ORA-14551 Call to a proc that performs INSERT from within a FUNCTION

Question

Anyone,
I have written a number of functions that serve to convert an old_value to a new_value. But there are some times when the conversion fails. I wish to log those exceptions into a table and move on. I undertand FUNCTIONS are not to insert data but that is why I created a PROC and want to be able to call it from within the FUNCTIONs.
Is there any way to get around the ORA-14551 error?
Here is what I have:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION MAXIMO.fcn_get_worktype
  ( worktype_IN IN varchar2,
    siteid_IN IN varchar2)
  RETURN  varchar2 IS
  var_worktype varchar2(5);
BEGIN
     IF siteid_IN IN ('ML','OK','BE') THEN
        BEGIN
             SELECT NVL(NEW_WTYPE,NULL)
            INTO var_worktype
             FROM MAXIMO.MAX411_WBK_WORKTYPE$
             WHERE OLD_WTYPE = worktype_IN;
        EXCEPTION
            WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND THEN
                MAXIMO.SP_CONVERSION_EXCEPTION('WORKTYPE', 'WORKTYPE', worktype_IN, siteid_IN);
                var_worktype := 'XX';
                 RETURN var_worktype;
        END;
    END IF;
    RETURN var_worktype ;
END;And here is my PROC:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE MAXIMO.sp_conversion_exception (table_IN IN VARCHAR2, column_IN IN VARCHAR2, value_IN IN VARCHAR2, tab_ID IN VARCHAR2)
IS
BEGIN
    INSERT INTO MAXIMO.MAX411_CONVERSION_EXCEPTIONS
         ( TABLE_NAME,
         COLUMN_NAME,
         VALUE ,
          TAB_ID)
    VALUES
         ( table_IN,
         column_IN,
         value_IN,
          tab_ID );
    EXCEPTION
        /* If value was already recorded then do not record again, Key is on all three columns */
        WHEN DUP_VAL_ON_INDEX
            THEN
                NULL;
    COMMIT;
END;Can anyone shed any light on how I can stop getting:
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-14551: cannot perform a DML operation inside a query
ORA-06512: at "MAXIMO.SP_CONVERSION_EXCEPTION", line 5
ORA-06512: at "MAXIMO.FCN_GET_WORKTYPE", line 16
ORA-01403: no data found
ORA-06512: at "MAXIMO.LOAD_PM", line 181
ORA-06512: at line 1
Thanks in advance for any help I can get...
Miller

Answer 1

You need a PRAGMA AUTONOMOUS_TRANSACTION in your exception procedure, eg:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE MAXIMO.sp_conversion_exception (table_IN IN VARCHAR2, column_IN IN VARCHAR2, value_IN IN VARCHAR2, tab_ID IN VARCHAR2)
IS
  PRAGMA AUTONOMOUS_TRANSACTION
BEGIN
  ...