Separate flattened data with unknown number of columns

Hi
I am working on a runbook for a customer which returns the number of windows updates in a software update group and sends an email. Currently only the update title is returned from the SQL query and that activity is flattened with line breaks to give a nice
format in the email.
What I would like to be able to do is add the links from the windows updates into the email as well but due to the flatten earlier I can't seem to get the output format right to have the format of:
updatename, link to update
for each update returned. I would think some form of .net activity would be able to get around this by putting the data into a table but not sure where to start.
Thanks

This is the query that I am using:
SELECT WinUpdate.Title, WinUpdate.InfoURL FROM v_UpdateInfo UpdateGroup
INNER JOIN v_CIRelation ON UpdateGroup.CI_ID=v_CIRelation.FromCIID
INNER JOIN v_updateinfo WinUpdate ON v_CIRelation.ToCIID=WinUpdate.CI_ID
WHERE UpdateGroup.title = 'Software Update Group Name'
Which when flattened with line breaks and put into a rich text format email produces:
Update for Windows Server 2012 (KB2934016);http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2934016
Update for Windows Server 2012 (KB2928678);http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2928678
Security Update for Windows Server 2012 (KB2922229);http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2922229
I've not got a problem getting the information but the email format doesn't have the web links as hyperlinks. Trying to separate them is then a problem as I can't use the Field data manipulation due to not knowing the number of results that are returned.

Similar Messages

Get a table from XML with unknown number of columns

Guys, I'm looking if it is possible to get the following result:
imagine I have an XML like one of the following (it doesn't matter which one, I just give a few examples for you to have a choice). The main idea, that there are described several columns and values for 1 row of these columns, e.g.:
SQL> with t as (select
2 ' <column>
3    <name>col1</name>
4    <value>100</value>
5   </column>
6   <column>
7    <name>col2</name>
8    <value>200</value>
9   </column>' xml from dual union all
10             select
11 ' <column>col1
12     <value>100</value>
13    </column>
14    <column>col1
15     <value>100</value>
16    </column>' from dual union all
17             select
18 '<col1>100</col1>
19 <col2>200</col2>' from dual)
20             --
21             select * from t
22 /
XML
<column>
<name>col1</name>
<value>100</value>
</column>
<column>
<name>col2</name>
<value>200</value>
</column>
<column>col1
   <value>100</value>
</column>
<column>col1
   <value>100</value>
</column>
<col1>100</col1>
<col2>200</col2>
SQL> I want to get the following result from this XML:
      COL1       COL2
       100        200So the main idea here is that the number of columns can vary - it is not fixed.
So it is quite similar to dynamic SQL.
Is it possibe with XML?

The only general way to get a flexible amount of columns I know of is to use table functions returning anydataset.
It should be rather straightforward to pass in a xml document and return its tablestructure respectivly (though the »structure« of the xml must be fixed).
Would that be an acceptable way of doing this?

How can i export the data to excel which has 2 tables with same number of columns & column names?

Hi everyone, again landed up with a problem.
After trying a lot to do it myself, finally decided to post here..
I have created a form in form builder 6i, in which on clicking a button the data gets exported to excel sheet.
It is working fine with a single table. The problem now is that i am unable to do the same with 2 tables.
Because both the tables have same number of columns & column names.
Below are 2 tables with column names:
Table-1 (MONTHLY_PART_1)
Table-2 (MONTHLY_PART_2)
SL_NO
SL_NO
COMP
COMP
DUE_DATE
DUE_DATE
U-1
U-1
U-2
U-2
U-4
U-4
U-20
U-20
U-25
U-25
Since both the tables have same column names, I'm getting the following error :
Error 402 at line 103, column 4
alias required in SELECT list of cursor to avoid duplicate column names.
So How can i export the data to excel which has 2 tables with same number of columns & column names?
Should i paste the code? Should i post this query in 'SQL and PL/SQL' Forum?
Help me with this please.
Thank You.

