Passing #COLUMN_VALUE# as parameter to pl/sql function in column template

Question

Hi all,
I want to color negative amounts in red in sql report using column template.
I created a pl/sql function"isNegativeNum" which returns 1 or -1.
create or replace function isNegativeNum(p_column_value varchar2) return number
as
l_dummy number;
begin
      l_dummy := to_number(p_column_value,'999G999G990D00PR');
      IF l_dummy < 0
         THEN
            RETURN 1;
      else
            return -1;
      END IF;
exception
when others then
   RETURN -1;
end;Below is column template.
Column Template 1
<td class="t3dataalt" #ALIGNMENT#><p color=red>#COLUMN_VALUE#</p></td>Column Template 1 Condition
isNegativeNum('#COLUMN_VALUE#') = -1The issue is #COLUMN_VALUE# value is not being passed to the function, Insert statement in function reveals p_column_value as a string "#COLUMN_VALUE#". When I try without quotes like isNegativeNum(#COLUMN_VALUE#) = -1, I get below error.
ORA-06550: line 1, column 48: PLS-00103: Encountered the symbol "#" when expecting one of the following: ( ) - + case mod new not null others select table avg count current exists max min prior sql stddev sum variance execute multiset the both leading trailing forall merge year month DAY_ hour minute second timezone_hour timezone_minute timezone_region timezone_abbr time timestamp interval date
     Error      ERR-1025 Error processing PLSQL expression. isNegativeNum(#COLUMN_VALUE#) = 1
Any help is appreciated.
Kishore

Answer 1

Hi Kishore,
using #COLUMN_VALUE# would probably not make much sense, because normally a report has multiple columns and not just the numeric column which you want to verify if it's negative. But APEX will fire the template condition for each column, because the report template is a column cell template.
What you can do to make it more generic is to use for example
#CHECK_AMOUNT#
in the template and provide a not displayed column in your SQL statement which contains your value which is named CHECK_AMOUNT. For example:
SELECT NAME
     , BALANCE
     , BALANCE AS CHECK_AMOUNT
FROM XXX;Because this CHECK_AMOUNT column would be a generic name, you can use this template in all your reports as long as you provide this column.
Thope that helps
Patrick