Search Results add_parameter

Overview

HR_DT_ATTRIBUTE_SUPPORT is a private PL/SQL support package in the Oracle E-Business Suite APPS schema that underpins the datetrack (date-tracked / effective-dated) attribute handling used by Oracle Human Resources and related HRMS datetrack forms. Datetracking allows a user to enter future-dated or past-dated changes to a record, and the form must determine whether a given attribute is actually changing relative to the row that is active as of the effective date. This package provides the internal plumbing that answers that question, holding working values in PL/SQL associative arrays (index-by tables) while a datetrack block is being processed.

Per the package header comment, the body declares private global structures — g_parameter_name (varchar2(30) indexed table), g_old_value and g_new_value (varchar2(32767) indexed tables holding the first-row values and the new datetrack values respectively), and g_parameter_status (a boolean indexed table that determines attribute status). A g_parameter_name/index-driven design allows the form to register each attributable parameter and later query whether it changed. The API classification in ETRM is OTHER, confirming it is an internal, non-public utility rather than a published business API.

Key Procedures and Functions

The ETRM metadata documents five callable units, all of which operate on the internal parameter state rather than on database rows directly:

• GET_PARAMETER_CHAR — returns the character (varchar2) value of a named datetrack parameter previously registered in the package's PL/SQL tables. It is the read accessor used by the form to retrieve the new/current value for a character attribute.
• GET_PARAMETER_NUMBER — the numeric counterpart, returning the parameter value interpreted as a number. It exists separately so callers obtain type-appropriate values without explicit conversion of a character buffer.
• GET_PARAMETER_DATE — returns the parameter value interpreted as a date, consistent with the private global default format g_date_format := 'dd/mm/yyyy' declared in the body.
• IS_CURRENT_ROW_CHANGING — evaluates the registered parameters and reports whether the row active on the effective date is actually being modified. This is the core decision point that determines whether a datetrack insert/update is required or whether the form can skip processing.
• RESET_PARAMETER_STATUSES — clears the internal boolean status table (and associated indexes) so that a fresh datetrack block, record, or form invocation begins with clean state. It works in tandem with the private global g_reset_index.

The documentation excerpt additionally reveals a private add_parameter function (the term the user searched). Its header states it "adds the parameter and its properties to the PL/SQL data structures if the parameter is changing." It takes a parameter name, a new value (specified on the first row), and a current value (as of the effective date), and is documented as callable only for the row active on the effective date. It is private to the body and therefore not listed in the ETRM procedure inventory, but it is the mechanism by which the public accessors and IS_CURRENT_ROW_CHANGING obtain their data.

Tables Accessed

The ETRM metadata records no direct table references for this package via APPS synonyms. This is consistent with its design: HR_DT_ATTRIBUTE_SUPPORT is a purely in-memory utility that manipulates PL/SQL index-by tables (g_parameter_name, g_old_value, g_new_value, g_parameter_status) during a datetrack transaction. Persistence of the underlying HRMS record is performed by the calling form or by the datetrack DML that invokes this package, not by the package itself.

Usage Notes

The package is referenced by two other packages, indicating that it is invoked indirectly through the HRMS datetrack framework rather than being called by end users or by standalone custom code. Typical invocation occurs from datetrack-enabled HRMS forms (for example, the DateTrack block processing layer), where the form registers attributes as the user edits them, calls IS_CURRENT_ROW_CHANGING to decide whether the effective-dated row must be altered, reads values through GET_PARAMETER_CHAR/NUMBER/DATE, and finally calls RESET_PARAMETER_STATUSES to clear state between records or blocks.

Because its procedures are aimed at internal state rather than committed data, the package should not be used as a substitute for HRMS business APIs such as HR_EMPLOYEE_API or the datetrack update APIs. Customizations that consume it must respect the documented pre-requisite that add_parameter and the associated logic apply only to the row active as of the effective date. Behavior is consistent across Oracle EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2; the $Header tag (dtattsup.pkb 120.0, dated 2005) shows the file long predates 12.2 and remains an unchanged internal component.