You'll have to *alias* your columns, not prefix it with the table names:
$[CHE_TEST@asterix1_impl] r
1 declare
2    cursor cData is
3      with data as (
4        select 1 id, 'test1' val1, 'a' val2 from dual
5        union all
6        select 1 id, '1test' val1, 'b' val2 from dual
7        union all
8        select 2 id, 'test2' val1, 'a' val2 from dual
9        union all
10        select 2 id, '2test' val1, 'b' val2 from dual
11      )
12      select a.id, b.id, a.val1, b.val1, a.val2, b.val2
13      from data a, data b
14      where a.id = b.id
15      and a.val2 = 'a'
16      and b.val2 = 'b';
17 begin
18    for rData in cData loop
19      null;
20    end loop;
21* end;
for rData in cData loop
ERROR at line 18:
ORA-06550: line 18, column 3:
PLS-00402: alias required in SELECT list of cursor to avoid duplicate column names
ORA-06550: line 18, column 3:
PL/SQL: Statement ignored
$[CHE_TEST@asterix1_impl] r
1 declare
2    cursor cData is
3      with data as (
4        select 1 id, 'test1' val1, 'a' val2 from dual
5        union all
6        select 1 id, '1test' val1, 'b' val2 from dual
7        union all
8        select 2 id, 'test2' val1, 'a' val2 from dual
9        union all
10        select 2 id, '2test' val1, 'b' val2 from dual
11      )
12      select a.id a_id, b.id b_id, a.val1 a_val1, b.val1 b_val1, a.val2 a_val2, b.val2 b_val2
13      from data a, data b
14      where a.id = b.id
15      and a.val2 = 'a'
16      and b.val2 = 'b';
17 begin
18    for rData in cData loop
19      null;
20    end loop;
21* end;
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
cheers

Table with varying number of columns

Hello experts,
my issue:
I need to print a table with varying number of columns. Depending on if all cells of a certain column are initial the
whole column should disappear. Hiding is not enough.
If this columns is in the middle of the table the following columns should move left to fill the gap.
my approach: (maybe there is an easier one)
There are 4 different possible situations. My approach was to create 4 different tables with different amount of
columns. In the interface I fill the table that is really needed from the source table data and fill a flag that characteristics
the situation, possible values (1,2,3,4).
In the form I'd like to print the appropriate table depending on the situations.
my problem:
How to place all 4 possible tables lying upon each other in the form and print only the needed one depending on the flag value?
my question:
Is my approach ok? Or is there an easier one?
If it is ok. How can I solve the problem regarding printing the right table.
Thanks in advance!
Heinz

Hi Heinz,
You can handle it with FormCalc Script at initialization.
Suppose you have a table with name TABLE having a header HEADER and data row DATA:
TABLE-->HEADER(Cell1...Cell2...Cell3...Cell4)
--->DATA(Cell1...Cell2...Cell3...Cell4)
Suppose you want to hide Cell3 for null values, then write below code at initialization of DATA:
if(DATA[*].Cell3.rawValue eq null)
then
DATA[*].Cell3.presence = "hidden"
HEADER.Cell3.presence = "hidden"
else
DATA[*].Cell3.presence = "visible"
HEADER.Cell3.presence = "visible"
endif
Hope it would help.
Regards,
Vaibhav

Can we create JTable with multiple rows with varying number of columns ?

Hi All,
I came across a very typical problem related to JTable. My requirement is that cells should be added dynamically to the JTable. I create a JTable with initial size of 1,7 (row, columns) size. Once the 7 columns are filled with data, a new row should be created. But the requirement is, the new row i.e. second row should have only one cell in it initially. The number of cells should increase dynamically as the data is entered. The table is automatically taking the size of its previous row when new row is added. I tried by using setColumnCount() to change the number of columns to '1' for the second row but the same is getting applied to the first row also.
So can you please help me out in this regard ? Is it possible to create a JTable of uneven size i.e. multiple rows with varying number of columns in each row ?
Thanks in Advance.

Well a JTable is always going to paint the same number of columns for each row. Anything is possible if you want to rewrite the JTable UI to do this, but I wouldn't recommend it. (I certainly don't know how to do it).
A simpler solution might be to override the isCellEditable(...) method of JTable and prevent editing of column 2 until data in column 1 has been entered etc., etc. You may also want to provide a custom renderer that renderers the empty column differently, maybe with a grey color instead of a white color.

