Table function with bulk collection throws invalid datatype - oracle

Question

I am writing a function and i want to wrap it with table function so i can use with select query.
Here is my type declaration and the some lines of my functions
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE TYPES
AS
TYPE CURSORTYPE IS REF CURSOR;
TYPE vbugsrec
IS
RECORD (
bug_id bugs.bug_id%TYPE,
facility bugs.facility%TYPE
);
TYPE vbugstable
IS
TABLE OF vbugsrec
INDEX BY BINARY_INTEGER;
END;
/
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY CustomQueries
AS
FUNCTION pendverifylist (myldapid IN userpass.ldapalias%TYPE,
maxrows IN PLS_INTEGER:= CustomQueries.maxrecords)
RETURN types.vbugstable
IS
datarows types.vbugstable;
var_useralias userpass.ldapalias%TYPE
:= UPPER (pendverifylist.myldapid) ;
CURSOR pendverify_cur (
cursor_var_alias IN userpass.ldapalias%TYPE,
cursor_var_mybugstatus IN bugs.bug_status%TYPE,
cursor_var_wild IN qa_list.component%TYPE
)
IS
SELECT buglist.bug_id, buglist.facility
FROM bugs buglist,
(SELECT qa.product, qa.component
FROM qa_list qa, userpass UP
WHERE qa.qa_id = UP.userid
AND UP.ldapalias = cursor_var_alias) plist
WHERE buglist.bug_status = cursor_var_mybugstatus
AND buglist.smr_state IN (SELECT fs.finalstate
FROM finalstates fs)
AND buglist.facility = plist.product
AND (buglist.product LIKE plist.component
OR plist.component = cursor_var_wild);
BEGIN
OPEN pendverifylist.pendverify_cur (cursor_var_alias => pendverifylist.var_useralias,
cursor_var_mybugstatus => CustomQueries.default_bugstatus,
cursor_var_wild => CustomQueries.wildcard);
FETCH pendverifylist.pendverify_cur
BULK COLLECT INTO pendverifylist.datarows
LIMIT LEAST (GREATEST (0, pendverifylist.maxrows),
CustomQueries.MAXRECORDS);
CLOSE pendverifylist.pendverify_cur;
RETURN pendverifylist.datarows;
END pendverifylist;
END CustomQueries;
/
When i want to use TABLE function like below, i get error.ORA-00902: invalid datatype
SELECT * FROM TABLE(CUSTOMQUERIES.PENDVERIFYLIST ( 'product', 50 ));
Can anyone please help what i am doing wrong here?
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

You're trying to use package-level types in plain SQL, which isn't allowed. The types declared in the package are not visible to or valid outside PL/SQL (or even in plain SQL statements within PL/SQL). A cut-down version of what you're doing:
create or replace package types as
type my_rec_type is record (dummy dual.dummy%type);
type my_table_type is table of my_rec_type index by binary_integer;
end types;
/
create or replace package p42 as
function get_table return types.my_table_type;
end p42;
/
create or replace package body p42 as
function get_table return types.my_table_type is
my_table types.my_table_type;
begin
select * bulk collect into my_table from dual;
return my_table;
end get_table;
end p42;
/
select * from table(p42.get_table);
SQL Error: ORA-00902: invalid datatype
Even within the package, if you had a procedure that tried to use the table function it would error. If you added:
procedure test_proc is
begin
for r in (select * from table(get_table)) loop
null;
end loop;
end test_proc;
... the package body compilation would fail with ORA-22905: cannot access rows from a non-nested table item.
You need to declare the types at schema level, not in a package, so using the SQL create type command:
create type my_obj_type is object (dummy varchar2(1));
/
create type my_table_type is table of my_obj_type;
/
create or replace package p42 as
function get_table return my_table_type;
end p42;
/
create or replace package body p42 as
function get_table return my_table_type is
my_table my_table_type;
begin
select my_obj_type(dummy) bulk collect into my_table from dual;
return my_table;
end get_table;
end p42;
/
select * from table(p42.get_table);
DUMMY
-----
X

Answer 2

Actually tehere is not need to have types in schema level. All you need to do is to define function as PIPELINED.
-- DEFINITION IN PCKG HEADER
create or replace PACKAGE "AAA" IS
TYPE t_record IS RECORD (
aaa VARCHAR(20 CHAR),
bbb VARCHAR(50 CHAR),
ccc VARCHAR(10 CHAR)
);
TYPE t_collection is table of t_record;
FUNCTION get_records(p_in1 DATE, p_in2 DATE) RETURN t_collection PIPELINED;
END AAA;
-- PCKG BODY
create or replace PACKAGE BODY AAA AS
FUNCTION get_records(p_in1 DATE, p_in2 DATE) RETURN t_collection PIPELINED AS
CURSOR k1 is SELECT aaa,bbb,ccc FROM table;
BEGIN
FOR rec IN k1
LOOP
pipe row( (rec) );
END LOOP;
END get_records
END AAA;
-- CALLING FUNCTION OUTSIDE OF PCKG
select * from TABLE(AAA.get_records(par1, par2));

Answer 3

Thanks to Alex Poole. This is what i ended up with
CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE vbugsrec
IS
OBJECT (
bug_id NUMBER(9),
facility VARCHAR2(256)
);
CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE vbugstable
IS
TABLE OF vbugsrec;
/
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY CustomQueries
AS
FUNCTION pendverifylist (myldapid IN userpass.ldapalias%TYPE,
maxrows IN PLS_INTEGER:= CustomQueries.maxrecords)
RETURN vbugstable
IS
datarows vbugstable := vbugstable();
var_useralias userpass.ldapalias%TYPE:= UPPER (pendverifylist.myldapid) ;
TYPE temp_rec IS RECORD (
bug_id bugs.bug_id%TYPE,
facility bugs.facility%TYPE
);
TYPE temp_records
IS
TABLE OF temp_rec
INDEX BY BINARY_INTEGER;
temporary_records temp_records;
CURSOR pendverify_cur (
cursor_var_alias IN userpass.ldapalias%TYPE,
cursor_var_mybugstatus IN bugs.bug_status%TYPE,
cursor_var_wild IN qa_list.component%TYPE
)
IS
SELECT buglist.bug_id, buglist.facility
FROM bugs buglist,
(SELECT qa.product, qa.component
FROM qa_list qa, userpass UP
WHERE qa.qa_id = UP.userid
AND UP.ldapalias = cursor_var_alias) plist
WHERE buglist.bug_status = cursor_var_mybugstatus
AND buglist.smr_state IN (SELECT fs.finalstate
FROM finalstates fs)
AND buglist.facility = plist.product
AND (buglist.product LIKE plist.component
OR plist.component = cursor_var_wild);
BEGIN
OPEN pendverifylist.pendverify_cur (cursor_var_alias => pendverifylist.var_useralias,
cursor_var_mybugstatus => CustomQueries.default_bugstatus,
cursor_var_wild => CustomQueries.wildcard);
FETCH pendverifylist.pendverify_cur
BULK COLLECT INTO temporary_records
LIMIT LEAST (GREATEST (0, pendverifylist.maxrows),
CustomQueries.MAXRECORDS);
CLOSE pendverifylist.pendverify_cur;
IF temporary_records.COUNT <> 0
THEN
FOR rec_idx IN temporary_records.FIRST .. temporary_records.LAST
LOOP
datarows.EXTEND;
datarows (datarows.LAST) :=
vbugsrec (temporary_records (rec_idx).bug_id,
temporary_records (rec_idx).facility);
END LOOP;
END IF;
RETURN pendverifylist.datarows;
END pendverifylist;
END CustomQueries;
/