Invoking a function

Question

Hi I have created a function to check the GUID format of the column in a table like this:
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE guid_pkg
IS
SUBTYPE guid_t IS NUMBER(38);
SUBTYPE formatted_guid_t IS VARCHAR2 (38);
c_mask CONSTANT formatted_guid_t:= '{________-____-____-____-____________}';
FUNCTION is_formatted_guid (string_in IN VARCHAR2) RETURN BOOLEAN;
END guid_pkg;
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY guid_pkg
IS
FUNCTION is_formatted_guid (string_in IN VARCHAR2)
RETURN BOOLEAN
IS
BEGIN
RETURN string_in LIKE c_mask;
END is_formatted_guid;
END guid_pkg;
With this, when I try to execute the function is_formatted_guid from SQL prompt like
SQL> select guid_pkg.is_formatted_guid ('{B33204AD-ADDB-4CC6-87F2-2D0D13594F7C}') from dual;
I am getting errors like "ORA-06553: PLS-382: expression is of wrong type ". Is it bcoz of BOOLEAN type is not recognized in SQL ? If then I tried with return type VARCHAR2 but still the same problem.
Can you help in this matter plz.
Thanks,
Aashish S.

Answer 1

CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE guid_pkg
IS
  SUBTYPE guid_t IS NUMBER(38);
  SUBTYPE formatted_guid_t IS VARCHAR2 (38);
  c_mask CONSTANT formatted_guid_t:= '{________-____-____-____-____________}';
  FUNCTION is_formatted_guid (string_in IN VARCHAR2) RETURN Binary_Integer; -- CHANGE YOUR CODE HERE, NOT BOOLEAN
END guid_pkg;
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY guid_pkg
IS
FUNCTION is_formatted_guid (string_in IN VARCHAR2)
RETURN Binary_Integer -- CHANGE YOUR CODE HERE, NOT BOOLEAN
IS
BEGIN
  if string_in LIKE c_mask then
    return 1; *-- FOR TRUE*
  else
    return 0; *-- FOR FALSE*
  end if;
END is_formatted_guid;
END guid_pkg;by the way i am not sure but your condition "string_in LIKE c_mask" will not work. you should use regular expressions.
Edited by: Mustafa KALAYCI on 04.Eki.2010 05:10