Conversion function in Oracle.

Question

Hi,
So below is the scenario I have. I was wondering if there is any function oracle provides or is there any way I could achieve this.
CREATE OR REPLACE procedure TestA
      partnumber               IN  number,
      partsubnum               IN  varchar2,
      errstring             OUT varchar2
) as
--  Declare local variables
ll_inputpartnum varchar2(100);
Begin
    ll_inputpartnum := partnumber || partsubnum; -- Concatinate partnumber and partsubnum
  -- Will need to convert this variable to number.
    TestB.Process(ll_inputpartnum,parameter2, s_errstring, errnum); --ll_inputpartnum must be of type number
     if  errnum <> compkg.success then
       errstring := s_errstring;
       return;
     end if;
Exception
    When others then
    Null;   
End;
/I do not have option to change anything on TestB.Process Procedure.
So there are two problem I am trying to solve in this scenario.
First, the input parameter - ll_inputpartnum in TestB.Process takes input of only number type. So i need to somehow convert the concatenated ll_inputpartnum into Integer.
Second problem is, Procedure TestB.Process - after completing its processing, passes ll_inputpartnum to the Third procedure. Let's say Procedure TestC. So in Procedure TestC, I need to again break down the concatenated value into original partnumber and partsubnum.
The concatenated value - ll_inputpartnum does not change through out this process.
So, i am trying to figure out the best way to approach this situation.
Thank you
Edited by: ARIZ on May 25, 2010 1:18 PM

Answer 1

with a function like (using William's package too)
function combine_parts(p_partnum in integer,p_partsubnum in varchar2) return integer is
  l_length pls_integer := 5;  /* adjust to the maximum possible length of partsubnum */
  hex_val  varchar2(5) := '';
begin
  if length(p_partsubnum) > l_length then
    return 0;
  end if;
  for i in 1 .. l_length loop
    hex_val := hex_val || to_base(ascii(substr(lpad(p_partsubnum,l_length,chr(0)),i,1)),16)
  end loop;
  return p_partnum * power(256,l_length) + to_decimal(hex_val,16);
end;you can simply
ll_inputpartnum := combine_parts(partnum,partsubnum);and finally the parameter ll_inputpartnum can be fed to the appropriate process
you'll need another function to regain partnum and partsubnum in another process because it will just ll_inputpartnum
function concatenated_parts(p_number in integer,p_separator in varchar2 default '|') return varchar2 is
  l_length pls_integer := 5;  /* adjust to the maximum possible length of partsubnum */
  hex_val  varchar2(5);
  chr_val  varchar2(5) := '';
  l_partnum integer;
begin
  l_partnum := trunc(p_number / power(256,l_length));
  hex_val := to_base(p_number - l_partnum * power(256,l_length),16);
  if length(hex_val) > l_length then
    return '';
  end if;
  for i in 1 .. l_length loop
    chr_val := chr_val || chr(to_decimal(substr(hex_val,i,1),16));
  end loop;
  return to_char(l_partnum) || p_separator || chr_val;
end;Regards
Etbin
p.s. the functions are not tested (no database at home)