Bind PL/SQL array to PHP array

Question

Hi all!
I try to bind a PL/SQL array (nested tables, index by integer) returned by a PL/SQL-function to an PHP array.
Here is the code:
create or replace package MyPackage as
TYPE my_type IS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(1024);
FUNCTION MyFunction RETURN my_type;
end MyPackage;
create or replace PACKAGE BODY MyPackage is
FUNCTION MyFunction RETURN my_type IS
t_docs my_type;
begin
t_docs := my_type('val0','val1','val2');
return t_docs;
end MyFunction;
end MyPackage;
In the PHP-code ist looks like this
$query = "begin :vals := MyPackage.MyFunction; end;";
$stmt = oci_parse ($conn, $query);
oci_bind_array_by_name($stmt, ":vals", $vals_array, 5, 512, SQLT_CHR);
oci_execute ($stmt);
Output:
PLS-00382: expression is of wrong type. Error in Line....
This error point to
begin :vals := MyPackage.MyFunction; end;
^^^
Questions:
Is it generally possible to bind a pl/sql array to a php array? Or only the other was around?
Could you please post a snipet of code how to do it the right way :-)
Thanks a lot for your help! Christian

Answer 1

As you noted, you can't return a PL/SQL array and map it to a PHP array when it is a record type. Likewise, you can't map an object type to a PHP array. You can return a reference cursor through PL/SQL, and then fetch the function result with oci_fetch_assoc($rc).
Alternatively, you can return an object type collection or a pipelined table function result into PHP. It's a bit long but you'll find examples on my blog. Start here, and there's a link to a full discussion of pipelined table functions:
http://blog.mclaughlinsoftware.com/2009/03/19/beats-a-reference-cursor/
This is an object table example, which you may prefer over pipelined table functions:
http://blog.mclaughlinsoftware.com/2009/03/23/object-record-collections/
Hope this helps.