Allow two or more sessions in the same instance to communicate. Similar in concept to a UNIX pipe.
Subprocedures: CREATE_PIPE Function Explicitly creates a pipe (necessary for private pipes). PACK_MESSAGE Build message in local buffer. SEND_MESSAGE Function Send message on named pipe: This implicitly creates a public pipe if the named pipe does not exist. RECEIVE_MESSAGE Function Copy message from named pipe into local buffer. NEXT_ITEM_TYPE Function Return datatype of next item in buffer. UNPACK_MESSAGE Access next item in buffer. REMOVE_PIPE Function Remove the named pipe. PURGE Purge contents of named pipe. RESET_BUFFER Purge contents of local buffer. UNIQUE_SESSION_NAME Function Returns the unique session name.
For full documentation of the packaged procedures above see the Oracle Manual:
"Oracle9i Supplied PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference"
or the book Oracle Built in Packages by Steven Feuerstein et al