Associative Array problem in Oracle Procedure

Question

Hi,
I've searched through the internet and this forum and haven't been able to resolve a problem using associative array values within an IN clause. Everything I've read states that I can't use the associative array directly in the SQL statement. I have to convert it to a table and then I can use it. Unfortunately, I'm receiving an "ORA-21700: object does not exist or is marked for delete" error when trying to access the table I've populated from the array. Please note that I have verified the table is actually being populated during the loop. I'm catching the error when referencing it in the SELECT statement.
I've declared the following in the ARCHIVE package specification:
TYPE RSType IS REF CURSOR;
TYPE integer_aat IS TABLE OF INTEGER INDEX BY PLS_INTEGER;
TYPE integer_table IS TABLE OF INTEGER;
The procedure is as follows:
PROCEDURE SEL_SEARCH_RESULTS (v_term IN VARCHAR2,
v_categories IN ARCHIVE.integer_aat,
rs OUT RSType)
AS
/* PURPOSE: Return Search Results for the Category and Keyword Provided
VARIABLES:
v_categories = Document Categories array
v_term = Keyword entered
rs = Result Set
tbl_cat ARCHIVE.integer_table := ARCHIVE.integer_table();
BEGIN
FOR i IN 1 .. v_categories.COUNT
LOOP
tbl_cat.EXTEND(1);
tbl_cat(i) := v_categories(i);
END LOOP;
OPEN rs FOR
SELECT A.ID,
B.CATEGORY,
A.FILENAME,
A.DISPLAY_NAME,
A.COMMENTS
FROM TBL_ARCHIVE_DOCUMENTS A,
TBL_ARCHIVE_DOC_CAT B,
TBL_ARCHIVE_DOC_KEYWORDS C
WHERE A.ID = B.ID
AND A.ID = C.ID
AND B.CATEGORY IN (SELECT * FROM TABLE(tbl_cat))
AND C.KEYWORD = v_term
ORDER BY A.ID;
END SEL_SEARCH_RESULTS;
Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance,
Matt

Answer 1

Thank you for the quick response. I looked at the example you suggested and made the following changes. Now I'm receiving an "Invalid datatype" error on the "SELECT column_value FROM TABLE(CAST(tbl_cat AS tbl_integer))" statement. I must be missing something simple and I just can't put my finger on it.
PROCEDURE SEL_SEARCH_RESULTS (v_term IN VARCHAR2,
v_categories IN ARCHIVE.integer_aat,
rs OUT RSType)
AS
/* PURPOSE: Return Search Results for the Category and Keyword Provided
VARIABLES:
v_categories = Document Categories array entered
v_term = Keyword entered
rs = Result Set
TYPE tbl_integer IS TABLE OF INTEGER;
tbl_cat tbl_integer;
BEGIN
FOR i IN 1 .. v_categories.COUNT
LOOP
tbl_cat.EXTEND(1);
tbl_cat(i) := v_categories(i);
END LOOP;
OPEN rs FOR
SELECT A.ID,
B.CATEGORY,
A.FILENAME,
A.DISPLAY_NAME,
A.COMMENTS
FROM TBL_ARCHIVE_DOCUMENTS A,
TBL_ARCHIVE_DOC_CAT B,
TBL_ARCHIVE_DOC_KEYWORDS C
WHERE A.ID = B.ID
AND A.ID = C.ID
AND B.CATEGORY IN (SELECT column_value FROM TABLE(CAST(tbl_cat AS tbl_integer)))
AND C.KEYWORD = v_term
ORDER BY A.ID;
END SEL_SEARCH_RESULTS;