Newbie: Trying to write PL/SQL that is dynamic based on data

Question

Hi everyone,
I was wondering how I would go about writing a report that outer joins based on data from the main table? Here is what I wanna do in pseudo-sql:
SELECT
     b.po_number,
a.ht_code,
     b.figure_no,
     b.order_number,
     a.supplier_no,
b.cert_date,
b.plant
FROM header b, part_spec a
where ...
begin:
project = '' /* initialize project */
/* The table to get the project value for the report is named ORDER01 or ORDER02 or ... */
/* It is the word ORDER concatenated with the plant value above. */
select project from 'ORDER' || :PLANT;
END;
How would I do this with APEX 2.0?
I've successfully used APEX to generate SQL Query reports (REGION) but never PL/SQL.
Your help is appreciated,
FerrisWheel
Edited by: FerrisWheel on Dec 15, 2009 10:13 AM
Edited by: FerrisWheel on Dec 15, 2009 10:14 AM
Edited by: FerrisWheel on Dec 15, 2009 10:14 AM

Answer 1

OK, Thanks for the quick feedback. Here is a quick generic SQL I wrote up to show my goal using your suggestion. Notice the ERP_ORDERHDR and plant values in each of the SQLs below.
SELECT b.cust_po_no,
a.ht_code,
     b.item_no,
     b.ERP_ORDER_NO,
     a.supplier_code,
b.cert_date,
c.prj
FROM CERT_HDR b, PART_DETL a, ERP_ORDERHDR011 c
WHERE plant = 1
AND a.cert_no = b.cert_no
AND a.cert_no like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_cert_no) || '%%%'
AND b.cust_po_no like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_cust_po_no) || '%%%'
AND a.ht_code like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_ht_code) || '%%%'
AND b.item_no like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_item_no) || '%%%'
AND b.ERP_ORDER_NO like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_sales_order) || '%%%'
AND (b.cert_date BETWEEN :P1_DATE_FROM AND :P1_DATE_TO)
AND c.orno (+) = b.ERP_ORDER_NO
AND c.prj like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_project) || '%%%'
UNION ALL
SELECT      b.cust_po_no,
a.ht_code,
     b.item_no,
     b.ERP_ORDER_NO,
     a.supplier_code,
b.cert_date,
c.prj
FROM CERT_HDR b, PART_DETL a, ERP_ORDERHDR012 c
WHERE plant = 2
AND a.cert_no = b.cert_no
AND a.cert_no like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_cert_no) || '%%%'
AND b.cust_po_no like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_cust_po_no) || '%%%'
AND a.ht_code like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_ht_code) || '%%%'
AND b.item_no like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_item_no) || '%%%'
AND b.ERP_ORDER_NO like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_sales_order) || '%%%'
AND (b.cert_date BETWEEN :P1_DATE_FROM AND :P1_DATE_TO)
AND c.orno (+) = b.ERP_ORDER_NO
AND c.prj like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_project) || '%%%'
UNION ALL
SELECT      b.cust_po_no,
a.ht_code,
     b.item_no,
     b.ERP_ORDER_NO,
     a.supplier_code,
b.cert_date,
c.prj
FROM CERT_HDR b, PART_DETL a, ERP_ORDERHDR014 c
WHERE (plant = 4 or plant = 5 or plant = 8)
AND a.cert_no = b.cert_no
AND a.cert_no like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_cert_no) || '%%%'
AND b.cust_po_no like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_cust_po_no) || '%%%'
AND a.ht_code like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_ht_code) || '%%%'
AND b.item_no like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_item_no) || '%%%'
AND b.ERP_ORDER_NO like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_sales_order) || '%%%'
AND (b.cert_date BETWEEN :P1_DATE_FROM AND :P1_DATE_TO)
AND c.orno (+) = b.ERP_ORDER_NO
AND c.prj like '%%%' || UPPER(:p1_project) || '%%%'
and this would go on for up to 4 more unions. Is there a way to use PL/SQL to make it more clean? Another issue I have with the above is that the c.orno field that I try to outer join is not numeric whereas the b.ERP_ORDER_NO is numeric. I can to_char(c.orno) but how do I do that and still have an outer join? If I can use PL/SQL, I hope to be able to better control the output and eliminate the unions.
I hope this is enough information.
Thanks,
FerrisWheel