TABLE PRODUCTS(ID Number, PRODUCT_NAME VARCHAR2(50), QUANTITY NUMBER)
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL>
Does CREATE TABLE look OK now? Yes, it does. So uncomment EXECUTE IMMEDIATE from the procedure and repeat everything:
SQL> CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE GENERATE_NEW_TABLE
2 (TEMP_PRODS varchar2, COLUMNS_DATATYPES varchar2)
3 is
4 l_str varchar2(200);
5 begin
6 l_str :=
7 'CREATE TABLE '||TEMP_PRODS||'('||COLUMNS_DATATYPES||')';
8 dbms_output.put_line(l_str);
9 execute immediate l_str;
10 end;
11 /
Procedure created.
SQL> EXEC GENERATE_NEW_TABLE('PRODUCTS','ID Number, PRODUCT_NAME VARCHAR2(50), QUANTITY NUMBER')
CREATE TABLE PRODUCTS(ID Number, PRODUCT_NAME VARCHAR2(50), QUANTITY NUMBER)
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> DESC PRODUCTS
Name Null? Type
----------------------------------------------------- -------- ----------------------------------
ID NUMBER
PRODUCT_NAME VARCHAR2(50)
QUANTITY NUMBER
SQL>
The table is now created.