Color entries in select list

Question

Say I have a dataset like (status_code,status_desc,color). A select list uses the code & desc but I would like to use the color of each status to be used as the background color for that entry. Patrick shows how to do this for a simple case right using the Element properties but how would this be done in my example?
I was thinking of using apex_util.json_from_sql to get the status_code & color in a Before Footer process and use Javascript to set the colors. But I couldn't figure out how to use the JSON as an associative array i.e. row[status_code] = color.
Comments? Thanks

Answer 1

Hello Vikas,
>> But when the page is submitted, Complete will be stored in session state and this is not one of the values returned by the LOV query …
Yes, sorry about that, I forgot I’m also using a Post Calculation Computation on the item, which calls a function that builds a matching value to the LOV. Something like:
select_list_color(:P1_SELECT);The body of this function is, of course, depends on the way/source to derive the status color. In my case, it looks like:
function "SELECT_LIST_COLOR" (
  p_color_name in VARCHAR2
) return VARCHAR2
is
  l_color_code  varchar2(20) := '';
BEGIN
  if p_color_name is not null then
    select code into l_color_code
    from mis_color_code
    where color = p_color_name;
  end if;
  return p_color_name || ':' || l_color_code;
END;
>> … so the LOV item needs to have "Show Extra Values" turned on
That’s not good enough as the Extra Value doesn’t include color code so the select list entry will not be colored (which defeat the original purpose).
>> Or maybe you have an after-submit computation to join the Complete and Green again so page rendering continues to work fine.
That’s also not good enough. First, I don’t want to impair the integrity/consistency of the session state. Secondly, if, for example, you are using ARF to populate the select list item, you’ll have the same problem, so after-submit computation is not enough.
The best solution I could think of is to use the Post Calculation Computation. So far it’s working very good.
Your solution, using AJAX, is also valid (and more importantly, it seems to work for you) however, in this specific scenario, where all the information is actually available to you pre-rendering the page, another trip to the database seems too costly (especially in my case, where some of the communication is over the Internet, using very crowded lines).
Regards,
Arie.
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