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Bind references are used to replace a single value in SQL or PL/SQL, such as a character string, number, or date. Use bind reference when you want the parameter to substitute only one value at runtime. Specifically, bind references may be used to replace expressions in SELECT, WHERE, GROUP BY, ORDER BY, HAVING, CONNECT BY, and START WITH clauses of queries.

Lexical references are placeholders for text that you embed in a SELECT statement. Use Lexical reference when you want the parameter to substitute multiple values at runtime. You can use lexical references to replace the clauses appearing after SELECT, FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, ORDER BY, HAVING, CONNECT BY, and START WITH.

Lexical parameters are used to substitute multiple values at runtime and are identified by a preceding ‘&’. Lexical s can consist of as little a one line where clause to an entire select statement

Lexical Parameters are used to execute query dynamically.

Example:

Select * from my_table &where.

• Oracle Reports: Fixed format reports delivered with the 11i release were built on this tool. This is the most used tool for reporting on Oracle Applications. Most of reports customizations are built with this tool. Once customized the output of the report can be in Excel (Not group By Report), word, Acrobat documents or text format.

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• Oracle XML Publisher: is a new Oracle tool for reporting. It enables users to utilize a familiar desktop tool, like MS Word or MS Excel, to create and maintain their own report. At runtime, XML Publisher merges the custom templates with the concurrent request extracts data to generate output in RTF, PDF, HTML and EXCEL.

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