Setting Application leve items after authentication

Question

All,
I'm doing a custom authentication in my application using the built-in login page and calling the standard API. My function then returns TRUE/FALSE for authentication.
After I authenticate the user, I want to set an application level item to the primary key of their user (i.e. GV_USER_ID).
When the user issues queries against the reports, then I will build the where clause to say 'where user_id = :GV_USER_ID'.
I'm at a loss however in setting the application level item.
Initially, I set a PAGE PROCESSING -> PROCESS to fire onSubmit - after calcs & validations, putting it between "Login" and "Clear". My process queries the database using P101_USERNAME from the login page.
However, when my user is logged in, the application level item is blank. Here is my code to set the value. Remember, my user will already have been authenticated.
declare
u_id USER.USER_ID%TYPE;
predicate varchar2(30);
begin
if (lower(trim(:P101_USERNAME)) = 'administrator') then
u_id := 0;
predicate := 'user_id like ''%''';
else
select user_id
into u_id
from user
where lower(trim(EMAIL_ADDR))=lower(trim(:P101_USERNAME));
predicate := 'user_id = ' || u_id;
end if;
:GV_USER_ID := u_id;
:GV_ID_PREDICATE := predicate;
exception
when others then :GV_ID_PREDICATE := 'user_id is null';
end;
Can someone tell me exactly where I should place this code so I can set my application items?
Thanks.

Answer 1

Ooops, spoke a little too soon. The application items do not get set with I first spawn the browser and and try to log in.
However, when I log out and then log back in, then my application items get set. The code is now sitting in the authenticate_user function
create or replace function authenticate_user
(p_username in varchar2
,p_password in varchar2)
return BOOLEAN is
f_id FRANCHISEE.FRANCHISEE_ID%TYPE;
passwd FRANCHISEE.PASSWORD%TYPE;
predicate VARCHAR2(30);
valid BOOLEAN;
begin
valid := FALSE;
-- authenticate the user
select password into passwd
from franchisee
where lower(trim(email_addr)) = lower(trim(p_username));
if (passwd = p_password) then
valid := TRUE;
end if;
-- set the query predicate
if (valid = TRUE) then
if (lower(trim(p_username)) = 'administrator') then
f_id := 0;
predicate := 'franchisee_id like ''%''';
else
select franchisee_id
into f_id
from franchisee
where lower(trim(EMAIL_ADDR))=lower(trim(p_username));
predicate := 'franchisee_id = ' || f_id;
end if;
htmldb_application.update_cache_with_write('GV_FRANCHISEE_ID', f_id);
htmldb_application.update_cache_with_write('GV_ID_PREDICATE', predicate);
end if;
return(valid);
exception
when OTHERS then return(FALSE);
end