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