How to use a parameter with Order By?

Question

I am trying to pass in a parameter to a procedure (like 'ColumnName ASC, ColumnName DESC') to use with ORDER BY, but I can't get it to order on the passed in parameter? I have read a few posts but non of my attempts have worked.
Procedure getEquipmentList(io_cursor OUT ref_cursor_Equipment), orderString IN VARCHAR2, RecordStart IN NUMBER, RecordEnd IN NUMBER) IS
Equipment_Cursor refCursor_Equipment;
Use_Order NUMBER := 1;
BEGIN
OPEN Equipment_Cursor
FOR SELECT *
FROM TABLE(
PACKAGE_EQUIPMENT.getRecordSetOfEquipment(
CURSOR(
SELECT * FROM (SELECT idEquipment, strEquipmentName, deletedFlag, Row_Number() OVER (ORDER BY DECODE(Use_Order, 1, orderString)) AS r FROM tblEquipment) WHERE r >= RecordStart AND r <= RecordEnd)));
io_cursor := Equipment_Cursor;
END;
If I replace orderString in the DECODE with say strEquipmentName it orders correctly. If I try 'strEquipmentName' then it does not work. Any ideas would be helpful.

Answer 1

SQL>
SQL> create or replace procedure test2(ord in varchar2)
2 is
3 TYPE TCUR IS REF CURSOR;
4 CUR TCUR;
5 v_name varchar2(30);
6 begin
7 open cur for 'select first_name from employees where rownum<=10 order by '||ord;
8 loop
9 fetch cur into v_name;
10 exit when cur%notfound;
11 dbms_output.put_line(v_name);
12 end loop;
13 end;
14 /
Procedure created
SQL> exec test2('employee_id');
Steven
Neena
Lex
Alexander
Bruce
David
Valli
Diana
Nancy
Daniel
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed
SQL> exec test2('salary');
Diana
Valli
David
Bruce
Daniel
Alexander
Nancy
Lex
Neena
Steven
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed
SQL>