Using a recordset in a loop statement

Question

Hello all,
I am (still) trying to get an Excel spreadsheet for a dynamically created table. A crucial parameter of the problem is that I do not know the column names for my table at runtime, as it is created by a pivot query.
I was very excited to find Tom Kyte's post on "Using a recordset in a loop statement:
http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/ask/f?p=4950:8:4768329722850645393::NO::F4950_P8_DISPLAYID,F4950_P8_CRITERIA:464820324673,
This is precisely the solution I need. Unfortunately for me, when I create my stored procedure, it doesn't compile. As suggested I systematically renamed EXEC_SQL to DBMS_SQL, then I made some minor tweaks to integrate with HTMLDB:
create or replace procedure export_tsv as
connection_id DBMS_SQL.CONNTYPE
default DBMS_SQL.default_connection;
cursorID DBMS_SQL.CURSTYPE;
nIgn number;
columnValue varchar2(4000);
ncols number;
sep varchar2(1);
colName varchar2(40);
colLen number;
coltype number;
BEGIN
IF DBMS_SQL.is_connected = FALSE THEN
Message('No primary connection. Please connect.');
RETURN;
END IF;
-- set up for excel spreadsheet
htp.init;
owa_util.mime_header ('application/vnd.ms-excel',false);
htmldb_application.g_page_text_generated := true;
htp.p('Content-Disposition: attachment;
filename=myexport.txt');
owa_util.http_header_close;
-- end excel spreadsheet setup
cursorID := DBMS_SQL.OPEN_CURSOR;
DBMS_SQL.PARSE(cursorID, 'select * from exp_data', DBMS_SQL.V7);
nIgn := DBMS_SQL.EXECUTE(cursorID);
for i in 1 .. 1000 loop
begin
DBMS_SQL.describe_column( connection_id, cursorId, i,
colName, colLen, colType );
DBMS_SQL.define_column(cursorID, i, columnValue,
4000 );
exception
when DBMS_SQL.invalid_column_number then
ncols := i-1;
exit;
end;
end loop;
while (DBMS_SQL.fetch_rows(cursorID) > 0)
loop
sep := '';
for i in 1 .. ncols loop
DBMS_SQL.COLUMN_VALUE(cursorID, i, columnValue);
-- print the column value
htp.p( sep || columnValue);
sep := chr(9);
end loop;
-- print the end of line CRLF
htp.p(chr(13)|| chr(10));
END LOOP;
DBMS_SQL.CLOSE_CURSOR(cursorID);
DBMS_SQL.CLOSE_CONNECTION;
END;
When I try to run this in the HTMLDB SQL Command Processor, I see the following error:
ERROR at line 2: PLS-00302: component 'CONNTYPE' must be declared
Can someone provide me with the correct translation of Tom Kyte's approach into the HTMLDB idiom?
Thanks in advance,
susan

Answer 1

Questions about opening multiple worksheets on the web:
I have this link that submits the page and my process calls a PL/SQL procedure that prints out an excel spreadsheet. When I hit the link again, the spreadsheet does not update. I can make the spreadsheet update from ASP or a java servlet, but never from the PL/SQL procedure. Even if I use the procedure to print out XML in XMLSS format, so that I can change worksheet name, it still does not update on successive calls.
My code:
PROCEDURE SQL_TO_EXCEL(p_sql in varchar2)
as
l_cursor integer default dbms_sql.open_cursor;
l_status PLS_INTEGER;
l_desc dbms_sql.desc_tab;
l_col_cnt number;
l_columnValue varchar2(4000);
l_row varchar2(4000);
l_frow PLS_INTEGER;
l_lrow PLS_INTEGER;
l_cols varchar2(4000);
l_date date;
begin
--set mime type to Excel
htp.init;
owa_util.mime_header('application/vnd.ms-excel',true);
--htp.p('Pragma: no-cache');
--htp.p('Cache-Control: no-cache');
--owa_util.http_header_close;
htmldb_application.g_page_text_generated := true;
--htp.htmlOpen;
--htp.headOpen;
--htp.title('SQL to Excel Export');
--htp.headCLose;
--htp.bodyOpen;
execute immediate 'alter session set nls_date_format=''dd-mon-yyyy'''; -- hh24:mi:ss''';
DBMS_SQL Calls
dbms_sql.parse(l_cursor,rtrim(p_sql,';'),dbms_sql.native);
l_status := dbms_sql.execute(l_cursor);
dbms_sql.describe_columns(l_cursor,l_col_cnt,l_desc);
l_frow := l_desc.FIRST;
l_lrow := l_desc.LAST;
if l_col_cnt > 0 then
FOR colind IN l_frow..l_lrow LOOP
l_cols := l_cols||chr(9)||l_desc(colind).col_name;
END LOOP;
htp.p(ltrim(l_cols,chr(9)));
end if;
for i in 1 .. l_col_cnt loop
if l_desc(i).col_type = 12 then
dbms_sql.define_column(l_cursor,i,l_date);
else
dbms_sql.define_column(l_cursor,i,l_columnValue,4000);
end if;
end loop;
--l_status := dbms_sql.execute(l_cursor);
while (dbms_sql.fetch_rows(l_cursor) > 0) loop
for i in 1 .. l_col_cnt loop
if l_desc(i).col_type = 12 then
dbms_sql.column_value(l_cursor,i,l_date);
l_row := l_row||chr(9)||to_char(l_date,'DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS');
else
dbms_sql.column_value(l_cursor,i,l_columnValue);
l_row := l_row||chr(9)||l_columnValue;
end if;
end loop;
htp.p(ltrim(l_row,chr(9)));
l_row := '';
end loop;
--htp.bodyclose;
--htp.htmlclose;
dbms_sql.close_cursor(l_cursor);
exception
when others then
dbms_sql.close_cursor(l_cursor);
htp.p(SQLERRM||chr(10)||p_sql);
end SQL_TO_EXCEL;
Any ideas on how I can get the spreadsheet to update from repeated calls to the PL/SQL?