Maximum number of columns that can be inserted in a HTML DB form

Question

Hi
i am creating a new page - form on a table with a report. the table on which this form is being created contains 170 columns. but while creating the form i select this 170 columns and when i click finish, i get the following error
ORA-20001: Unable to create query and update page. ORA-12899: value too large for column "FLOWS_020000"."WWV_FLOW_PAGE_PLUGS"."PLUG_QUERY_COL_ALLIGNMENTS" (actual: 333, maximum: 255)
Error creating query and update
The maximum columns that can be selected is 128.
is there any way in which i can insert all the 170 columns.
Thanks,
Ameya

Answer 1

You have a table with 180 columns and ALL the 180 columns are NOT NULL?! That is a very, um, unusual table. You might want to revisit your data model.
You could store your form values in a HTML DB collection as you navigate thru the application. When all the mandatory values are filled in, provide a Save button that creates/updates your database table from the collection. Of course, a HTML DB collection can only store 50 columns, so you will need 4 collections.
The PK could just be a hidden form item on the first page. If you use the collection technique I suggest above, you dont really need to pass it from page to page, it is available in session state after the first page is submitted.
See
http://www.oracle.com/technology/oramag/oracle/05-jan/o15htmldb.html
for another approach that might help you. i.e. Store all the values in session state until the final page where you save them to the database.
Hope this helps.