A search form with three search criterias

Question

I want to create a search form in Apex with three text boxes that would let us search with a lastName,firstName or a course Name. So i would have three text box regions where the user can enter any one of the search criterias and get a results
the sql query that does the join is as
  select Student.Student_id, 
         Student.First_NAME, 
           Student.LAST_NAME,
         Student.Email1 as Primaryemail,
         Student.Email2 as SecondaryEmail,
         Student.Phone1 as MobileNumber, 
           Student.Phone2 as HomeNumber,
         Address.Street1 as Street ,
           Address.City as City,
           Address.State as State,
           Address.ZIP as Zip, 
           Course.PROVIDER_COURSE_ID as CourseID,
           Course.Course_Name as Course,
           Course.Credit_Hours as Credit_Hours,
           INSTITUTION.Name as InstName
  from Student Inner join Address on Student.ADDR_ID =  Address.ID
               Inner Join Institution on Student.INST_ID = Institution.ID
                  Inner join Course on Course.INST_ID = Institution.IDand i want to incorporate my query into pl/sql example as below which is provide in apex examples as below where it searches for assignee and status. any ideas guys how i can do this or if there is simpler way to do this where the user can have three text boxes and search with their names or course name etc.
declare
   c pls_integer := 0;
   l_detail varchar2(4000);
   i pls_integer;
   l pls_integer;
   l_max_rows    integer;
begin
l_max_rows := nvl(:P2_ROWS,10);
if :P2_SEARCH is null
and :P2_ASSIGNEE is null
and :P2_STATUS is null then
   sys.htp.p('<p>'||
       apex_escape.html('Please enter at least one search condition.')||
       '</p>');
else
  -- PUT YOUR QUERY HERE
  for c1 in (
  select id, project, task_name, start_date, end_date, status, assigned_to,
       cost, budget
  from EBA_DEMO_SEARCH_PROJECTS
  where (   instr(upper(assigned_to),upper(:P2_ASSIGNEE)) > 0
         or :P2_ASSIGNEE is null)
  and (   instr(upper(status),upper(:P2_STATUS)) > 0
       or :P2_STATUS is null)
  and (   instr(upper(project),upper(:P2_SEARCH)) > 0
       or instr(upper(task_name),upper(:P2_SEARCH)) > 0
       or instr(upper(status),upper(:P2_SEARCH)) > 0
       or instr(upper(assigned_to),upper(:P2_SEARCH)) > 0
       or :P2_SEARCH is null
  loop
    c := c + 1;
    if c = 1 then
       sys.htp.p('<ul class="sSearchResultsReport">');
    end if;
    sys.htp.p('<li>');
    sys.htp.prn('<span class="title">');
    -- DEFINE DRILL DOWN LINK HERE
    sys.htp.prn('<a href="'
      ||apex_util.prepare_url('f?p='||:APP_ID||':3:'||:APP_SESSION||
        ':::3:P3_ID:'||c1.id)||'">');
    -- ASSIGN PRIMAY ATTRIBUTE HERE, REFERENCE QUERY COLUMN
    l_detail := c1.project;
    i := instr(upper(l_detail),upper(:P2_SEARCH));
    if  i > 0 then
       l := length(:P2_SEARCH);
       l_detail := apex_escape.html(substr(l_detail,1,i-1))||
          '<span class="highlight">'||
          apex_escape.html(substr(l_detail,i,l))||'</span>'||
          apex_escape.html(substr(l_detail,i+l));
    end if;
    sys.htp.prn(l_detail);               
    sys.htp.prn('</a></span>');
    sys.htp.prn('<span class="description">');
    -- ASSIGN SECONDARY ATTRIBUTE HERE, REFERENCE QUERY COLUMN
    l_detail := c1.task_name;
    i := instr(upper(l_detail),upper(:P2_SEARCH));
    if  i > 0 then
       l := length(:P2_SEARCH);
       l_detail := apex_escape.html(substr(l_detail,1,i-1))||
          '<span class="highlight">'||
          apex_escape.html(substr(l_detail,i,l))||'</span>'||
          apex_escape.html(substr(l_detail,i+l));
    end if;
    sys.htp.prn(l_detail);
    sys.htp.prn('</span>');
    -- DEFINE ADDITIONAL QUERY COLUMNS FOR SEARCH BELOW
    sys.htp.p('<span class="type">');
    sys.htp.prn('Assigned to: ');
    sys.htp.prn(apex_escape.html(c1.assigned_to));
    sys.htp.prn('</span>');
    -- display additional column detail
    sys.htp.p('<br /><span class="type">');
    sys.htp.prn('Status: ');
    sys.htp.prn(apex_escape.html(c1.status));
    sys.htp.prn('</span>');
    sys.htp.prn('</li>');
    if c = l_max_rows then
       exit;
    end if;
  end loop;
  if c > 0 then
    sys.htp.p('</ul>');
    sys.htp.p('<p>'||c||' results found.</p>');
  else
    sys.htp.p('<p>No data found matching your search criteria.</p>');
  end if;
end if;
end;i tried to change the pl/sql to incorporate it into my apex application but i consistently get an error as pl/sql not defined.
any help or a slight hint is very much appreciated
thanks for looking and taking the time to read it through if u made it this far or even if u made it half way

