Query By Example search in Uppercase (value only)

Question

Hi,
I am using Jdev 11.1.1.6.
I need to allow users to use QBE on table (wrapped by PanelCollection) using case-insensitive search.
My application stores everything in uppercase, so there is no need to put UPPER on database column. So I am looking for solution to only uppercase value entered by user.
I found one old post by Steve Muench here[http://radio-weblogs.com/0118231/2004/04/16.html#a276]
private void adjustStringViewCriteriaToUppercaseWildcards() {
    ViewCriteria vc = getViewCriteria();
    if (vc != null) {
      ViewCriteriaRow vcr = (ViewCriteriaRow)vc.first();
      AttributeDef[] attrs = vc.getViewObject().getAttributeDefs();
      int attrCount = attrs.length;
      while (vcr != null) {
        for (int z = 0; z < attrCount; z++) {
          if (attrs[z].getSQLType() == Types.VARCHAR ) {
            String criteria = (String)vcr.getAttribute(z);
            if (criteria != null) {
              vcr.setAttribute(z,criteria.toUpperCase()+"%");
        vcr = (ViewCriteriaRow)vc.next();
  }Steve suggested to put this method in custom ViewObjectImpl and called from getViewCriteriaClause(), something like this:
public String getViewCriteriaClause() {
    adjustEnameViewCriteriaToUppercaseWildcards();
    return super.getViewCriteriaClause();
  }I noticed that getViewCriteriaClause() has been deprecated in 11gR1, so I instead implemented it in getViewCriteriaClause(boolean b).
The problem is that first statement ViewCriteria vc = getViewCriteria(); returns null. My view object does not have any View Criteria. I was expecting the temp VC that is attached by framework during QBE.
I modified the code to this:
        ViewCriteria[] vcs = getApplyViewCriterias(ViewCriteria.CRITERIA_MODE_QUERY | ViewCriteria.CRITERIA_MODE_CACHE);
        if (vcs != null && vcs.length > 0) {
            for (ViewCriteria vc : vcs) {
                if (vc != null) {
                    ViewCriteriaRow vcr = (ViewCriteriaRow)vc.first();
                    AttributeDef[] attrs =
                        vc.getViewObject().getAttributeDefs();
                    int attrCount = attrs.length;
                    while (vcr != null) {
                        for (int z = 0; z < attrCount; z++) {
                            if (attrs[z].getSQLType() == Types.VARCHAR) {
                                String criteria = (String)vcr.getAttribute(z);
                                if (criteria != null) {
                                    vcr.setAttribute(z,
                                                     criteria.toUpperCase());
                        vcr = (ViewCriteriaRow)vc.next();
        }Now I see that, it is getting the VC and executing vcr.setAttribute(z,criteria.toUpperCase()); on the value that I entered during search but still matched rows are not retrieved.
When I explicitly put the value in Uppercase on UI then it returns the correct rows.
What am I doing wrong here? What else do I need to handle here? Is there another way to achieve my usecase?
Note: If I do vc.setUpperColumns(true) then it returns all rows matching search criteria but the statement is executed with UPPER on both sides of where clause, which is desired behavior but something I don't want as it will not use any index on that column.
Thanks,
Jai

Answer 1

Thanks for the info Timo.
I did not mention it explicitly but I need this for entire application. I don't need this for my declared bind variables, which are already taking care, but for QBE provided by PanelCollection component where framework attaches temp bind variables. So I don't know the bind variable name to set their values.
Do you know how to achieve using the method you mentioned in your post?
Update on Steve's method:
When I tried to test it using BC Tester (as the post suggests for testing), it worked. Here is what the post says:
To test out your work, you can use the Business Components Tester tool that's built-into JDeveloper (right-mouse Test... on your application module in the navigator).
When viewing your view object, their is a "Specify View Criteria" toolbar button that allows you to enter one or more rows of View Criteria query-by-example criteria.It does not work when I invoke QBE from UI using PanelCollection filter component. At that time, first statement [i.e. ViewCriteria vc = getViewCriteria();], in the helper method returns NULL.
I thought the solution is meant for BC Tester as well as UI but since the post is very old [2004], I am not sure if something has changed on the framework side, which is breaking the logic for UI.
Question: What is causing this not to work from UI? How can I tweak this method to make it work from UI?
Any help is appreciated here.
Thanks,
Jai