Workaround for ORA-14551 WHILE CALLING FUNCTION IN SQL OVER DBLINK

Question

Hi,
any idea how to workaround such issue in 9.2.0.8 (I know this is working with 11.2).
create table mylog(id number, data date , mess clob);
create or replace function myfunc(id in number, data in date ,mess in varchar2)
return number is
pragma autonomous_transaction;
retval number;
begin
   insert into mylog values (id , data ,mess);
commit;
retval := id;
return retval;
end;
SQL> select schema.myfunc@dblink(2,sysdate,'bbbbbbb') from dual;
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-14551: cannot perform a DML operation inside a query
ORA-06512: at "SCHEMA.MYFUNC", line 6
ORA-06512: at line 1Regards
GregG

Answer 1

DBMS_SQL is documented in what I think 9i calls "Supplied Oracle Packages and Types" manual.
The basic concept behind this is that it allows you to manually create a cursor and execute it (via an OCI like interface). For example, it can be used to issue remote DDLs via a database link as described in {message:id=10323373}.
DBMS_SQL provides flexibility and power that is beyond the standard cursor constructs in PL/SQL. The system package version even enables you to execute SQL and PL/SQL code as any other schema in the database.
You will have however to play around with DBMS_SQL (locally and remotely) to determine how to hide the fact that a local select (which Oracle assumes, correctly, does not change database state), actually changes the state of a remote database.
Personally I would not bother with such a hack. I would use the problem to enforce an upgrade to the latest Oracle version, or kick out the crappy app that needs to use a SQL select to make database changes.