Forms 11gR1 with Database Package

Question

Hi everyone,
I'm asking this here, i need to know what i'm doing wrong.
I have a database package that contains pipiled record.
I want to use it in a form with forms builder.
if i do
select * from table(mypackage.myfunction());
in PL/SQL Developper, i get all what i except (list of record)
if i try to use this select in a CURSOR inside my form, i get error about SQL type not authorised
with my from table();
but if i use it with a populate_group_with_query, everything works perfectly.
So, there's a way i can use my package inside a form program unit?
Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

No, working with collection is not like the POPLUATE_GROUP_WITH_QUERY built-in because you have to write the code to process the rows and columns of the collection.  A collection, in Oracle, is essentially an Array.
To work with a collection, you have to create an object in your trigger PL/SQL to store the collection.  To do this you create a user defined TYPE and then create an object based on this type.  Take a look at the article, https://sites.google.com/site/craigsoraclestuff/oracle-forms---how-to-s/forms-procedure-based-block for an example of how to write a database package the uses a collection as the source of data for a Forms data block.
Base on this article, in your Forms trigger you would then create an object typed off of the package type T_EMPLOYEE.  Next, you call your database package and assign the collection to your trigger object.  Finally, you loop through the collection to perform the needed action on each row.  Here is an example of the basic code using the article above as an example:
/* sample code - for demonstration purposes */
/* code is untested */
DECLARE
  rec_employees   EMPLOYEE.T_EMPLOYEE;
BEGIN
  EMPLOYEE.EMP_SELECT(rec_employees);
  FOR idx in 1 .. rec_employees.COUNT LOOP
    -- now do something with each column in the row...
    rec_employees(idx).empno ...
    rec_employees(idx).ename ...
    rec_employees(idx).job ...
    etc...
  END LOOP;
END;
Hope this helps.
Craig...