Sorting does not work with ROW_NUMBER () OVER (ORDER BY

Question

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE SP_SALES (
p_sales_id IN VARCHAR2,
p_rownnum_from IN NUMBER,
p_rownnum_to IN NUMBER,
p_sort_by IN VARCHAR2,
p_query OUT SYS_REFCURSOR,
AS
v_query VARCHAR2 (32000);
v_sort_list VARCHAR2(32000) ;
BEGIN
IF p_spv_sort_by IS NULL THEN
v_sort_list := 'given_name ASC ' ;
ELSE
v_sort_list :=p_spv_sort_by;
END IF ;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('v_sort_list '||v_sort_list);
OPEN p_query FOR
SELECT sales_id,
item_id,
order_num,
employee_name
,given_name
dept_id,
manager_name,
ROW_NUM
FROM
(SELECT x.*,
ROW_NUMBER () OVER (ORDER BY v_sort_list ) ROW_NUM
FROM (sales_id,
item_id,
order_num,
employee_name
,given_name
dept_id,
manager_name,
FROM order rvw,
sales pol,
emp ca,
WHERE pol.id = rvw.pr_order_id
AND ca.empid =pol.employee_id
AND status = 'SUP') x )
WHERE ROW_NUM BETWEEN p_rownnum_from AND p_rownnum_to;
-- ORDER by v_sort_list ;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('v_sort_list '||v_sort_list);
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('EX ');
END;
END;
SHOW ERRORS
Sorting does not work. Am I doing something wrong here?
executing procedure using below
declare
x SYS_REFCURSOR;
y number;
BEGIN
SP_SALES('70159_502',1,5, 'GIVEN_NAME'||' ASC' ,:x);
--dbms_output.put_line (:x);
END;

Answer 1

Hello
Depending on how many different columns you can sort on and the data types of them, it may be feasible for you to include the conditional logic in the existing statement without the need for dynamic sql...
DTYLER_APP@pssdev2> var p_spv_sort_by varchar2(100)
DTYLER_APP@pssdev2>
DTYLER_APP@pssdev2> exec :p_spv_sort_by:='some other column'
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
P_SPV_SORT_BY
some other column
DTYLER_APP@pssdev2>
DTYLER_APP@pssdev2> WITH source AS
  2  (   SELECT 'a' given_name, 'z' other_column from dual UNION ALL
  3      SELECT 'b' given_name, 'y' other_column from dual UNION ALL
  4      SELECT 'c' given_name, 'x' other_column from dual
  5  )
  6  SELECT
  7      given_name,
  8      other_column,
  9      ROW_NUMBER ()
10     OVER (
11        ORDER BY
12           CASE
13              WHEN :p_spv_sort_by IS NULL THEN given_name
14              WHEN :p_spv_sort_by = 'some other column' THEN other_column
15           END)
16        ROW_NUM
17  FROM
18      source
19  /
G O    ROW_NUM
c x          1
b y          2
a z          3
3 rows selected.
DTYLER_APP@pssdev2> exec :p_spv_sort_by:=NULL;
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
P_SPV_SORT_BY
DTYLER_APP@pssdev2> WITH source AS
  2  (   SELECT 'a' given_name, 'z' other_column from dual UNION ALL
  3      SELECT 'b' given_name, 'y' other_column from dual UNION ALL
  4      SELECT 'c' given_name, 'x' other_column from dual
  5  )
  6  SELECT
  7      given_name,
  8      other_column,
  9      ROW_NUMBER ()
10     OVER (
11        ORDER BY
12           CASE
13              WHEN :p_spv_sort_by IS NULL THEN given_name
14              WHEN :p_spv_sort_by = 'some other column' THEN other_column
15           END)
16        ROW_NUM
17  FROM
18      source
19  /
G O    ROW_NUM
a z          1
b y          2
c x          3
3 rows selected.
DTYLER_APP@pssdev2>But that would depend on the columns you're sorting on being of the same data type or at least having the ability to convert them to the same data type without loosing the sort order.
DTYLER_APP@pssdev2> WITH source AS
  2  (   SELECT 'a' given_name, sysdate - 2 other_column from dual UNION ALL
  3      SELECT 'b' given_name, sysdate - 1 other_column from dual UNION ALL
  4      SELECT 'c' given_name, sysdate  other_column from dual
  5  )
  6  SELECT
  7      given_name,
  8      other_column,
  9      ROW_NUMBER ()
10     OVER (
11        ORDER BY
12           CASE
13              WHEN :p_spv_sort_by IS NULL THEN given_name
14              WHEN :p_spv_sort_by = 'some other column' THEN other_column
15           END)
16        ROW_NUM
17  FROM
18      source
19  /
            WHEN :p_spv_sort_by = 'some other column' THEN other_column
ERROR at line 14:
ORA-00932: inconsistent datatypes: expected CHAR got DATE
DTYLER_APP@pssdev2> WITH source AS
  2  (   SELECT 'a' given_name, sysdate - 2 other_column from dual UNION ALL
  3      SELECT 'b' given_name, sysdate - 1 other_column from dual UNION ALL
  4      SELECT 'c' given_name, sysdate  other_column from dual
  5  )
  6  SELECT
  7      given_name,
  8      other_column,
  9      ROW_NUMBER ()
10     OVER (
11        ORDER BY
12           CASE
13              WHEN :p_spv_sort_by IS NULL THEN given_name
14              WHEN :p_spv_sort_by = 'some other column' THEN TO_CHAR(other_column,'YYYYMMDDHH24MISS')
15           END)
16        ROW_NUM
17  FROM
18      source
19  /
G OTHER_COLUMN            ROW_NUM
a 12-SEP-2011 15:04:19          1
b 13-SEP-2011 15:04:19          2
c 14-SEP-2011 15:04:19          3
3 rows selected.HTH
David