How do I pass a list of numbers into a stored procedure?

Question

So I have the following stored procedure:

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE stored_p
(
 ntype IN NUMBER          ,
 p_ResultSet OUT  TYPES.cursorType
)
AS
BEGIN
OPEN p_ResultSet FOR
select * from table where ttype in ntype;
END stored_p

and, I can call it like this:

VARIABLE resultSet  REFCURSOR
EXEC stored_p(80001, :resultSet);
PRINT :resultSet

but I want to be able to call it like this:

VARIABLE resultSet  REFCURSOR
EXEC stored_p([80001,80002], :resultSet);
PRINT :resultSet

How should I modify my stored procedure accordingly? I am doing this so that I can display the results in a Crystal Report... (just in case that affects anything).. Thanks!!

Answer 1

The best option would be to pass a collection

SQL> create type empno_tbl
  2  is
  3  table of number;
  4  /

Type created.


SQL> create or replace procedure stored_p
  2  (
  3    empnos in empno_tbl,
  4    p_rc  out sys_refcursor )
  5  as
  6  begin
  7    open
  8   p_rc for select * from emp where empno in (select * from table(empnos));
  9  end;
 10  /

Procedure created.

SQL> var rc refcursor;

SQL> ed
Wrote file afiedt.buf

  1  create or replace procedure stored_p
  2  (
  3    empnos in empno_tbl,
  4    p_rc  out sys_refcursor )
  5  as
  6  begin
  7    open
  8   p_rc for select * from emp where empno in (select * from table(empnos));
  9* end;
SQL> begin
  2    stored_p( new empno_tbl(7902,7934), :rc );
  3  end;
  4  /

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> print rc

     EMPNO ENAME      JOB              MGR HIREDATE         SAL       COMM
---------- ---------- --------- ---------- --------- ---------- ----------
    DEPTNO   FAKE_COL        FOO
---------- ---------- ----------
      7902 FORD       ANALYST         7566 03-DEC-81       3000
        20          1

      7934 MILLER     CLERK           7782 23-JAN-82       1300
        10          1

Unfortunately, Crystal Reports may not be able to pass a proper collection to a stored procedure. If that is the case, you'd have to pass in a comma-separated list of numbers. Your procedure would then have to parse that comma-separated string into a collection. You can use (or modify) Tom Kyte's in_list function for this

SQL> ed
Wrote file afiedt.buf

  1    create or replace function in_list(
  2        p_string in varchar2
  3    )
  4      return empno_tbl
  5    as
  6        l_string        long default p_string || ',';
  7        l_data          empno_tbl := empno_tbl();
  8        n               number;
  9    begin
 10      loop
 11          exit when l_string is null;
 12          n := instr( l_string, ',' );
 13          l_data.extend;
 14          l_data(l_data.count) :=
 15                ltrim( rtrim( substr( l_string, 1, n-1 ) ) );
 16          l_string := substr( l_string, n+1 );
 17      end loop;
 18      return l_data;
 19*   end;
SQL> /

Function created.

SQL> ed
Wrote file afiedt.buf

  1  create or replace procedure stored_p
  2  (
  3    empnos in varchar2,
  4    p_rc  out sys_refcursor )
  5  as
  6  begin
  7    open p_rc
  8     for select *
  9           from emp
 10          where empno in (select *
 11                            from table(in_list(empnos)));
 12* end;
SQL> /

Procedure created.

SQL> ed
Wrote file afiedt.buf

  1  begin
  2    stored_p( '7902,7934', :rc );
  3* end;
SQL> /

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> print rc

     EMPNO ENAME      JOB              MGR HIREDATE         SAL       COMM
---------- ---------- --------- ---------- --------- ---------- ----------
    DEPTNO   FAKE_COL        FOO
---------- ---------- ----------
      7902 FORD       ANALYST         7566 03-DEC-81       3000
        20          1

      7934 MILLER     CLERK           7782 23-JAN-82       1300
        10          1