Wild card searching in sql squery (pl/sql function body returning......)

Question

Hi,
I've a report based on a sql query (pl/sql function body returnin a sql query).
One of the statements is
select .. from ...
where name_of_person = :P17_NAAM
I like to built a wild card possibility (with like '%l%m%') to show all persons with in their name an l, and an m (after the l)
how to modify this statement?
any reaction will be appreciated.
Leo

Answer 1

Leo,
If I understand you correctly, you want to let the user type the value without wild cards, and than to add them programmatically. If that's the case, here is what you can do:
1. Create a new item, say P17_HIDDEN_NAAM, that will contain the actual search criteria
2. Modify your pl/sql to:
begin
  :p17_hidden_naam := null;
  for l_i in 1..length(:P17_NAAM)
  loop
    :p17_hidden_naam := :p17_hidden_naam || '%' || substr(:P17_NAAM, l_i, 1);
  end loop;
  :p17_hidden_naam := :p17_hidden_naam || '%';
  return
    'select ..
       from ...
      where name_of_person like :p17_hidden_naam';
end;By the way, I think that it's much better to train your users to use wild cards than to do it in the program.
Sima