How to use Associative Array in sql query?

Question

Hello,
I have a problem on using Associative Array variable on query; and my query is similar to the one below;
TYPE OTHERGENERICS IS TABLE OF NUMBER(10) INDEX BY BINARY_INTEGER;
othersGenerics OTHERGENERICS;
CURSOR cursor_othersGenerics IS
select master.GENERICCODEID
from ASMTRG_ARTICLEMASTER master
join ASMTRG_ARTICLEMAP map on MAP.ARTICLECODEID = MASTER.ID
group by MASTER.GENERICCODEID
minus
select FGG.GENERICCODEID
from asmtrg_icfocusgroup fg
join asmtrg_icfocusgrpchannel fgc on FGC.GROUPID = FG.ID and fgc.isactive=1
join asmtrg_icfocusgengroup fgg on FGG.GROUPID = FG.ID and FGg.ISACTIVE=1
where fgc.channelid=1 and fg.isactive = 1
group by FGG.GENERICCODEID;
BEGIN
OPEN cursor_othersGenerics;
FETCH cursor_othersGenerics BULK COLLECT INTO othersGenerics;
CLOSE cursor_othersGenerics;
SELECT icfrd.*,
CASE
WHEN EXISTS(select ta.genericcodeid from <???XXX???> ta where ta.genericcodeid = icfgrp.genericcodeid) THEN -1
ELSE icfrd.icfgroupid
END CLASSIFICATION
FROM ASMTRGVIW_ICFOCUSREPORTDATA icfrd
LEFT JOIN ASMTRG_ICFOCUSGROUP icfgrp on icfrd.ICFGROUPID = icfgrp.ID
WHERE (channelId IS NULL OR icfrd.CHANNELID = channelId)
AND (asmCodeId IS NULL OR icfrd.ASMCODEID = asmCodeId)
AND (yearId IS NULL OR icfrd.YEARID = yearId)
AND (monthId IS NULL OR icfrd.MONTHID = monthId)
END;
By the way this is a part of my function.
The "othersGenerics" is my associative array variable and <???XXX???> is the place where I need to use my "othersGenerics" array to check. So far I've tried
"select ta.genericcodeid from table(cast(otherGenerics as OTHERGENERICS)) ta where ta.genericcodeid = icfgrp.genericcodeid",
"select ta.genericcodeid from table(otherGenerics) ta where ta.genericcodeid = icfgrp.genericcodeid",
"select ta.genericcodeid from otherGenerics ta where ta.genericcodeid = icfgrp.genericcodeid"
and these are not working.
What is your suggestions?

Answer 1

Your type will have to be created as an independent object in your schema. So CREATE TYPE cannot be in your function declaration, it has to be outside it. (And then the line inside your declaration that defines the type will have to be removed.)
But now I can see that you use this array as a kind of "temporary lookup table" - you populate the array and then use it for lookup in your select statement. An alternative way of doing this could be like this completely without arrays:
with othergenerics as (
  select master.GENERICCODEID
  from ASMTRG_ARTICLEMASTER master
  join ASMTRG_ARTICLEMAP map on MAP.ARTICLECODEID = MASTER.ID
  group by MASTER.GENERICCODEID
  minus
  select FGG.GENERICCODEID
  from asmtrg_icfocusgroup fg
  join asmtrg_icfocusgrpchannel fgc on FGC.GROUPID = FG.ID and fgc.isactive=1
  join asmtrg_icfocusgengroup fgg on FGG.GROUPID = FG.ID and FGg.ISACTIVE=1
  where fgc.channelid=1 and fg.isactive = 1
  group by FGG.GENERICCODEID
SELECT icfrd.*,
CASE
WHEN EXISTS(select ta.genericcodeid from othergenerics ta where ta.genericcodeid = icfgrp.genericcodeid) THEN -1
ELSE icfrd.icfgroupid
END CLASSIFICATION
FROM ASMTRGVIW_ICFOCUSREPORTDATA icfrd
LEFT JOIN ASMTRG_ICFOCUSGROUP icfgrp on icfrd.ICFGROUPID = icfgrp.ID
WHERE (channelId IS NULL OR icfrd.CHANNELID = channelId)
AND (asmCodeId IS NULL OR icfrd.ASMCODEID = asmCodeId)
AND (yearId IS NULL OR icfrd.YEARID = yearId)
AND (monthId IS NULL OR icfrd.MONTHID = monthId)
...The with clause (subquery factoring) you can think of as a kind of temp table called othergenerics created "on-the-fly".
The optimizer may decide to actually create a temp table for you and use in the lookup, or it may decide to rewrite the query into suitable joins or nested loops or hashing - whatever the optimizer decides will be the optimal way of doing things :-)
So unless you use your array other places in your function, I would recommend dropping the array completely, skip populating an array, and instead use a with clause for your temporary lookup.