Procedure code correction

Question

Dear all,
I would like to request your help inthis peace of code:
I have a procedure to parse mail attachments:
PROCEDURE ParseAttachment(Attachments IN ATTACHMENTS_LIST,
AttachmentList OUT VARCHAR2) IS
AttachmentSeparator CONSTANT VARCHAR2(12) := '///';
BEGIN
IF Attachments.First IS NOT NULL AND Attachments.COUNT > 0 THEN
AttachmentList := Attachments(1).Attachments;
-- scan the collection if there is more than one element. If there
-- is not, skip the next part for parsing elements 2 and above. If there
-- is, skip the first element since it has been already processed
IF Attachments.COUNT > 1 THEN
FOR I IN Attachments.NEXT(Attachments.FIRST) .. Attachments.LAST
LOOP
AttachmentList := AttachmentList || AttachmentSeparator ||
Attachments(I).Attachments;
END LOOP;
ELSE
-- whe have to terminate the list with the one element with  ///
AttachmentList := AttachmentList || AttachmentSeparator;
END IF;
ELSE
AttachmentList      := '';_
END IF;
END ParseAttachment;
The problem is that the peace of code marked in underline AttachmentList :='' , on debug has always a value of '///' instead of ' ' and this is causing a problem to run the procedure,i have tried many ways (substr, replace....) but seems no result , can anybody give me a hand please?

Answer 1

user562674 wrote:
IF Attachments.COUNT > 1 THEN
FOR I IN Attachments.NEXT(Attachments.FIRST) .. Attachments.LAST
Why?
Surely coding it along the following lines is far easier and requires less overhead calculations? And also, if you do not want a trailing separator, you can test that in the loop. For example:
for i in 1..attachments.Count
loop
  if i = attachments.Count then -- last value, no separator
     attachmentList := attachmentList || attachments(i);
  else
     attachmentList := attachmentList || attachments(i) || attachmentSeparator;
  end if;
end loop;If an attachment can be null and needs to be discarded from the attachment list, add a null check into the loop condition.