User defined function in where IN clause

Question

Hi,
I have a Function who returns in priview:
(1,2,3,4)
Now i am using this function in SQL where clause
Select from debug where id in debug.debug_process()
On execute select i am getiing ORA-01722 invalid number , i understand that functions return not only numbers but  character symbols too '(,)'
Are it posible to use user defined function who do not return NUMBER in Where clause IN statement ?  If not what tips can sugest me for getting list of values for use in IN Clause?
ID.
Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi,
Please try:
You can use SYS REFCURSOR for return your data.
create or replace function get_debug return sys_refcursor is
     v_rc sys_refcursor;
   begin
     open v_rc for 'select * from debug where id in '|| debug.debug_process();
     return v_rc;
   end;
Function created.
Now, if we look at using this through SQL*Plus we first create ourselves a ref cursor variable to accept the results of the function, and then call the function to get the ref cursor back..
SQL> var rc refcursor
SQL> exec :rc := get_debug ;
SQL> print rc;
Regards
Mahir M. Quluzade