How to trap APEX_UTIL.SET_SESSION_STATE errors like ERR-1002?

Question

Hi team,
i noticed that when i call APEX_UTIL.SET_SESSION_STATE and the relevant page item or application item doesn't exist, this API procedure doesn't return a normal oracle exception but, i guess, it sets some status flag in the Apex engine that causes ERR-1002 to be reported. This is the behaviour i am seeing on Apex 3.1.2 and Apex 3.2.
Is there any way to work around this?
Thank you
Flavio
http://oraclequirks.blogspot.com

Answer 1

Yes I realised it... I think I read your original post too hastily!
I personally don't like tampering with code I don't have full access to... You never know if it will work with the next release or if you have covered all bases. So the solution I decided to use was to override the original apex function with my own (Apex 3.2):
  Checks whether a page item exists in the current application.
  Returns: TRUE if it does and FALSE otherwise.
  FUNCTION page_item_exists(p_name IN VARCHAR2) RETURN BOOLEAN IS
  BEGIN
    FOR r IN (SELECT i.item_name
              FROM   apex_application_page_items i
              WHERE  i.application_id = v('APP_ID')
              AND    i.item_name = upper(p_name))
    LOOP
      RETURN TRUE;
    END LOOP;
    RETURN FALSE;
  END;
  Set session state.
  Raises an exception if the item does not exist.
  PROCEDURE set_session_state(p_name  IN VARCHAR2,
                              p_value IN VARCHAR2) IS
  BEGIN
    IF NOT page_item_exists(p_name => p_name)
    THEN
      raise_application_error(-20000,
                              'Item ' || p_name || ' does not exist');
    ELSE
      apex_util.set_session_state(p_name => p_name, p_value => p_value);
    END IF;
  END;Luis