How to 'flatten' a varray

Question

Hi,
I have a varray(3) of number and I would like a member procedure or function to return the 3 numbers as columns of a view definition. So, the object table looks something like
CREATE TYPE COORDINATES_L AS VARRAY(3) OF NUMBER;
CREATE TYPE THINGY AS OBJECT
(NAME VARCHAR2(256),
COORDINATES COORDINATES_L);/
CREATE TABLE THINGY_T OF THINGY;
Now what I want is a view that looks like:
CREATE VIEW THINGY_VIEW (NAME, X, Y, Z) OF THINGY_T;
I assume that I can do this with a member procedure or function, as I'm fairly sure that a select statement couldn't return those values to me.
Any help?
Thanks,
Cameron

Answer 1

When in doubt test and see. Yes, it works with null values:
scott@ORA92> CREATE TYPE COORDINATES_L AS VARRAY(3) OF NUMBER
  2  /
Type created.
scott@ORA92> CREATE TYPE THINGY AS OBJECT
  2    (NAME         VARCHAR2(256),
  3       COORDINATES COORDINATES_L);
  4  /
Type created.
scott@ORA92> CREATE TABLE THINGY_T OF THINGY
  2  /
Table created.
scott@ORA92> INSERT INTO thingy_t
  2  VALUES ('thing1', coordinates_l (1, 2, 3))
  3  /
1 row created.
scott@ORA92> INSERT INTO thingy_t
  2  VALUES ('thing2', coordinates_l (4, 5, NULL))
  3  /
1 row created.
scott@ORA92> INSERT INTO thingy_t
  2  VALUES ('thing3', coordinates_l (6, 7, 8))
  3  /
1 row created.
scott@ORA92> CREATE VIEW THINGY_VIEW
  2    (NAME, X, Y, Z)
  3  AS
  4  SELECT t1.name, t1.cv1, t2.cv2, t3.cv3
  5  FROM   (SELECT name, c.column_value cv1,
  6                ROW_NUMBER () OVER (PARTITION BY name ORDER BY ROWNUM) rn
  7            FROM   THINGY_T, TABLE (coordinates) c) t1,
  8           (SELECT name, c.column_value cv2,
  9                ROW_NUMBER () OVER (PARTITION BY name ORDER BY ROWNUM) rn
10            FROM   THINGY_T, TABLE (coordinates) c) t2,
11           (SELECT name, c.column_value cv3,
12                ROW_NUMBER () OVER (PARTITION BY name ORDER BY ROWNUM) rn
13            FROM   THINGY_T, TABLE (coordinates) c) t3
14  WHERE  t1.name = t2.name
15  AND    t1.name = t3.name
16  AND    t2.name = t3.name
17  AND    t1.rn = 1
18  AND    t2.rn = 2
19  AND    t3.rn = 3
20  /
View created.
scott@ORA92> COLUMN name FORMAT A15
scott@ORA92> SELECT * FROM thingy_view
  2  /
NAME                     X          Y          Z
thing1                   1          2          3
thing2                   4          5
thing3                   6          7          8