LSMW uploading excel with different number of columns

Dear Expert,
I am trying to build a lsmw to upload data sometime the number of columns are different. For example, a standard excel has 5 columns but sometime it only has 4 columns with the input screen of 4 fields. I am wondering what is the APAB code I could put in may LSMW field mapping say if the value from the excel is "/" then this field should be skiped from reading. Then my LSWM will generate a batch input filed with 4 columns of input data to fit in the input screen with for fields only, If the value from the excel does not have "/' then all field would be read. So my LSMW will generate a batch input with 5 columns of input data to fit in the input screen of 5 fields.
If you may share the coding.
Thank you

Hi,
In this step, click on the target field and then click on the button "Rule"
IN the next screen select the radio button "ABAP Code"
Then put the code as below:-
IF NOT <Source Field> IS INITIAL.
<Target Field> = <Source Field>.
ENDIF.
(Insteac of <Source Field> and <Target Field>, put your actual value in your LSMW.)
Regards,
Gaurav

DB view with flexible number of columns?

In my Oracle 10 I have these tables
Customer table:
id      customer
1       John
2       Bob
Item table
id      item_name
1       itemA
2       itemB
3       itemC
4       itemD
Purchase table:
id      item_id date    customer_id
1       3       070202 2
2       6       070203 5
...I'd like to create a view like this:
        itemA   itemB   itemC   itemD   ...
John    3       4       0       0       ...
Bob     0       3       0       0       ...
...The view showed John purchased itemA 3 times, item B 4 times. Bob purchased itemB 3 times. This assume each customer only by one item at a time, which is a reasonable simplification of my situation.
Such a view (with variable number of columns) is needed not in our web application but also provide an understandable data source for non IT professional to use report software. If my approach of solving this problem is completely wrong, I'd also like to know what's the common practice. Thank you very much in advance!
Message was edited by:
user609663

I have tried to ask the question in a way that greatly simplify current problem to make it easy for others to understand without having to explain a lot of background information and 'the situation'; it seems I over-simplified the issue to make it even not worth solving or a wrong question being asked. So here I explain the complete problem and look for advice again (be prepared, pretty long description following:). I am a purchased customer of Oracle 10 DB and I reasonably expect being considered as Oracle user looking for help rather than students trying to play smart with assigned data normalization course exercises.
We are working on a system that collects data from interview results. The questionnaires for the interviews are formatted with a coded question, followed by user's answer to the question, like the following:
     Question Code   Question content   Answer
     H001            ...                123
     H002            ...                45
     H003            ...                33
     H004            ...                66
     H005            ...                4,66
     ...             ...                ...The users answer question with a digit, for some special questions, e.g. H005, they are allowed to answer with a set of digits. There are thousands of interviews each year, the simplest solution to collect the interview answers is to use such a db table:
simple_db_table:
id   H001 H002 H003 H004 H005 H006 H007
1    123   45    33    66    4     82    9
...This solution have two problems:
1. It doesn't properly store answers to questions that requre a set of digits, like H005.
2. The number of questions and their codes change from one survey to another, but the table have fixed number of columns and column names.
And two benefit:
1. With such simple table, people who use report software that directly access oracle db can creat their reports on easy-to-understand data presentation;
2. calculation based on questionnaire data is simple, e.g. get the average of H007/H009 for questionnaires that have H002 > H003 * 600 would be:
SELECT SUM(H007) / SUM(H009) FROM simple_db_table WHERE H002 > H003 * 600;Next solution we have normalized tables:
questionnaire_entry_table:
id                 NUMBER
questionnaire_name CHARquestionnaire_definition_table:
id                 NUMBER
questionnaire_id   NUMBER
question_code      CHAR
question_content   VARHCARinterview_table:
id                 NUMBER
questionnaire_id   NUMBER
date               DATEquestionnaire data table: itv_data
id                 NUMBER
interview_id       NUMBER
question_code      CHAR
answer             NUMBERWith the new structure, it just turn the problems of simple_db_table to its benefit and simple_db_table's benefit become the problem:
1. Personnel who use report creation software feel too confused to make report based on such tables, because they do not understand the normalized modeling. In our case, effective training is difficult because there will be many geographically distributed people make reports based on this structure and they have lower IT knowledge than database administrators. These personnel can make reports based on simple_db_table.
2. calculation based on questionnaire data is very difficult.
To explain 2, let's take the same example, we still wish to get the average of H007/H009 for questionnaires that have H002 > H003 * 600, my method is:
setp 1: create a view with by using:
       CREATE VIEW v (id, H002, H003) AS
       SELECT a.itv_id, a.H002, b.H003
         FROM itv_data a, itv_data b
       WHERE a.interviewee_id=b.interviewee_id
         AND a.question_code='H002' AND b.question_code='H003';step 2: create a stored procedure to get the calculation result:
       CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE get_result (result OUT NUMBER) IS
         sh007 NUMBER := 0;
         sh009 NUMBER := 0;
       BEGIN
         SELECT SUM(H007) INTO sh007 FROM itv_data
           WHERE itv_id in (SELECT id FROM v WHERE H002 > H003 * 683);
         SELECT SUM(H009) INTO sh009 FROM itv_data
           WHERE itv_id in (SELECT id FROM v WHERE H002 > H003 * 683);
         idc := sh007/sh009;
       END get_idc;As you can see the calculation become much more complex and might involve overhead.
There might be better way to calculate the result that I don't know yet. We have some 100 different formulas to calculate different results, so it's important to get them right and efficiently.
The best solution seems to me is that to create such a view from itv_data and other tables so that to reflect the same structure of simple_db_table. So here comes the question I originally asked how is it possible to create a view with flexible number of columns. I made the very simple example in my original posted message wishing to get an idea of this is possible or the way to go.
I may be taking a completely wrong approach to attack the problem, e.g. perhaps there is a simpler way to get_result from itv_table and for report creation users I should use a metadata layer on top of the normalized table structure (e.g. by using Metadata Query Language from Pentaho BI). But anyway I'd like to get some insightful ideas from the forum. Again thanks for help in advance.

