Oracle 11g Table function returns no records on first call

Question

Hello,
On a Oracle 11g R2 I've a table function ( PIPELINED ) returning rows selected from a table.
The first time the function is selected, in a session ( I've tried to disconnect and log in again ), it returns no rows.
I've tried to log the call using DBMS_OUTPUT and from what I see the select on the table function returns no rows and no output is printed. So I presume Oracle is not calling the function.
The same function on a similar environment ( same db versions, patches and database structure ) works fine. The second environment is a production environment so it has more memory and some other settings enabled.
Does anyone know of settings that can relate to this behaviour ?
Thanks in advance for the help.
Regards,
Stefano Muret

Answer 1

Thank you for answering so fast.
Here's the function code:
FUNCTION template_parameters (iTemplate IN TEMPLATE_RAW_DATA.TMPL_ID%TYPE := NULL)
RETURN table_type_tmpl_parameters PIPELINED
IS
li_exception INTEGER DEFAULT -20025;
POUT_PARM TABLE_TYPE_TMPL_PARAMETERS;
lt_parms table_type_tmpl_parms_raw;
sParmCheck VARCHAR2(4000);
iOccurrence INTEGER;
BEGIN
pOut_Parm := table_type_tmpl_parameters();
pOut_Parm.EXTEND;
select
tmpl_id
*,tmpl_name*
*,replace(upper(trim(sql_out)),'[SCHEMA].')*
*,UPPER(TRIM(out_tmpl_parms))*
bulk collect into lt_parms
from ref_templates
where tmpl_id = NVL(iTemplate,tmpl_id)
order by tmpl_id;
FOR k IN 1..lt_parms.COUNT
LOOP
pOut_Parm(1).tmpl_id := lt_parms(k).tmpl_id;
pOut_Parm(1).tmpl_name := lt_parms(k).tmpl_name;
FOR i IN 1..2
LOOP
IF i = 1 THEN
sParmCheck := lt_parms(k).sql_out;
ELSE
sParmCheck := lt_parms(k).sql_parms;
END IF;
iOccurrence := 1;
*pOut_Parm(1).parameter_name := regexp_substr(sParmCheck,'\[[^\[]+\]',1,iOccurrence);*
WHILE pOut_Parm(1).parameter_name IS NOT NULL
LOOP
PIPE ROW (pOut_Parm(1));
iOccurrence := iOccurrence + 1;
*pOut_Parm(1).parameter_name := regexp_substr(sParmCheck,'\[[^\[]+\]',1,iOccurrence);*
END LOOP;
END LOOP;
END LOOP;
RETURN;
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR(li_exception,SUBSTR(SQLERRM,1,1000));
RETURN;
END template_parameters;
This function is part of a package.
The data on both environments is the same.