Tom:

Thanks a lot about pointing me this neat web feature:

1. Is this what you use always in asktom site?

2. I was trying to see more examples of this but the above link you refer to
</code> http://www.olab.com/doc/books/plsql/pl_invk.htm <code>
does not seem to work?

3. Let us say I have the following html form and after user fills it out I want
to post values to a save procedure:

htp.formtext(p_lastname,30,30,null);
htp.formtext(p_firstname,30,30,null);
htp.formtext(p_city,30,30,null);
htp.formtext(p_state,10,10,null);
htp.formtext(p_zip,5,5,null);
FOR x in (1..5) LOOP
htp.formtext(p_itemno,2,2,null);
htp.formtext(p_description,30,30,null);
htp.formtext(p_qty,5,5,null);
htp.formtext(p_unit_price,5,5,null);
END LOOP;

---------*this is how I used to do it.

create or replace procedure save_form (
p_lastname VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
p_firstname VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
p_city VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
p_state VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
p_zip VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
p_itemno TYPES.ARRAY DEFAULT TYPES.EMPTY_ARRAY,
p_description TYPES.ARRAY DEFAULT TYPES.EMPTY_ARRAY,
p_qty TYPES.ARRAY DEFAULT TYPES.EMPTY_ARRAY,
p_unit_price TYPES.ARRAY DEFAULT TYPES.EMPTY_ARRAY,)

as

v_personid number(5);

begin
select person_id into v_personid from dual;

insert into person (personid,lastname,
firstname,state,zip )
values
(v_personid,p_lastname,p_firstname,
p_city,p_state,p_zip);
If (SQL%ROWCOUNT > 0) THEN
FOR i in 1..p_description.count
LOOP
insert into items (personid,itemno,description,
qty,unit_price)
values
(v_personid,p_itemno(i),
p_description(i),p_qty(i),
p_unit_price(i) );
END LOOP;
ELSE
rollback;
END IF;

END;
-----Now to use flexible parameters is this how you do it?

create or replace procedure save_form (
name_array TYPES.ARRAY DEFAULT TYPES.EMPTY_ARRAY,
values_array TYPES.ARRAY DEFAULT TYPES.EMPTY_ARRAY)

as

v_personid number(5);

begin
select person_id into v_personid from dual;

insert into person (personid,lastname,
firstname,city,state,zip )
values
(v_personid,
value_array(1),value_array(2),
value_array(3),value_array(4),
value_array(5) );
If (SQL%ROWCOUNT > 0) THEN
FOR i in 1..name_array.count
LOOP
If (name_array(i)='p_description') THEN
insert into items (personid,itemno,description,
qty,unit_price)
values
(v_personid,value_array(i),
value_array(i+1),value_array(i+2),
value_array(i+3) );
END LOOP;
ELSE
rollback;
END IF;

END;

4. Would not using flexible parameters make code much easier to maintain. If you change forms by adding or deleteing text fields you do not have to worry about adding/deleteing the parameters in the save/update procedure?

5. when would you use a four parameter interface instead of two?

Thank you,