How to create a table with varied number of columns?

I am trying to create a balance table. The colunms should include years between the start year and end year the user will input at run time. The rows will be the customers with outstanding balance in those years.
If the user input years 2000 and 2002, the table should have columns 2000, 2001, 2002. But if the user input 2000 and 2001, the table will only have columns 2000 and 2001.
Can I do it? How? Thanka a lot.

Why did you create a new thread for this?
How to create a table with varied number of columns?

"You can't compare a date with a number" in a formula that worked in Excel

I opened in Numbers an invoice file which was created in Excel. Formula returns hours worked. It has an "if" condition for the date field. I am assuming that that is the reason I get this "You can’t compare a date with a number because their data types are different." What do I do?
Formula reads =IF(SUM(A11)>0,(D11−C11),"") where A11 is a date and D11- C11 are times, ie 4PM and 5PM
Message was edited by: iamzoran

Jerrold Green1,
I agree with your words about using Sum with a single cell [have no idea why the "creator" of the file did that]; same for the parentheses enclosing subtraction. Yet cleaning it up as you showed me [=IF(A11>0,D11−C11,"") ] I got the same comment
"You can’t compare a date with a number because their data types are different."
Makes me think that t quinn is on to something with his "think the issue is with the expression ">0". Could it be that >0 is the number referred to and <>"" and ISBLANK are not numbers?!
z
PS: I am so happy that I am able to use Spelling and Grammar Checker with Safari on these posts. I was born and raise in old Yugoslavia and I use the Checker with all my emails etc and its a life saver. hahaha

Manage files with uneven number of columns

Hi-
I am having a scenario where i have to load various files from a folder into a table. But few files having uneven number of columns. In that case I have to move those files into a different location. All these files are getting loaded through an foreach
loop container. I don't want the package to be failed. I only need to move those files to a different location and the package will pick the next file to process.
I have followed the approach of setting the event handler of the package to on error and making the "propagate" property to true of the foreach loop and settng "maximumerrorcount" property to some value (let say) 15. But
still its getting failed in the DFT (In source) inside foreach loop.
Please provide some insight, how to deal with such kind of scenario.
Regards,
Partha

Hello,
I have had a scenario where inside a foreach loop, i had a dataflow processing one file after the other from the foreach loop, if the files failed with an error in the data flow they had to be moved to a separate folder.
My solution :
the foreach loop: set the MaximumErrorCount to 0, FailPackageOnFailure = false, ForceExcutionResult Success
the data flow task has an error exit connector: Precedence constraint On Failure (red connector) - this exit is followed when the file fails inside the data flow. It is connected to a File system task that moves the file to a different folder.
The data flow task also has a Success precedece constraint to continue with next Task for normal further operation.
Jan D'Hondt - SQL server BI development

