Search Results ben_ext_where_clause_api




Overview
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Overview

The APPS.BEN_EXT_WHERE_CLAUSE_API package is a public Oracle E-Business Suite application programming interface that governs the definition and maintenance of extended WHERE clauses used within the Oracle Advanced Benefits (BEN) extract framework. Extract definitions in Advanced Benefits allow administrators to define populations of participants and related data by supplying selection criteria; the WHERE clause objects managed by this API store the SQL predicate fragments that filter records returned by the extract process. The package provides a controlled, validated programmatic pathway for creating, modifying, and removing these clause definitions rather than relying on direct table manipulation, thereby preserving data integrity and enforcing the business rules associated with the underlying BEN_EXT_WHERE_CLAUSE entity.

Within the EBS architecture, the package is classified as an API and resides in the APPS schema. It depends on HR_API, Oracle's foundational Human Resources API utility library, which supplies standard error handling, validation, and row-locking helpers used throughout the HRMS product family. Its scope is deliberately narrow and focused: it is referenced by no other packages, indicating that it functions as a leaf-level service consumed directly by forms, concurrent processes, or integrating custom code rather than as an internal building block for other BEN APIs.

Key Procedures and Functions

The documented interface exposes five procedures, organized around the standard Create-Update-Delete pattern supplemented by locking and bulk maintenance utilities:

  • CREATE_EXT_WHERE_CLAUSE — Inserts a new extended WHERE clause definition into the underlying table. It is the primary entry point for establishing a new filter predicate for use by an extract definition.
  • UPDATE_EXT_WHERE_CLAUSE — Modifies the attributes of an existing extended WHERE clause record, such as the clause text or its associated extract setup.
  • DELETE_EXT_WHERE_CLAUSE — Removes an existing extended WHERE clause definition. Deletion is subject to the referential and business validations enforced by the API rather than being a physical purge of unverified data.
  • LCK — The standard locking routine. It obtains a row-level lock on the target record to guarantee that concurrent updates do not silently overwrite each other, and it is typically invoked at the beginning of an update or delete transaction.
  • MULTI_ROWS_EDIT — A bulk maintenance procedure that allows multiple extended WHERE clause rows to be processed within a single API call, supporting screen-level operations in which several clauses are edited together.

The metadata does not expose formal parameter lists; consumers should consult the package specification in the target instance before coding against these procedures.

Tables Accessed

The package operates against a single documented table, BEN_EXT_WHERE_CLAUSE, accessed through the APPS synonym. This table is the authoritative store for extended WHERE clause records within the Advanced Benefits extract model. The CREATE procedure inserts rows into this table, UPDATE modifies existing rows, and DELETE removes them. Locking operations apply to the same table, and the bulk edit procedure applies changes across multiple rows of it. No other tables are documented as being touched directly by this API.

Usage Notes

Because the package is a public BEN API, it is intended to be invoked from Oracle Forms-based maintenance screens in the Advanced Benefits extract setup flow, from concurrent programs that batch-load or validate clause definitions, and from custom PL/SQL integration code. Callers should always use LCK before an update or delete, and should observe the standard HR_API error-handling conventions by checking the return status and message structures rather than assuming success. Direct DML against BEN_EXT_WHERE_CLAUSE by custom code should be avoided, since doing so bypasses the validations and locking behavior implemented here. The same interface is present in both EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2; no signature differences are documented between the releases.