Apex 4.0.1 classic report export

Question

Hello once again all you Application Express experts.
I am having some difficulty getting an apex classic report to export the results of the report grid.
This is a classic report being run, not interactive.
It is also as an SQL Query (PL/SQL function body returning sql query) for the report identification type.
The function body is of decent size, maybe 200 lines at most, but i have narrowed it down a couple of problematic lines.
The report runs perfectly when I take out the follow line from the function...
v_return := v_return || 'AND instr('':'' || ''' || :p3_status || ''' || '':'','':'' || xel.employment_status || '':'') > 0 ';
So :p3_status is a checkbox item on the page, with three options: Active, Terminated, Retired.
In the repeatable failure scenario :p3_status = 'Active'.
One of the interesting parts is the report grid always returns the right results to the screen, it is just the report export that fails.
It never errors, it just returns a no data response to the file being exported.
This is Application Express v 4.0.1 running on Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.3.0 - 64bit.
Any thoughts or any troubleshooting hints anyone can provide?
Thanks,
Hayden

Answer 1

Hayden,
Why do u need to append the item value in the PLSQL function body when apex will take of that(using its bind value).
Your predicate is actually a static one since only the item value changes (and that can be handled by its bind value). So avoid concatenating it in the function body to build the clause(which has the additional problem of passing in the item value to the function)
Change it to
v_return := v_return || q'!AND INSTR(':'||:p3_status||':',xel.employment_status) > 0!';
Notice that the :p3_status item evaluation happens only in the apex page
Also making use of the q function to escape quotes, it makes life much more easier in these cases.