Display table with variable number of columns

Hello Forum,
I'm trying to build an export view of User Management Engine data. I would like to output a table with one row for every user with yes / no fields indicating membership in each of the available groups. Because the number of available groups might change in the future, I can't hardcode the column names for the groups.
That is, I call a webservice to compute a table, and I get back a table with a variable number of columns.
When I try to insert the webservice into my VC model, it complains:
"Port 'Response' was omitted because it includes nested tables, which are not presently supported by Visual Composer"
You might be interested to know that the business method of my webservice (for testing purposes) looks as follows:
public String[][] getVariableSizeArray() {
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Any help is appreciated, and points will be awarded for helpful answers,
Sincerely,
Florian
Message was edited by:
        Florian Something

Hi Florian,
dynamic data structures are not supported. You can do this with a workaround. If you know the maximum count of your columns then you can add them to the table and hide/unhide them dynamicly via a formula in the hidden condition. Of course in your WS you als need a fix structure of your columns.
This is not the best solution, I know so far, but it works. This is just one limit of VC.
Best Regards,
Marcel

Procedure with variable number of columns

Hi, I have a procedure that looks like this:
PROCEDURE PROC(p_cursor OUT sys_refcursor)
And in the procedure, I build up QUERY dynamically and the number of columns varies at runtime.
At the end I do
OPEN p_cursor for QUERY
Then to call this, I'm doing
call PROC(?)
My question is, how would I go about running the query from this procedure, then adding rows or modifying the existing results, then returning the modified data?
What I want to do is add a new row based on some condition, so I still need to return a variable number of columns, but I need to modify the results before I return them.
Is there any way of doing this? I need to do some calculations on the columns (the variable columns), create a new row, insert into result set, and return this new result set.

