Where clause with inner select ...

Question

I want to create a view similar to the following:
CREATE VIEW VXRAY AS
(SELECT a.modex, b.action_date
FROM itac a, xray b
WHERE a.item_id = b.item_id
AND b.action_date =
(SELECT max(c.action_date)
FROM xray c
     WHERE c.item_id = b.item_id
AND To_Char(c.action_date,'yymmdd') <= '980825'));
Unfortunately, I cannot hardcode the date value as shown in the above example.
So my question really is: "How can I construct the view without using a harcoded value ('980825' in above example)?".
Since this view will be accessed by a reporting tool (Safari Reports), there will be no intelligence in the actual SQL query statement other than for example:
"select * from vxray where item_id = 'IID001' and action_date <= '25 Aug 1998' "
I've had some suggestions about using a "GROUP BY" function. (this doesn't work for me since the above example is just a very simplified version of what I'm selecting)
I've also had suggestions about using the "&" paremeter prompt in the inner select (for the date value). Again, won't work (as mentioned earlier with the view being accessed from a Reporting Tool).
If I had the following data in the 2 tables:
================ ==========================
ITAC XRAY
================ ==========================
ITEM_ID MODEX ITEM_ID ACTION_DATE
IID001 1535 IID001 10-DEC-97
     IID001 24-AUG-98
IID001 05-OCT-98
SELECT * FROM vxray WHERE item_id = 'IID001' AND to_char(action_date,'yymmdd) <= '980825';
MODEX ACTION_DATE
1535 24 Aug 98

Answer 1

Warren, thanx for the prompt reply ... unfortunately that won't work since the problem is not really accessing the view, but the SQL construction of the view itself.
Here's what the real query looks like:
CREATE VIEW vaaarpt AS (
SELECT DISTINCT
a.modex MODEX ,
b.buno BEREAU_NUMBER ,
b.action_date LATEST_ACTION_DATE,
b.status_code STATUS_CODE ,
b.model MODEL ,
c.activity_code ACTIVITY_CODE ,
c.curr_count CURR_COUNT ,
d.item_id ITEM_ID ,
d.sc SC ,
(SELECT Sum(f.new_count)
FROM vusage f
WHERE f.interval_type = c.interval_type
AND f.item_id = c.item_id
AND f.end_datetime > b.action_date) FH_USAGE
FROM itac a, xray b, act1 c, item d
WHERE a.item_id = b.item_id
AND b.item_id = c.item_id
AND c.item_id = d.item_id
AND b.action_date =
(SELECT max (f.action_date)
FROM xray f
WHERE f.item_id = b.item_id
AND To_Char(f.action_date,'yyyy/mm/dd') <= 'xxx') );
Above view construction is incorrect since I don't have the value of xxx at the time when I defined the view.