Sending email based on checked items in checkbox

Question

I have a page where a user checks all of the applications he wants to see updates on. Then when the people responsible for those applications create updates, I want to send an email to everyone who has checked that particular application.
I have tried the following options:
CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE vc_array_1 AS TABLE OF VARCHAR2 (50);
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION get_array (
p_array IN VARCHAR2,
p_delimiter IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT ':'
RETURN vc_array_1 PIPELINED
IS
v_delimiter VARCHAR2 (1) := p_delimiter;
v_string VARCHAR2 (400) := p_array || v_delimiter;
v_count NUMBER;
BEGIN
LOOP
EXIT WHEN v_string IS NULL;
v_count := INSTR (v_string, v_delimiter);
PIPE ROW (LTRIM (RTRIM (SUBSTR (v_string, 1, v_count - 1))));
v_string := SUBSTR (v_string, v_count + 1);
END LOOP;
RETURN;
END get_array;
to create an array, and then:
SELECT EMAIL
FROM EMP
WHERE APPLICATION IN (SELECT COLUMN_VALUE
FROM TABLE (get_array (:p7_APPLICATION)))
This one gives me no data found
If I change it to (SELECT APPLICATION FROM TABLE(get_array(:P7_APPLICATION)))
it sends it to everyone.
I have tried
SELECT EMAIL
from EMP
where INSTR(':'||:P7_APPLICATION||':',':'||APPLICATION||':')>0
and get no data found
Could someone, please stear me in the right direction?
We are using Oracle 10g with Apex 3.1.1
Thanks.

Answer 1

Bonnie,
When the user selects these checkboxes where and how are they stored? Is that what goes in the column EMP.APPLICATION?
The simplest way to look for values in a colon delimited array is like this
INSTR(':' || :P7_APPLICATION || ':', ':' || emp.application || ':') > 0
Your function is built like it is going to pipe rows of a cursor out but in reality it is just returning an array type. It might work if you remove the pipelined stuff.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION get_array (
p_array IN VARCHAR2,
p_delimiter IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT ':'
RETURN vc_array_1
IS
v_delimiter VARCHAR2 (1) := p_delimiter;
v_string VARCHAR2 (400) := p_array || v_delimiter;
v_count NUMBER;
-- add a type to return
l_get_array vc_array_1;
BEGIN
LOOP
EXIT WHEN v_string IS NULL;
v_count := INSTR (v_string, v_delimiter);
-- set the array value by position
l_get_array(v_count) := LTRIM (RTRIM (SUBSTR (v_string, 1, v_count - 1)));
v_string := SUBSTR (v_string, v_count + 1);
END LOOP;
RETURN l_get_array;
END get_array;
Greg