Oracle Temporary Storage Within a Function

Question

Let's say I have a function within which I need to perform several actions, all of which depend upon the results of one query. Everything I've been able to find indicates that I need to define a temp table outside of the procedure, which I DO NOT WANT TO DO.

I'd like to do something like the following:

create or replace function f_example(
  a_input in number
)
return varchar2 is
begin
  create local temporary table tempIDs
  ( 
    testID number(6, 0)
    , testValue number(8,0)
  );

  //select data from tableFoo that will be overwritten by a_input into tempIDs

  //update data in tableFoo with a_input & store old data in another tableFoo field

end f_example;

This syntax doesn't work. Oracle doesn't allow 'Create' inside a function.

I'm not really a database programmer - I'm used to working in C# and Java. In that case I would store my values in a local array (or whatever) that goes out of scope when the method finished. Is there legitimately no way to do something like this in Oracle SQL?

Answer 1

You can define a PL/SQL record type and associated table type. Then you can issue a SELECT...BULK COLLECT to fill your table.

declare
  type my_record_type is record (testId number, testvalue number);
  type my_table_type is table of my_record_type index by binary_integer;
  my_table my_table_type;
begin
  select x, y bulk collect into my_table from table_foo;
end;