Hi everyone!

I have got the following problem. I need to delete all rows in a table which
do not have a value (in one of the columns) equal to one of a list of values.
Then, the problem is how to work with the list of values.

The stored procedure that does the work of deleting those rows, receives a
varchar(255) with a list of comma separated integer values, in the form of
"1,2,3" and so on. Let's call the parameter P_LIST.

Then, I would like to execute a SQL statement like this:

DELETE FROM TABLE
WHERE (FIELD_A = :P_PARAM)
AND (FIELD_B <> 1)
AND (FIELD_B <> 2)
AND (FIELD_B <> 3);

So, I was just trying to find a good way to solve this problem. I have thought
about using arrays, but it seems I cannot make this:

DECLARE VARIABLE LIST INTEGER[50];

Also, it seems I cannot create a domain INT_ARRAY_50, consisting of an array
of 50 integers, and then try to declare a variable of that type inside the
stored procedure.

So, the only solutions it seems I have is to use DSQL to dynamically handle
the comma sepparated values and add "AND (FIELD_B <> XX)" clausules to the
statement. Then execute it.

For that purpose, I was looking for any sort of function similar to Php's
"split (separator, string)", which creates an array with the elements of the
string, using the "separator" separator. I haven't found it, so I will try to
create it for myself.

Any hints on this? Is there any way to work with arrays or should I just
forget about arrays and try the DSQL way?

Thanks in advance.


--
Jaume Andreu Sabater Malondra
jsabater@...
Registered linux user #209072

"Ubi sapientas ibi libertas"