What are the best tools and techniques for debugging stored procedures in Oracle?

2 Use DBMS_DEBUG

DBMS_DEBUG is a built-in package that allows you to debug stored procedures from a PL/SQL client application, such as SQL*Plus or SQL Developer. You can use the DBMS_DEBUG API to attach a debugger session to a target session, set breakpoints, execute commands, and retrieve information about the execution state. You can also use the DBMS_DEBUG_JDWP package to connect to a Java debugger, such as Eclipse or NetBeans, and debug stored procedures using the Java Debug Wire Protocol (JDWP).

3 Use DBMS_OUTPUT

DBMS_OUTPUT is another built-in package that enables you to print messages and values from your stored procedures to a standard output buffer. You can use the PUT, PUT_LINE, and NEW_LINE procedures to write to the buffer, and the GET_LINE and GET_LINES functions to read from it. You can also use the ENABLE and DISABLE procedures to control the size and availability of the buffer. You can view the output of DBMS_OUTPUT in SQL*Plus, SQL Developer, or other tools that support it.

4 Use EXCEPTIONS

EXCEPTIONS are blocks of code that handle errors and exceptions that occur during the execution of your stored procedures. You can use the predefined exceptions, such as NO_DATA_FOUND, TOO_MANY_ROWS, or ZERO_DIVIDE, or define your own exceptions using the EXCEPTION keyword. You can use the RAISE, RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR, and PRAGMA EXCEPTION_INIT statements to raise and propagate exceptions, and the SQLCODE and SQLERRM functions to retrieve the error code and message. You can also use the DBMS_UTILITY.FORMAT_ERROR_BACKTRACE function to get the full stack trace of the exception.

5 Use LOGGING

LOGGING is the process of recording information about the execution of your stored procedures to a persistent storage, such as a table, a file, or a queue. You can use the UTL_FILE package to write to files on the server, the DBMS_PIPE or DBMS_ALERT packages to send messages to other sessions, or the DBMS_APPLICATION_INFO package to set and retrieve session attributes. You can also use a third-party logging framework, such as Log4PL/SQL, to simplify and standardize your logging operations.