Question

I have a list of comma-separated strings (from a user input) and I’d like to use this list as a parameter in a pl/sql stored function in a nested sql block using a “not in where clause”.

I can’t find an elegant way to make it work…

That’s what I’m thinking of:

CREATE TABLE example ( somevalue VARCHAR(36) NOT NULL);
--
INSERT INTO example VALUES ('value1');
INSERT INTO example VALUES ('value2');
INSERT INTO example VALUES ('value3');
--
SELECT * FROM example;
--
CREATE OR REPLACE
  FUNCTION resultmaker(
      ignoreList IN VARCHAR2)
    RETURN VARCHAR2
  IS
    result VARCHAR2(4000);
  BEGIN
    result  := 'Here is my calculated result, using ignorelist=' || ignoreList || ':'     || CHR(10);
    FOR rec IN
    (SELECT DISTINCT somevalue
    FROM example
    WHERE somevalue NOT IN resultmaker.ignoreList -- here's my issue, the NOT IN     clause using the parameter value
    )
    LOOP
      result := result || 'not in ignorelist: ' || rec.somevalue || CHR(10);
    END LOOP;
    result := result || '.' || CHR(10);
    --
    RETURN result;
  END resultmaker;
  /
--
-- simulate function call with user input 'value2, value3'
SELECT resultmaker('value2, value3') FROM dual; -- doesn't work  
--
DROP TABLE example;
DROP FUNCTION resultmaker;

Answer 1

Here’s my solution using dynamic sql for my original question above:

CREATE TABLE example ( somevalue VARCHAR(36) NOT NULL);
--
INSERT INTO example VALUES ('value1');
INSERT INTO example VALUES ('value2');
INSERT INTO example VALUES ('value3');
--
SELECT * FROM example;
--
CREATE OR REPLACE
  FUNCTION resultmaker(
      ignoreList IN VARCHAR2)
    RETURN VARCHAR2
  IS
    result VARCHAR2(4000);
    example_cursor sys_refcursor;
    rec example.somevalue%type;
  BEGIN
    result := 'Here is my calculated result, using ignorelist=' || ignoreList || ':' || CHR(10);
    OPEN example_cursor FOR ( 'SELECT DISTINCT somevalue FROM example WHERE somevalue NOT IN (' || ignoreList || ')' );
    FETCH example_cursor INTO rec;
    WHILE example_cursor%found
    LOOP
      result := result || 'not in ignorelist: ' || rec || CHR(10);
      FETCH example_cursor INTO rec;
    END LOOP;
    CLOSE example_cursor;
    result := result || '.' || CHR(10);
    --
    RETURN result;
  END resultmaker; 
/
--
-- simulate function call with user input 'value2', 'value3'
SELECT resultmaker('''value2'', ''value3''') FROM dual;
--
DROP TABLE example;
DROP FUNCTION resultmaker;