Cursor does not sort..

Question

Hi,
I'm working with a package that has a cursor defined in it. the issue I'm having is the 'order by' does not see to be working and I cannot figure out why.
I'm hoping some smarter coders here will spot why it fails and tell me what I'm missing. I know the parameter is being passed, but it seems to just ignore the sort clause like it is not there at all.
here is the cursor:
cursor c1 is
select f.forecast_type,f.bus_area,f.prod_line,f.project_family_id,f.contract_type,f.program_type,f.project_number,f.order_type,f.profile_name,f.level_code,f.organization_id,
f.site_code, f.freeze_site_flag, f.proj_mgr_name, f.fin_lead_name, f.ms_empno, f.opm_empno, f.notes, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y1_q1_sales,0),'L999,999')) y1_q1_sales, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y2_q1_sales,0),'L999,999')) y2_q1_sales,
trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y3_q1_sales,0),'L999,999')) y3_q1_sales, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y1_sales,0),'L999,999')) y1_sales, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.tot_funding,0),'L999,999')) tot_funding,
trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y1_q2_sales,0),'L999,999')) y1_q2_sales, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y2_q2_sales,0),'L999,999')) y2_q2_sales, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y3_q2_sales,0),'L999,999')) y3_q2_sales, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y2_sales,0),'L999,999')) y2_sales,
trim(to_char(nvl(fv.tot_sales,0),'L999,999')) tot_sales, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y1_q3_sales,0),'L999,999')) y1_q3_sales, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y2_q3_sales,0),'L999,999')) y2_q3_sales, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y3_q3_sales,0),'L999,999')) y3_q3_sales,
trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y3_sales,0),'L999,999')) y3_sales, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.tot_mfg_base,0),'L999,999')) tot_mfg_base, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y1_q4_sales,0),'L999,999')) y1_q4_sales,
trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y2_q4_sales,0),'L999,999')) y2_q4_sales, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y3_q4_sales,0),'L999,999')) y3_q4_sales, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y4_sales,0),'L999,999')) y4_sales, trim(to_char(nvl(fv.tot_mtl_base,0),'L999,999')) tot_mtl_base,
trim(to_char(nvl(fv.y5_sales,0),'L999,999')) y5_sales, f.status_code, f.process_step, f.schedule_designator, null, f.status_date, f.date_in_step,
nvl(f.ready_to_proceed,'N') rdy_proceed_val, f.change_flags, fv.change_flags values_change_flags, rownum, f.freeze_site_flag freezeSite,
DECODE(f.freeze_site_flag,'Y','CHECKED onClick=javascript:site_freeze(this);','onClick=javascript:site_freeze(this);') freezeFlag,
DECODE(f.ready_to_proceed, 'Y', 'CHECKED onClick="javascript:set_proceed(this)";','onClick="javascript:set_proceed(this)";') ready_to_proceed
from bae_alm_forecast_values fv,
bae_alm_forecasts f
where f.rec_type = fv.rec_type(+)
and f.project_number = fv.project_number(+)
and decode(p_frcst_type,null,'1','A','1',f.forecast_type) = decode(p_frcst_type,null,'1','A','1',p_frcst_type)
and decode(p_bus_area,null,'3',instr(p_bus_area,f.bus_area)) > 0
and decode(p_prod_line,null,'4',instr(p_prod_line,f.prod_line)) > 0
and decode(p_prod_fam,null,'5',instr(p_prod_fam,to_char(f.project_family_id))) > 0
and (upper(f.contract_type) like decode(p_cont_type,null,'%',upper(p_cont_type)) or f.contract_type is null)
and (upper(f.program_type) like decode(p_pgm_type,null,'%',upper(p_pgm_type)) or f.program_type is null)
and (upper(f.project_number) like decode(p_prg_num,null,'%',upper(p_prg_num)) or f.project_number is null)
and decode(p_odr_type,null,'2',upper(f.order_type)) = decode(p_odr_type,null,'2',upper(p_odr_type))
and (upper(f.profile_name) like decode(p_desc,null,'%',upper(p_desc)) or f.profile_name is null)
and decode(p_level,null,'1','ALL','1',f.level_code) = decode(p_level,null,'1','ALL','1',p_level)
and f.rec_type = 'C'
order by p_sort_order;
the p_sort_order does contain valid data like either project_number, or program_type. yet when we run the package from the application it never sorts it by the passed value.. I don't understand why. the cursor is called with a for c1_row in c1 loop call...
could it be the for loop or the cursor that is the issue in this?

Answer 1

Nothing wrong with Oracle here, just your understanding of how this works.
You're not ordering by a column name the way you are going about this now, you're ordering by a literal value.
select * from all_objects order by 'TUBBY';Is basically what you're doing. In order to make this work you need dynamic SQL ... i'll caution you now though that this isn't a good approach to take. Dynamic SQL is a cruel mistress and imposes many penalties on you for using it (performance, security, etc...).
If you are forced to do something like below, please check out the DBMS_ASSERT package to ensure that you don't get hit with any SQL Injection possibilities.
The first block below is what you are doing now ... the second is what you'd need to do.
ME_XE?variable rc refcursor;
ME_XE?
ME_XE?declare
  2     l_sort_column   varchar2(30) := 'OBJECT_NAME';
  3  begin
  4     open :rc for
  5     select
  6             object_name
  7     from
  8     (
  9             select *
10             from all_objects
11             order by l_sort_column
12     )
13     where rownum <= 2;
14  end;
15  /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
Elapsed: 00:00:00.02
ME_XE?
ME_XE?print :rc;
OBJECT_NAME
ICOL$
I_USER1
2 rows selected.
Elapsed: 00:00:00.01
ME_XE?variable rc refcursor;
ME_XE?
ME_XE?declare
  2     l_sort_column   varchar2(30) := 'OBJECT_NAME';
  3  begin
  4     open :rc for
  5             'select
  6                     object_name
  7             from
  8             (
  9                     select *
10                     from all_objects
11                     order by ' || l_sort_column || '
12             )
13             where rownum <= 2';
14  end;
15  /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
Elapsed: 00:00:00.02
ME_XE?
ME_XE?print :rc;
OBJECT_NAME
A1
A2
2 rows selected.
Elapsed: 00:00:01.67Edited by: Tubby on Feb 8, 2012 4:21 PM
I actually found a better resource for you, please give this a read
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/issue-archive/o44asktom-089519.html
starting at "Order Anything"