How to Validate a Portal Form field from the database

Question

I created a Portal Form based on a procedure, which requires three parameters. One of the parameters is Item Number. I need to check if the Item Number exists in database. I am trying to use pl/sql button event handler, where I try to use the select count(*) statement to verify. However, I don't know how to reference the form field in the where clause. Please advise. Or is it possible to achieve this by creating a javascript? If you go to 'Shared Component' provider and click on javascript, you will see some system validation scripts, which you can call in the form level validation. My doubts with javascipt is how I can talk to database in the script? Any input is appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi,
You cannot access the DB from the script. If you want to access the values of a field you should use session variables. Here is a sample to access the values of a form field.
declare
ticket_no varchar2(20);
flight_no varchar2(20);
blk varchar2(30) := 'DEFAULT';
begin
ticket_no := p_session.get_value_as_varchar2(
p_block_name => blk,
p_attribute_name => 'A_TICKET_NO');
flight_no := p_session.get_value_as_varchar2(
p_block_name => blk,
p_attribute_name => 'A_FLIGHT_NO');
end;
Thanks,
Sharmila