A sys_refcursor is ideally suited to pass back to a front end gui like .NET or Java which can then use that cursor to retrieve the data.
In PL/SQL there is no point in using a sys_refcursor unless you know, at design/compile time what the returned columns are going to be.
If the resultant columns are dynamic, then you have no choice but to use the DBMS_SQL package, where you can parse and execute any SQL statement you like and then use the DBMS_SQL package to describe what the resultant columns are and how many there are. From that you can reference the columns by position rather than by name.
e.g.
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE run_query(p_sql IN VARCHAR2) IS
v_v_val     VARCHAR2(4000);
v_n_val     NUMBER;
v_d_val     DATE;
v_ret       NUMBER;
c           NUMBER;
d           NUMBER;
col_cnt     INTEGER;
f           BOOLEAN;
rec_tab     DBMS_SQL.DESC_TAB;
col_num     NUMBER;
v_rowcount NUMBER := 0;
BEGIN
-- create a cursor
c := DBMS_SQL.OPEN_CURSOR;
-- parse the SQL statement into the cursor
DBMS_SQL.PARSE(c, p_sql, DBMS_SQL.NATIVE);
-- execute the cursor
d := DBMS_SQL.EXECUTE(c);
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DBMS_SQL.DESCRIBE_COLUMNS(c, col_cnt, rec_tab);
-- Bind local return variables to the various columns based on their types
FOR j in 1..col_cnt
LOOP
    CASE rec_tab(j).col_type
      WHEN 1 THEN DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN(c,j,v_v_val,2000); -- Varchar2
      WHEN 2 THEN DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN(c,j,v_n_val);      -- Number
      WHEN 12 THEN DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN(c,j,v_d_val);     -- Date
    ELSE
      DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN(c,j,v_v_val,2000); -- Any other type return as varchar2
    END CASE;
END LOOP;
-- Display what columns are being returned...
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('-- Columns --');
FOR j in 1..col_cnt
LOOP
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(rec_tab(j).col_name||' - '||case rec_tab(j).col_type when 1 then 'VARCHAR2'
                                                                              when 2 then 'NUMBER'
                                                                              when 12 then 'DATE'
                                                     else 'Other' end);
END LOOP;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('-------------');
-- This part outputs the DATA
LOOP
    -- Fetch a row of data through the cursor
    v_ret := DBMS_SQL.FETCH_ROWS(c);
    -- Exit when no more rows
    EXIT WHEN v_ret = 0;
    v_rowcount := v_rowcount + 1;
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Row: '||v_rowcount);
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('--------------');
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    FOR j in 1..col_cnt
    LOOP
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      CASE rec_tab(j).col_type
        WHEN 1 THEN DBMS_SQL.COLUMN_VALUE(c,j,v_v_val);
                     DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(rec_tab(j).col_name||' : '||v_v_val);
        WHEN 2 THEN DBMS_SQL.COLUMN_VALUE(c,j,v_n_val);
                     DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(rec_tab(j).col_name||' : '||v_n_val);
        WHEN 12 THEN DBMS_SQL.COLUMN_VALUE(c,j,v_d_val);
                     DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(rec_tab(j).col_name||' : '||to_char(v_d_val,'DD/MM/YYYY HH24:MI:SS'));
      ELSE
        DBMS_SQL.COLUMN_VALUE(c,j,v_v_val);
        DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(rec_tab(j).col_name||' : '||v_v_val);
      END CASE;
    END LOOP;
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('--------------');
END LOOP;
-- Close the cursor now we have finished with it
DBMS_SQL.CLOSE_CURSOR(c);
END;
SQL> exec run_query('select empno, ename, deptno, sal from emp where deptno = 10');
-- Columns --
EMPNO - NUMBER
ENAME - VARCHAR2
DEPTNO - NUMBER
SAL - NUMBER
Row: 1
EMPNO : 7782
ENAME : CLARK
DEPTNO : 10
SAL : 2450
Row: 2
EMPNO : 7839
ENAME : KING
DEPTNO : 10
SAL : 5000
Row: 3
EMPNO : 7934
ENAME : MILLER
DEPTNO : 10
SAL : 1300
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> exec run_query('select * from emp where deptno = 10');
-- Columns --
EMPNO - NUMBER
ENAME - VARCHAR2
JOB - VARCHAR2
MGR - NUMBER
HIREDATE - DATE
SAL - NUMBER
COMM - NUMBER
DEPTNO - NUMBER
Row: 1
EMPNO : 7782
ENAME : CLARK
JOB : MANAGER
MGR : 7839
HIREDATE : 09/06/1981 00:00:00
SAL : 2450
COMM :
DEPTNO : 10
Row: 2
EMPNO : 7839
ENAME : KING
JOB : PRESIDENT
MGR :
HIREDATE : 17/11/1981 00:00:00
SAL : 5000
COMM :
DEPTNO : 10
Row: 3
EMPNO : 7934
ENAME : MILLER
JOB : CLERK
MGR : 7782
HIREDATE : 23/01/1982 00:00:00
SAL : 1300
COMM :
DEPTNO : 10
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> exec run_query('select * from dept where deptno = 10');
-- Columns --
DEPTNO - NUMBER
DNAME - VARCHAR2
LOC - VARCHAR2
Row: 1
DEPTNO : 10
DNAME : ACCOUNTING
LOC : NEW YORK
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL>In 11g, you can create a sys_refcursor and then the DBMS_SQL package allows you to convert that refcursor into a DBMS_SQL cursor so that you can get the description of the results and do the same. This isn't available prior to 11g though.
However_ before any of that, you should really ask yourself if there is a real need to dynamically be creating queries. There is rarely any real need to do that and if you're finding it's common in your application then this is often a sign of poor design or poorly defined business requirements (leaving the technical side to try and be "flexible" and hence leading to unmaintainable code etc.).

DBMS_SQL With Unknow Number Of Columns

Hey,
I am trying to write a pl/sql stored procedure. In the procedure, I am creating a query, which the number of columns that the query pulls back is not known until runtime. I have seen a few examples on dbms_sql, but with most of them, the number of columns returned is known. Any help is much appreciated, thanks.

oracle-developer.net has a nice article about a true resp. native Method 4 implementation in PL/SQL using ANYDATASET.
See here for more details: http://www.oracle-developer.net/display.php?id=422
Similar to Tom Kyte's post mentioned above it also provides the "data dump" utility offering more options:
http://www.oracle-developer.net/content/utilities/data_dump.sql
It also shows how to use DBMS_SQL.DESCRIBE_COLUMNS to retrieve the meta data about the result set.
Regards,
Randolf
Oracle related stuff blog:
http://oracle-randolf.blogspot.com/
SQLTools++ for Oracle:
http://www.sqltools-plusplus.org:7676/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sqlt-pp/

