Table(cast())

Question

Hi All,
I am using Oracle 9i and I have an Oracle Type which has been created as follows
create or replace TYPE "Dummy" AS VARRAY (500) OF VARCHAR2(50)
It is assigned a set of values as follows:
oracle.sql.ArrayDescriptor desc = oracle.sql.ArrayDescriptor.createDescriptor("Dummy", stmt.getConnection());
oracle.sql.ARRAY newArray;
newArray = new oracle.sql.ARRAY(desc, stmt.getConnection() , filter); //where filter contains the values here
I am trying to execute the following statement but I get an error.
SELECT process_instance_id, workstep_name, status FROM WORKSTEP
WHERE PROCESS_INSTANCE_ID IN table(cast(newarray)))
AND WORKSTEP_NAME = 'X';
When I execute this I get a ORA-00936: missing expression
Can you pls point out what's wrong here and how I can cast a varray as a table and use it in an "IN" clause?
Thanks in advance.
AD.

Answer 1

user604168 wrote:
Hi All,
I am using Oracle 9i and I have an Oracle Type which has been created as follows
create or replace TYPE "Dummy" AS VARRAY (500) OF VARCHAR2(50)
It is assigned a set of values as follows:
oracle.sql.ArrayDescriptor desc = oracle.sql.ArrayDescriptor.createDescriptor("Dummy", stmt.getConnection());
oracle.sql.ARRAY newArray;
newArray = new oracle.sql.ARRAY(desc, stmt.getConnection() , filter); //where filter contains the values here
I am trying to execute the following statement but I get an error.
SELECT process_instance_id, workstep_name, status FROM WORKSTEP
WHERE PROCESS_INSTANCE_ID IN table(cast(newarray)))
AND WORKSTEP_NAME = 'X';
When I execute this I get a ORA-00936: missing expression
Can you pls point out what's wrong here and how I can cast a varray as a table and use it in an "IN" clause?
Thanks in advance.
AD.I'm not sure why you're using a VARRAY, i would personally use a NESTED TABLE
create or replace TYPE better_Dummy AS table OF VARCHAR2(50);
/As i find them more flexible.
Also, i would be quite sad to come into an environment and see that someone had created a database object using double quotes like you have to preserve case sensitivity (it's really a pain in the ***).
That being said, here's the syntax you're looking for.
create or replace TYPE Dummy AS VARRAY (500) OF VARCHAR2(50);
ME_XE?declare
  2    in_dummy  dummy default dummy('a','b');
  3    x         number;
  4  begin
  5
  6    select count(*)
  7    into x
  8    from dual
  9    where 'a' in (select column_value from table(cast(in_dummy as dummy)));
10
11    dbms_output.put_line(x);
12  end;
13  /
1
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
Elapsed: 00:00:00.14
ME_XE?