Answer 1

Thanks that worked and i got the procedure inside apex as well now i have to figure out how to make the search condition so that it will look for a like condition as well so the user can enter sam for samuel and still find the users
declare
   c             pls_integer := 0;
   l_detail      varchar2(32767);
   i             pls_integer;
   l             pls_integer;
   l_max_rows    integer;
begin
l_max_rows := nvl(:P37_ROWS,10);
if :P37_SEARCH is null
and :P37_FirstName is null
and :P37_LastName is null
and :P37_Course_Name is null
then
   sys.htp.p('<p>Please enter at least one search condition.</p>');
else
  for c1 in (
select
/* SIMULATE A UNIQUE COLUMN */
         Student.Student_id || ',' || Course.Course_id as FAKE_PK,
Student.Student_id , 
         Student.First_NAME as FirstName, 
           Student.LAST_NAME as LastName,
         Student.Email1 as Primaryemail,
         Student.Email2 as SecondaryEmail,
         Student.Phone1 as MobileNumber, 
           Student.Phone2 as HomeNumber,
         Address.Street1 as Street ,
           Address.City as City,
           Address.State as State,
           Address.ZIP as Zip, 
           Course.PROVIDER_COURSE_ID as CourseID,
           Course.Course_Name as Course_Name,
           Course.Credit_Hours as Credit_Hours,
           INSTITUTION.Name as InstName
  from Student left join Address on Student.ADDR_ID =  Address.ID
               left Join Institution on Student.INST_ID = Institution.ID
                left join Course on Course.INST_ID = Institution.ID
  where ( instr(upper(First_Name),upper(:P37_FirstName)) > 0
         or :P37_FirstName is null)
   and
          (instr(upper(Last_Name),upper(:P37_LastName)) > 0
         or :P37_LastName is null)
   and
            (instr(upper(Course_Name),upper(:P37_Course)) > 0
         or :P37_Course is null)
   and ( 
         instr(upper(First_Name),upper(:P37_SEARCH)) > 0
       or instr(upper(Last_Name),upper(:P37_SEARCH)) > 0
       or instr(upper(Course_Name),upper(:P37_SEARCH)) > 0
       or :P37_SEARCH is null
  order by Course_Name desc
  loop
    c := c + 1;
    if c = 1 then
       sys.htp.p('<ul class="sSearchResultsReport">');
    end if;
    sys.htp.p('<li>');
    l_detail := c1.Course_Name;
    i := instr(upper(l_detail),upper(:P37_SEARCH));
    if  i > 0 then
       l := length(:P37_SEARCH);
       l_detail := apex_escape.html(substr(l_detail,1,i-1))||
          '<span class="highlight">'||
          apex_escape.html(substr(l_detail,i,l))||'</span>'||
          apex_escape.html(substr(l_detail,i+l));
    end if;
    sys.htp.prn(l_detail);               
    sys.htp.prn('</a></span>');
    sys.htp.prn('<span class="description">');
    l_detail := c1.FirstName;
    i := instr(upper(l_detail),upper(:P37_SEARCH));
    if  i > 0 then
       l := length(:P37_SEARCH);
       l_detail := apex_escape.html(substr(l_detail,1,i-1))||
          '<span class="highlight">'||
          apex_escape.html(substr(l_detail,i,l))||'</span>'||
          apex_escape.html(substr(l_detail,i+l));
    end if;
    sys.htp.prn(l_detail);
    sys.htp.prn('</span>');
    sys.htp.prn('<span class="type">Incident: ');
    sys.htp.prn(apex_escape.html(c1.FirstName));
    sys.htp.prn('</span>');
    sys.htp.p('</li>');
    if c = l_max_rows then
       exit;
    end if;
  end loop;
  if c > 0 then
    sys.htp.p('</ul>');
    sys.htp.p('<p>'||c||' results found.</p>');
  else
    sys.htp.p('<p>No search results.</p>');
  end if;
end if;
end;  Edited by: user13133295 on Jun 4, 2013 1:59 PM