Embedding a function call in a SELECT statement

• Oracle 9i R2 ----------------------

Hello experts, the following is valid in a procedure within a package where the myfunc function is also defined:

  select myfunc(1,ID) from my_id_tab;

The function myfunc is defined as

  function myfunc

(p_id_array in number,

         p_id in number)
  return varchar2;

NOW the problem.

Suppose myfunc is defined like this:

  function myfunc

(p_id_array in utils.numarray,

         p_id in number)
  return varchar2;

And the datatype numarray is defined in a UTILS package header as

    type numarray is table of number index by binary_integer;

Then within my procedure, I have a local variable defined:

  l_id_array ic_util.numarray;

Then I change the original select statement to be

  select myfunc(l_id_array,ID) from my_id_tab;

Now if I try to compile my procedure, I get error: 630/7 PL/SQL: SQL Statement ignored
782/12 PLS-00306: wrong number or types of arguments in call to 'MYFUNC' 782/12 PL/SQL: ORA-00904: "MYPACKAGE"."MYFUNC": invalid identifier 782/24 PLS-00382: expression is of wrong type

I think all the data types match correctly, is there a reaon why I should be able to embed the function in the select clause only if the input parameters are NOT of a user-defined type?

A simple call to the function outside of the select clause works fine:

    l_str := id_in_array(l_id_array,1);

-- 
jeremy

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