Procedure to Normalize Flat File Structure

Question

Hi,
I'm trying to write a procedure that essentially takes a table with Customers Orders that are in a flat file format...ie customer_id, order_no1, order_no2...etc. and normalize it so that it looks like this: customer_id, order_no, order_cd.
Here's my procedure that doesn't seem to work in that it starts and customer order_no1 and inserts all records but the counter doesn't increment to order_no2, order_no3, etc.
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE NORMALIZE_ORDERS(
pSTART_DT IN varchar2
, pEND_DT IN varchar2
AUTHID CURRENT_USER IS
BEGIN
DECLARE
loop_beg_dt varchar2(20) := pSTART_DT;
loop_end_dt varchar2(20) := pEND_DT;
intX number := 1;
insert_orders varchar2(5000) := 'insert /*+ append */ into customer_orders_normalized '
||'(customer_id, order_no, order_cd, order_type) '
||'select customer_id,'|| intX ||', order_cd'||to_char( intX) ||' order_type'|| to_char( intX)
||' from customer_orders_flat where order_cd'|| to_char( intX) ||' is not null '
||'AND order_dt >= :1 and order_dt < :2';
BEGIN
LOOP
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE insert_orders using loop_beg_dt, loop_end_dt;
COMMIT;
intX := intX+1;
exit when intX > 25;
END LOOP;
END;
END NORMALIZE_ORDERS;
Essentially, instead of writing 25 insert statements for 25 possible orders for each customer, I want one insert statement with a loop that increments until the 25th order is inserted. So it looks like below:
insert /*+ append */ into customer_orders_normalized
(customer_id, order_no, order_cd, order_type)
select customer_id,1,order_no1,order_cd1,order_type1
from customer_orders_flat where order_cd1 is not null
AND order_dt >= '01-apr-2010' and order_dt < '01-apr-2011';
insert /*+ append */ into customer_orders_normalized
(customer_id, order_no, order_cd, order_type)
select customer_id,2,order_no2,order_cd2,order_type2
from customer_orders_flat where order_cd2 is not null
AND order_dt >= '01-apr-2010' and order_dt < '01-apr-2011';
Sorry, I realize I need to enclose my sql in tags but the help option doesn't tell me what tags I need to use for the sql code so my apologies, if someone can provide me with the necessary tags when I do insert sql into my message, I would appreciate it.
Thanks,
Ed

Answer 1

http://wikis.sun.com/display/Forums/Forums+FAQ => scroll down to "Are there any useful formatting options not shown on the sidebar? "
Is is bad to COMMIT inside LOOP
What exactly are you LOOPing on?
You do NOT require EXECUTE IMMEDIATE; just load variables with new/different values