APEX_ITEM.date_popup does not update proper row with column sorting on

Question

I have the following example sql report query on a page:
select rownum rowno, object_name
, object_type
,APEX_ITEM.date_popup(43, null, created, 'DD-MON-RR',9) date_created
from user_objects
This works fine when I tried to update the date if no sorting is involved. If I allow sorting in APEX by clicking the column headings, the row numbers no longer match up with the the displayed rows. So in order words, if I had the following
Row MyCol Date
1 Z
2 B
3 K
If I enabled sorting and click the MyCol column heading, then the following would result:
Row MyCol Date
2 B
3 K
1 Z
If I then enter a date for the first displayed row, MyCol=B, then it will update the MyCol=K row because it goes by rownum and it thnks it is rownum=2 where MyCol=B.
This use to work by putting in a unique id column instead of null for the 2nd parameter to the API. The latest doc says that parameter is depracated and this no longer works. It seems to always go by rownum, and therefore won't work with sorting.
Any workaround or suggestions?
We need to have a query similar to above, with sorting enabled on a number of columns and then have a custom PL/SQL process called when the submit button is pressed. It would reference the date column as APEX_APPLICATION.G_F43(I) in this example.
It used to work. Has this functionality been removed?

Answer 1

rwessa,
Right now, there is no reasonable workaround for this immediate issue of using APEX_ITEM.DATE_POPUP in your query and sorting via PPR. The problem is that the generated JavaScript as part of APEX_ITEM.DATE_POPUP is generated at query execution time and then sorted by the reporting engine afterwards (via AJAX/Partial Page Refresh).
About the only workarounds I can suggest are to disable column-heading sorting for the SQL-based report. If you want sorting, implement sorting via a select list and then use a region type of PL/SQL function returning query, where you append the ORDER BY clause to the SELECT statement. You may also wish to investigate using regular reports (and changing the Display As of the column) or using tabular forms, which would not exhibit this behavior.
I hope this helps.
Joel