ora-00933:SQL command not properly ended

Question

I have the following code:

begin
for i in 1..2 loop
insert into dba_xy.despatch
select desp_id_seq.nextval,
      dbms_random.string('U',5),
      trunc(dbms_random.value(0000,9999)),
      prod_id from dba_xy.product 
              prod_name from dba_xy.product;        
end loop;

end;

When I run it, oracle gives me the following error message:

prod_name from dba_xy.product;
                        *

ERROR at line 8: ORA-06550: line 8, column 29: PL/SQL: ORA-00933: SQL command not properly ended ORA-06550: line 3, column 2: PL/SQL: SQL Statement ignored

What I'm trying to do is link the existing prod_id and prod_name with new data inserted into the despatch table. I have set prod_name as a unique key in the product table and prod_id as the primary key and have set both as foreign key constraints in the despatch table. I need to include the prod_name into the despatch table to allow readers of the table to have more understanding of what prod_name needs to be found etc, rather than just giving the prod_id which will make no sense to them at all. But maybe I was thinking that I don't need prod_id in the despatch table. Please help.

After dropping the prod_id column from the despatch table, i altered my code:

begin
for i in 1..2 loop
insert into dba_xy.despatch
select desp_id_seq.nextval,
      dbms_random.string('U',5),
      trunc(dbms_random.value(0000,9999)),
              prod_name from dba_xy.product;        
end loop;

end; /

and the following error message came up about the unique constraint: begin * ERROR at line 1: ORA-00001: unique constraint (DBA_XY.PROD_NAME_UC) violated ORA-06512: at line 3

Answer 1

Your ORA-00933 error is due to an incorrectly formatted SELECT statement:

SELECT desp_id_seq.nextval,
       dbms_random.string('U',5),
       TRUNC(dbms_random.value(0000,9999)),
       prod_id from dba_xy.product 
       prod_name from dba_xy.product; 

...when it should be:

SELECT DESP_ID_SEQ.nextval,
       DBMS_RANDOM.string('U',5),
       TRUNC(DBMS_RANDOM.value(0000,9999)),
       t.prod_id,
       t.prod_name 
  FROM dba_xy.product t; 

You were missing the comma to separate the prod_id and prod_name columns, and additionally had a redundant FROM dba_xy.product declaration in the wrong location.

That said, the dba_xy.despatch table should only contain the prod_id. If you need to provide a human readable version of the data, I recommend you construct a view. Example:

CREATE VIEW despatch_vw AS
SELECT t.prod_id,
       p.prod_name
  FROM dba_xy.despatch t
  JOIN dba_xy.product p ON p.prod_id = t.prod_id