Setter methods in UDT in Oracle database - oracle

Question

I'm still new to this and trying to get my head around it. UDT are able to define methods which you can call on the object stored, I seem to create a method that returns a value fine but was wondering if it's possible create a setter methods. This scenario isn't really useful but it's simple just for clarification
For example, I have this type:
create TYPE TestType2 AS OBJECT(
Numb NUMBER(4),
Str VARCHAR2(10),
MEMBER FUNCTION setNum(numba NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER
);
Which compiles fine so my assumption setter methods are allow
I've tried create the body type below:
CREATE TYPE BODY TestType2 as
member function setNum(numba NUMBER) return NUMBER is
begin
SELF.Numb := numba;
return SELF.Numb;
END;
END;
However this won't work giving me the errors below:
Error(3,9): PL/SQL: Statement ignored
Error(3,14): PLS-00363: expression 'SELF.NUMB' cannot be used as an assignment target
Is there a way to create a set method or is this only allowed in store procedures?

Answer 1

This is an obscure error. The problem is member functions take an implicit parameter of SELF. So if you want to change something you need to make the parameter explicit:
create or replace TYPE TestType2 AS OBJECT(
Numb NUMBER(4,0),
Str VARCHAR2(10),
MEMBER procedure setNum(self in out TestType2, numba NUMBER )
);
/
CREATE or replace TYPE BODY TestType2 as
member function setNum(self in out TestType2 , numba NUMBER) return NUMBER
is
begin
self.Numb := numba;
return SELF.Numb;
END;
END;
/
Note that the SELF parameter remains implicit when calling the function:
declare
t TestType2 := TestType2(4, 'TEST');
n pls_integer;
begin
dbms_output.put_line('1' || t.numb);
n := t.setNum(8);
dbms_output.put_line('2' || t.numb);
end;
/
Incidentally, setter methods don't need to be functions; we can have member procedures too.
create or replace TYPE TestType2 AS OBJECT(
Numb NUMBER(4,0),
Str VARCHAR2(10),
MEMBER procedure setNum(self in out TestType2, numba NUMBER ),
MEMBER FUNCTION getNum RETURN NUMBER
);
/
CREATE or replace TYPE BODY TestType2 as
member procedure setNum(self in out TestType2, numba NUMBER )
is
begin
self.Numb := numba;
END;
MEMBER FUNCTION getNum RETURN NUMBER
is
begin
return self.numb;
end;
END;
/