The following features are new in this release:

• The DBMS_AUTO_MV package is used to manage the installed but disabled module bug fixes which cause an execution plan change.

  DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE

• The DBMS_AUTO_MV package provides the following new PL/SQL procedures functions and procedures for automatic materialized views. This performs analysis and recommendation, verification, and maintenance of automatic materialized views.

  See, DBMS_AUTO_MV.

• The DBMS_ACTIVITY package provides the following new PL/SQL procedures functions and procedures for Object Activity Tracking System (OATS). This is a generic RDBMS based tracking service that provides information about various types of activities associated with different database objects.

  See, DBMS_ACTIVITY.

• The DBMS_FLASHBACK_ARCHIVE_MIGRATE package provides new PL/SQL functions and procedures for exporting and importing the Flashback Archive base tables along with their history to another database using the Transportable Tablespaces.

  See, DBMS_FLASHBACK_ARCHIVE_MIGRATE.

• The DBMS_MLE package provides new PL/SQL functions and procedures that allows users to execute JavaScript code inside the Oracle Database and exchange data seamlessly between PL/SQL and JavaScript. The JavaScript code itself can execute PL/SQL and SQL through built-in JavaScript modules. JavaScript data types are automatically mapped to Oracle Database data types and vice versa.

  See, DBMS_MLE.

• The DBMS_AVTUNE package provides new PL/SQL functions and procedures to analyze query access levels and aggregation workloads for each auto-cache enabled analytic view (AV) and creates or drops AV auto-caches to improve the overall performance of the SQL queries on that AV.

• The following new subprograms were introduced in the DBMS_HIERARCHY package:
  • CREATE_VIEW_FOR_FACT_ROWS Procedure
  • CREATE_VIEW_FOR_STAR_ROWS Procedure
  • GET_MV_SQL_FOR_AV_CACHE Function
  • GET_MV_SQL_FOR_STAR_CACHE Function

• Blockchain tables are append-only tables in which only insert operations are allowed. Deleting rows is either prohibited or restricted based on time. Rows in a blockchain table are made tamper-resistant by special sequencing & chaining algorithms. Users can verify that rows have not been tampered. A hash value that is part of the row metadata is used to chain and validate rows.

  Blockchain tables enable you to implement a centralized ledger model where all participants in the blockchain network have access to the same tamper-resistant ledger. The following new packages are available in this release:

  • DBMS_BLOCKCHAIN_TABLE
  • DBMS_USER_CERTS

• DBMS_PLSQL_CODE_COVERAGE

  A new function GET_BLOCK_MAP has been added to the DBMS_PLSQL_CODE_COVERAGE package to help you calculate the total coverage number for a schema.

  See "GET_BLOCK_MAP Function"

• DBMS_JSON

  JSON data guide supports extended JSON scalar types like double, float, timestamp, and so on.

• Oracle Database Advanced Queuing Support for JSON data type

  AQ now supports JSON payload type. A dedicated JSON data type allows the user to store JSON data in a post-parse binary format, which allows much faster access to nested JSON values.

  See "DBMS_AQ Data Types"

• Enhanced Result Cache

  The DBMS_RESULT_CACHE package provides the following new PL/SQL procedures that allows users to block an object from the result cache.

  • OBJECT_BLACK_LIST Function
  • OBJECT_BLACK_LIST_ADD Procedure
  • OBJECT_BLACK_LIST_CLEAR Procedure
  • OBJECT_BLACK_LIST_REMOVE Procedure

  See DBMS_RESULT_CACHE.

• Support for DBMS_CRYPTO Asymmetric Key Operations

  Starting with this release, the DBMS_CRYPTO PL/SQL package supports asymmetric key operations, in addition to the existing support for symmetric key operations. To implement the support for asymmetric key operations, the following procedures have been added to the DBMS_CRYPTO package:

  • PKENCRYPT
  • PKDECRYPT
  • SIGN
  • VERIFY

  See DBMS_CRYPTO.

• The following two new procedures are introduced in the DBMS_APP_CONT_ADMIN package to enhance the application continuity protection check:
  • ACCHK_REPORT Procedure
  • ACCHK_SET Procedure
• New parameter, AUTO_INDEX_TABLE is added in CONFIGURE procedure in the DBMS_AUTO_INDEX package. You can use the AUTO_INDEX_TABLE configuration setting to specify tables that can use auto indexes.
• DBMS_JSON:
  • The following 3 parameters are added to the ADD_VIRTUAL_COLUMNS Procedure in the DBMS_JSON package to enhance view creation and adding of virtual columns: resolvenameconflicts, colnameprefix, and mixedcasecolumns.
  • The following parameters are added to the CREATE_VIEW procedure in the DBMS_JSON package to enhance view creation and adding of virtual columns: resourcepath, materialize, mvrefreshmode, path, resolvenameconflicts colnameprefix, and mixedcasecolumns.