How do I reference a field in form portlet?

Question

I created a simple form portlet in Oracle Portal using the wizard.
I want to execute a custom pl/sql query using simple select statement. (e.g. select emp from scott where ...)
I created a new Button item.
In the PL/SQL Button Event Handler I put the select statement.
Now I have 2 questions.
Question 1. Do I have to use the Query or Custom button.
Question 2. In either way I get PLS-00428: an INTO clause is expected in this SELECT statement.
I guess the fundamental question here is how do I reference a field in the form?

Answer 1

If I understand you correctly you want to click on the button and then display a value selected from the database, right?
1. You have to use the Custom button - query is exclusive for the form query.
2. You will have to select the value into an interim PL/SQL variable and then set the form field using the portal session attribute.
The following principles apply:
* To set a field you have to use code like
p_session.set_value(
p_block_name => 'DEFAULT',
p_attribute_name => 'A_RFS_ID',
p_value => 30);
p_session.save_session;
where
- p_session is available in most custom PL/SQL blocks - I'm not sure if its in the custom block for a button - this type of code is used mostly in the "cusom pl/sql before form is displayed" (last tab) - if its not available you might have to jump through some more hoops !:). It refers to a portal stored session that is used to store all the internal variables.
- block_name is either DEFAULT for simple forms or MASTER or DETAIL for master/detail forms
- p_attribute_name is the name of the field you want to set BUT (very important) prefixed with A_
- p_value is the actual value - here you will use your pl/sql variable.
so try something like:
l_number number;
select anumber into l_number from atable where ....;
p_session.set_value(
p_block_name => 'DEFAULT',
p_attribute_name => 'A_field1',
p_value => l_number);
p_session.save_session;