Export to Excel from Report region (pl/sql returning sql query)

Question

Hello all,
I have encountered an interesting problem. I have an HTMLDB application with a lot of sql reports coded straight inside the report region. In order to better organize my reports, I decided to
1. make all my report regions of type "Pl/Sql function returning SQL query"
2. create a package inside my database schema which houses all reports as pl/sql functions returning VARCHAR2, the string returned being the report query
3. just calling "return package_name.function_name" from inside my report region of type "Pl/sql function returning SQL query".
This technique seemed to work perfectly. The reports were being returned as expected. I was then asked to provide the "Export to Excel" capability to all my reports. This seemed like a piece of cake using HTML DB's "Export to Excel" extension. However, the "export to excel" does not function correctly when my reports are inside a package in the database. HTML DB tries to export but inside the excel spreadsheet, instead of seeing row data, I see:
<pre>failed to parse SQL query:
ORA-00936: missing expression
<!-- select a.username, b.table_name, 'View Row Data' from schema_browser_user_list a, all_tables b where a.user_id = and a.username = b.owner order by b.table_name asc
--!>
</pre>
I am building my query string inside of my package functions by using a combination of literal strings and concatenating them with some parameter values being passed in. It seems that the HTML DB engine which exports the report to excel does not properly understand the concatenation of variables as can be seen by the empty space to the right of the equal sign in the "a.user_id = " clause. Does anybody have any input as to whether this is a known issue or if I am doing something wrong? Thanks a lot for your time.
- Kenny R.

Answer 1

James,
Thanks for the quick reply. I think you mis-understood what I'm doing. All I'm doing is creating packaged functions which return VARCHAR2. The VARCHAR2 that they return is the report query. With this technique, I no longer have to type the query into the HTML DB report region. Instead, I make the report region a "Pl/sql function returning sql query" and make the following call: return package_name.function_name(some_application_items passed in as parameters)
This makes for a much more organized html db app. The problem is that the "export to excel" function does not correctly interpret the VARCHAR2 that my packaged functions are returning. Is this a better explanation? Thanks again for your time.
- Kenny R.