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Installing SQL*Plus Help and Demonstration Tables

This chapter provides information to help you install SQL*Plus components in Windows environments.

Specific topics discussed are:

• Installing SQL*Plus
  
  
• Installing SQL*Plus Command-line Help
  
  
• Accessing Sample Tables

Installing SQL*Plus

The CD-ROM insert that accompanies your product CD-ROM includes the following information about SQL*Plus:

• System requirements
  
  
• Installation instructions

  Note: Before installing SQL*Plus, refer to the generic SQL*Plus documentation on the CD-ROM, and to the Release Notes on the CD-ROM for late-breaking information.

Installing SQL*Plus Command-line Help

Command-line help is available from the graphical user interface, the command-line user interface and the iSQL*Plus user interface while you are using SQL*Plus. The database administrator creates the SQL*Plus help tables and populates them with SQL*Plus help data.

There is also iSQL*Plus online help available only from the iSQL*Plus user interface, see the SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference.

Prerequisites

Before you can install SQL*Plus command-line help, ensure that:

• SQL*Plus is installed, otherwise, you cannot create and load the help tables.
  
  
• The default tablespace for the SYSTEM user is large enough to accommodate the help system.
  
  
• The SQL*Plus help script files are available in
  
  

  %ORACLE_HOME%\SQLPLUS\ADMIN\HELP\ 
  

  The help script files are:

  • HELPBLD.SQL - to drop and create new help tables.
    
    
  • HELPUS.SQL - to populate the help tables with the help data.
    
    
  • HELPDROP.SQL - to drop existing SQL*Plus help tables.
• The Windows command file, HELPINS.BAT, is available in
  
  

  %ORACLE_HOME%\BIN\ 
  

Installing SQL*Plus Command-line Help

SQL*Plus command-line help is installed automatically during Oracle9i installation. There are also two ways to manually install SQL*Plus command-line help:

Running a provided batch file from the command prompt

1. Set an environment variable, SYSTEM_PASS, to hold the SYSTEM user login with:
   
   

   SET SYSTEM_PASS=SYSTEM/PASSWORD
   

   where PASSWORD is the password you have defined for the SYSTEM user. The default SYSTEM user password is MANAGER.

   The HELPINS utility reads this login from SYSTEM_PASS to run successfully.

2. Run the batch file, HELPINS.BAT, from a command-line prompt with:
   
   

   C:\> %ORACLE_HOME%\BIN\HELPINS US
   

Running a provided SQL script from SQL*Plus

1. Run SQL*Plus as the SYSTEM user with:
   
   

   C:\> SQLPLUS SYSTEM/PASSWORD
   

   where PASSWORD is the password you have defined for the SYSTEM user.

2. Run the SQL script, HELPBLD.SQL, from SQL*Plus with:
   
   

   SQL> @%ORACLE_HOME%\SQLPLUS\ADMIN\HELP\HELPBLD.SQL HELPPATH HELPUS.SQL
   

   where HELPPATH is the path to the SQL*Plus help directory containing the file HELPUS.SQL. HELPPATH is usually:

   %ORACLE_HOME%\SQLPLUS\ADMIN\HELP
   

Accessing SQL*Plus Help

To access SQL*Plus command-line help, enter the following command in SQL*Plus:

  SQL> HELP

If you know the topic for which you want help, enter the following command:

SQL>   HELP topic

where topic is a SQL*Plus help topic.

To display a list of available help topics, enter one of the following commands:

  SQL> HELP INDEX

or

  SQL> HELP TOPICS

Example

To get help for the COLUMN command, enter

SQL> HELP COLUMN

If you get a response that help is unavailable, check that you have correctly installed SQL*Plus command-line help in the SYSTEM schema.

For more information about the HELP command, see the Help command in the SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference.

Accessing Sample Tables

Included with Oracle9i, are a number of sample schemas. The SQL*Plus examples use the EMP_DETAILS_VIEW view of the Human Resources (HR) sample schema. This schema contains personnel records for a fictitious company. For information about unlocking and accessing the HR sample schema, see Chapter 1 of the SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference. For further information about the sample schemas included with Oracle9i, see the Oracle9i Sample Schemas guide.