Problem with create_collection_from_query (bug?)

Question

Hi all,
I seem to be having a wierd problem with CREATE_COLLECTION_FROM_QUERY.
I'm using LDAP (AD) Authentication, and I stole the ldap_query() function out of John Scott's book.
I have an after authentication process where I query the LDAP to extract extra information from AD to populate/update a local user repository table. With most users, this all works fine. Howevere, with account I have, it isnt' populating the collection and returning 'NO DATA FOUND'.
Early in the process, I take the userid and password to create a string which I call v_string.
Then, I call:
APEX_COLLECTION.CREATE_COLLECTION_FROM_QUERY (
p_collection_name => 'MAIN_MENU_COLLECTION',
p_query => 'SELECT attribute_name, attribute_value
FROM table (ldap_query ('''
|| v_string
|| '''))'
As I said, this works fine for all users so far except one, which has a hyphen in it "-". Is there some kind of 'behind the scenes' magic happening with create_collection_from_query that allows the collection to be created but not populated? If I run the ldap_query from SQL (and supply the right credentials), it works as expected and returns around 8 rows. But, when I try to use it for a collection for this one user account, the collection is created but no members exist for it.
Thanks,
Bill Ferguson

Answer 1

For some reason I am still having some wierd problems, and evidently it is not restricted to accounts with a hypen.
Here is what I've discovered and done so far.
I went into AD and created a new test user account without a hypen. I then tried to login as that new user and while I got into the application, nothing was inserted into foo (per John's suggestion above). NOTE: Just to make sure nothing is being carried over, I always stop and then restart a new browser instance.
I then tried logging in as myself. Succes all the way around. (stop and restart browser)
I tried again as myself with a bad password. No luck, got the 'Invalid Credentials' message. Tried with good password, it works. (stop and restart again)
I tried with the new test account without a hyphen. Got into application, but nothing in foo. (stop and restart)
I tried with my 'hypenated' account. Same thing, got into application, but nothing in foo. (stop and restart)
I tried the same two as above, but with bad passwords. Got the 'Invalid Credentials' message, then with real password, was able to get in but nothing in foo.
Added in some logging routines and other tests into the post-authentication process. When it fails, it's because :P101_PASSWORD is null. For my regular account that works, no message is returned.
So, I'm really confused now. Obviously it is authenticating, since I don't get the 'Invalid Credentials' message, so why is :P101_PASSWORD somehow getting nulled out for some account logins (after authenticating), but not others?
Here is the beginning of my post authentication process:
DECLARE
   v_usercode   PLS_INTEGER;
   v_section    VARCHAR2 (1000) := NULL;
   v_test       VARCHAR2 (1000) := NULL;
   v_pwd        VARCHAR2 (20);
   v_string     VARCHAR2 (1000);
   bresult      BOOLEAN := FALSE;
BEGIN
   BEGIN
      v_pwd := :P101_PASSWORD;
      IF LENGTH (v_pwd) IS NULL
      THEN
         log_error (' 1. authentication, null password',
                    SQLCODE || ' - ' || SUBSTR (SQLERRM, 1, 3900));
      END IF;
   EXCEPTION
      WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND
      THEN
         log_error (' .5. authentication, begin, NO_DATA_FOUND error',
                    SQLCODE || ' - ' || SUBSTR (SQLERRM, 1, 3900));
      WHEN OTHERS
      THEN
         log_error (' .5. authentication, begin,  others error',
                    SQLCODE || ' - ' || SUBSTR (SQLERRM, 1, 3900));
   END;
   BEGIN
      DELETE FROM   foo
            WHERE   username = v ('APP_USER');
   EXCEPTION
      WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND
      THEN
         log_error (' 2. authentication, delete, NO_DATA_FOUND error',
                    SQLCODE || ' - ' || SUBSTR (SQLERRM, 1, 3900));
      WHEN OTHERS
      THEN
         log_error (' 2. authentication, delete,  others error',
                    SQLCODE || ' - ' || SUBSTR (SQLERRM, 1, 3900));
   END;
   BEGIN
      INSERT INTO foo
         SELECT   attribute_name, attribute_value, v ('APP_USER')
           FROM   table (ldap_query (v ('APP_USER'), v_pwd)), DUAL;So, right away I'm checking for if :P101_PASSWORD is null and when it's not working, it says it is null, but somehow it is also authenticating correctly.
I'm totally confused (once again). Any help or advice?
Thanks,
Bill Ferguson