Displaying tables with dynamic number of columns

Hello,
I'm pretty new to JSF. Currently I'm working on a project where I have to select a table from a list, and then make it browsable/editable. The problem I have is that the different tables also have a different number of columns.
I have no problem displaying different tables if the number of coulumns stays the same (using h:datatable) but when it's dynamic, I don't know how I can have my JSP to adjust to support the varying number of columns.
Has anyone got an example of dynamic datatable or maybe someone can point me in the right direction.
Brimborian

Hi daniel,
1. There is an INDEPENDENT FORM
whose inputs are FIELD LIST
and from those, it consructs dynamic table.
2. Here is the program.
the dynamic table name will be
<DYNTABLE>.
3. U can use this program (FORM in this program)
to generate any kind of internal table
by specifying some inputs (ie. field list)
4.
REPORT abc.
COMPULSORY
FIELD-SYMBOLS: <dyntable> TYPE ANY TABLE.
FIELD-SYMBOLS: <dynline> TYPE ANY.
DATA: lt TYPE lvc_t_fcat.
DATA: ls TYPE lvc_s_fcat.
FIELD-SYMBOLS: <fld> TYPE ANY.
DATA : fldname(50) TYPE c.
PARAMETERS : infty(4) TYPE c OBLIGATORY.
DATA : iname LIKE dd02l-tabname.
START-OF-SELECTION.
GET INFO
CONCATENATE 'P' infty INTO iname.
DATA : ddfields LIKE ddfield OCCURS 0 WITH HEADER LINE.
CALL FUNCTION 'DD_NAMETAB_TO_DDFIELDS'
EXPORTING
tabname = iname
TABLES
ddfields = ddfields.
CONSTRUCT FIELD LIST
LOOP AT ddfields.
ls-fieldname = ddfields-fieldname.
APPEND ls TO lt.
ENDLOOP.
PERFORM
PERFORM mydyntable USING lt.
BREAK-POINT.
INDEPENDENT FORM
FORM mydyntable USING lt TYPE lvc_t_fcat .
Create Dyn Table From FC
FIELD-SYMBOLS: <fs_data> TYPE REF TO data.
FIELD-SYMBOLS: <fs_1>.
FIELD-SYMBOLS: <fs_2> TYPE ANY TABLE.
DATA: lt_data TYPE REF TO data.
ASSIGN lt_data TO <fs_data>.
CALL METHOD cl_alv_table_create=>create_dynamic_table
EXPORTING
it_fieldcatalog = lt
IMPORTING
ep_table = <fs_data>
EXCEPTIONS
generate_subpool_dir_full = 1
OTHERS = 2.
IF sy-subrc <> 0.
ENDIF.
Assign Dyn Table To Field Sumbol
ASSIGN <fs_data>->* TO <fs_1>.
ASSIGN <fs_1> TO <fs_2>.
ASSIGN <fs_1> TO <dyntable>.
ENDFORM. "MYDYNTABLE
regards,
amit m.

BI Layout/Template | Table with dynamic number of columns

hi!
i have a problem concerning the creation of a dynamic report with the BI publisher.
in my BI template i need a table with a dynamic number of columns. i have searched the
forums but havent really found a solution for this type of problem.
first of all this is A dummy-structure of my dataset:
<ROWSET>
     <ROW>
          <FIELD1>1</FIELD2>
          <FIELD2>2</FIELD2>
          <FIELD3>3</FIELD3>
          <FIELD4>4</FIELD4>
     </ROW>
     <ROW>
          <FIELD1>a</FIELD2>
          <FIELD2>b</FIELD2>
          <FIELD3>c</FIELD3>
          <FIELD4>d</FIELD4>
     </ROW>
</ROWSET>
in the report the fields represent the columns i need in the table.
the problem is, that the number of the fields vary. in this example i have 4 fields/columns
but another time i may have 6 or 10 etc..
my dataset is always different because i am loading my dataset via a http request which is
returning the needed data in XML.
is there a nativ possibility within the publisher to generate the columns dynamically?
i read about <?split-column-header:group element name?> etc. but this is only for cross-tables.
can anybody give me a hint how to approach this problem?
would be very glad for some advice.
thanks a lot in advance!

Specific answer is here
http://winrichman.blogspot.com/2008/09/dynamic-column.html
but these link let you know, how to do
http://winrichman.blogspot.com/search/label/Dynamic%20column
http://winrichman.blogspot.com/search/label/Cross-tab
http://winrichman.blogspot.com/search/label/cross%20tab

Separate flattened data with unknown number of columns

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