Passing an array of data as an input parameter to an Oracle procedure

Question

I'm trying to pass an array of (varchar) data into an Oracle procedure. The Oracle procedure would be either called from SQL*Plus or from another PL/SQL procedure like so:

BEGIN
 pr_perform_task('1','2','3','4');
END;

pr_perform_task will read each of the input parameters and perform the tasks.

I'm not sure as to how I can achieve this. My first thought was to use an input parameter of type varray but I'm getting Error: PLS-00201: identifier 'VARRAY' must be declared error, when the procedure definiton looks like this:

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE PR_DELETE_RECORD_VARRAY(P_ID VARRAY) IS

To summarize, how can I pass the data as an array, let the SP loop through each of the parameters and perform the task ?

I'm using Oracle 10gR2 as my database.

Answer 1

If the types of the parameters are all the same (varchar2 for example), you can a package like this:

CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE testuser.test_pkg IS

   TYPE assoc_array_varchar2_t IS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(4000) INDEX BY BINARY_INTEGER;

   PROCEDURE your_proc(p_parm IN assoc_array_varchar2_t);

END test_pkg;

CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY testuser.test_pkg IS

   PROCEDURE your_proc(p_parm IN assoc_array_varchar2_t) AS
   BEGIN
      FOR i IN p_parm.first .. p_parm.last
      LOOP
         dbms_output.put_line(p_parm(i));
      END LOOP;

   END;

END test_pkg;

Then, to call it you'd need to set up the array and pass it:

DECLARE
  l_array testuser.test_pkg.assoc_array_varchar2_t;
BEGIN
  l_array(0) := 'hello';
  l_array(1) := 'there';  

  testuser.test_pkg.your_proc(l_array);
END;
/

Answer 2

This is one way to do it:

SQL> set serveroutput on
SQL> CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE MyType AS VARRAY(200) OF VARCHAR2(50);
  2  /

Type created

SQL> CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE testing (t_in MyType) IS
  2  BEGIN
  3    FOR i IN 1..t_in.count LOOP
  4      dbms_output.put_line(t_in(i));
  5    END LOOP;
  6  END;
  7  /

Procedure created

SQL> DECLARE
  2    v_t MyType;
  3  BEGIN
  4    v_t := MyType();
  5    v_t.EXTEND(10);
  6    v_t(1) := 'this is a test';
  7    v_t(2) := 'A second test line';
  8    testing(v_t);
  9  END;
 10  /

this is a test
A second test line

To expand on my comment to @dcp's answer, here's how you could implement the solution proposed there if you wanted to use an associative array:

SQL> CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE p IS
  2    TYPE p_type IS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(50) INDEX BY BINARY_INTEGER;
  3  
  4    PROCEDURE pp (inp p_type);
  5  END p;
  6  /

Package created
SQL> CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY p IS
  2    PROCEDURE pp (inp p_type) IS
  3    BEGIN
  4      FOR i IN 1..inp.count LOOP
  5        dbms_output.put_line(inp(i));
  6      END LOOP;
  7    END pp;
  8  END p;
  9  /

Package body created
SQL> DECLARE
  2    v_t p.p_type;
  3  BEGIN
  4    v_t(1) := 'this is a test of p';
  5    v_t(2) := 'A second test line for p';
  6    p.pp(v_t);
  7  END;
  8  /

this is a test of p
A second test line for p

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed

SQL> 

This trades creating a standalone Oracle TYPE (which cannot be an associative array) with requiring the definition of a package that can be seen by all in order that the TYPE it defines there can be used by all.