How to define a new parameter

Question

Hi,
I want to improve a search by defining a new parameter. This parameter will replace (1,2,3,4) which is show below.
.. documentid IN (1,2,3,4)
Is it possible to define such parameters in APEX/SQL? if so, how can I do it? (I have tried some possible solutions but I did not get a result.)
(Oracle 10.2, APEX 3.2)
Thanks in advance,
Sedso
Edited by: Sedso on Aug 6, 2011 12:49 PM

Answer 1

I suppose you are talking about a report, right? I see 2 potential problems to be worked around:
1- how to pass the comma in an URL parameter, without making APEX understanding it as a separator for multiple parameters?
if you're running the report from a branch in other page, just check the 'save before branching' property.
Otherwise you will have to escape the commas, replacing it by some other character (like a '*', for example) right before submitting the page - of course you will need to add a computation to decode the conversion made (from '*' back to ',') in your report, in a Before Page style.
You can find more sophisticated solution at http://rokitta.blogspot.com/2009/07/apex-fp-syntax-with-flexible-parameter.html
2- how to utilize the parameter in the context of your query?
I'd suggest to create a dynamic query, like in the tutorial http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/apex/dynamic-report-092026.html
The query could be something like:
declare
q varchar2(4000);
begin
q:=' select col1, ';
q:=q||' col2, ';
q:=q||' col3 ';
q:=q||' from tabela ';
q:=q||' where documentid IN ' ||:p_in_clause '; -- like '(1,2,3,4)'
return q;
end;