Report cannot access pl/sql table variable defined in Package Spec.

Question

Hi,
I've created a package spec called pkg_report with a PL/SQL table variable defined called body_text_table. When I tried to compile the following code under the Before Report trigger:
:desc := pkg_report.body_text_table(1);
Oracle gave me the following error:
Implementation Restriction: 'PKG_REPORT.BODY_TEXT_TABLE': Cannot directly access remote package variable or cursor.
Does anyone have any idea about this error? Thank you for your time at looking at it.
Regards,
John

Answer 1

You cannot directly access the package variable in a database package. The work around is to create a set_variable and get_variable wrapper function in the package body. See Metalink note 105838.1 for more info.
A simple example:
create or replace package my_package as
  my_var     number;
  function   get_variable return number ;
  procedure  set_variable (p_value in number) ;
end ;
create or replace package body my_package as
  function get_variable return number is
  begin
    return my_var;
  end ;
  procedure set_variable(p_value in number) is
  begin
    my_var := p_value ;
  end ;
end;