How to identify rows to update on tabular form?

Question

Application Express 3.2.1.00.10
Hello!
I have a tabular form in my application that I created through the wizard. The form is based on a table with a primary key and a trigger to populate the next key upon insert, so as a result going through the wizard was not a problem. It created page processes for ApplyMRU, ApplyMRD, AddRows, etc. I'm curious how APEX knows which row is updated without the user having to select the checkbox and clicking Submit. It seems the checkbox is only for cases where the user wants to delete a record.
I want to be able to replicate this in another tabular form page which I am manually creating, although it will be based on a view without a PK (which I had to "fake" by concatenating unique identifying columns). In this form page, when I make attempt to make an update to a record, nothing happens in the database, unless I actually check a checkbox and click on Submit. How do I get around having the user to click off records to update? I want the form to just accept changes, and "know" which records to update in the table, similar to how APEX does it out of the box.
Any ideas? Thanks!

Answer 1

Denes,
I tried as you have suggested, but for some reason, it doesn't seem that any action is taking place. Either the column arrays are empty or apex_application.g_f01(i) does not have a value. I've verified that none of the records in the database have changed. Any ideas?
The Process Success Message is set to:
Changes successful. &P7_REC_UPDATE_COUNT. records updated.  &P7_REC_INSERT_COUNT. records inserted. ... and it shows Changes successful. 0 records updated. 0 records inserted.
This is the Page Process executed on submit of the "Submit" button:
DECLARE
  v_return  NUMBER;
  v_msgcode NUMBER;
  v_message VARCHAR2(250);
  v_row     BINARY_INTEGER;
  v_insert_cnt INTEGER := 0;
  v_update_cnt INTEGER := 0;
BEGIN
   FOR i IN 1..apex_application.g_f01.COUNT  LOOP
      IF  apex_application.g_f10(i) IS NOT NULL             -- CHECKSUM FIELD
         AND wwv_flow_item.md5 (apex_application.g_f01(i),   -- PK_COLUMNS
                                apex_application.g_f05(i),   -- org_code
                                apex_application.g_f07(i),   -- access_flag
                                apex_application.g_f08(i),   -- external_flag
                                apex_application.g_f09(i)   -- confid_ind
                               ) != apex_application.g_f10(i)
      THEN
      ROLLBACK;
      RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR(-20001,'Current version of data in database has changed '||
                               'since user initiated update process.');                      
      RETURN;
    END IF;
  END LOOP;
  FOR i IN 1..apex_application.g_f01.COUNT LOOP
   IF apex_application.g_f01(i) IS NOT NULL THEN
     -- update existing record if PK value exists
     USER_SEC_UPDATE (I_ACTION        => 'U',
                      I_WK            => apex_application.g_f02(i),
                      I_USER_ID       => apex_application.g_f03(i),
                      I_ORG_CODE      => apex_application.g_f05(i),
                      I_ACCESS_FLAG   => apex_application.g_f07(i),
                      I_EXTERNAL_FLAG => apex_application.g_f08(i),
                      I_RPT_LEVEL     => NULL,
                      I_CONFID_IND    => apex_application.g_f09(i),
                      O_RETURN        => v_return,
                      O_MSGCODE       => v_msgcode,
                      O_MESSAGE       => v_message);   
     v_update_cnt := v_update_cnt + 1;
   ELSE
     -- insert new record if PK value doesn't exist
     USER_SEC_UPDATE (I_ACTION        => 'I',
                      I_WK            => NULL,
                      I_USER_ID       => apex_application.g_f03(i),
                      I_ORG_CODE      => apex_application.g_f05(i),
                      I_ACCESS_FLAG   => apex_application.g_f07(i),
                      I_EXTERNAL_FLAG => apex_application.g_f08(i),
                      I_RPT_LEVEL     => NULL,
                      I_CONFID_IND    => apex_application.g_f09(i),
                      O_RETURN        => v_return,
                      O_MSGCODE       => v_msgcode,
                      O_MESSAGE       => v_message);   
     v_insert_cnt := v_insert_cnt + 1;              
   END IF;
  END LOOP;
  :P7_REC_UPDATE_COUNT :=  v_update_cnt;
  :P7_REC_INSERT_COUNT :=  v_insert_cnt;
END;