Search Results g_miss_attr_rec




Overview
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Overview

FND_API is the foundational PL/SQL package in Oracle E-Business Suite that publishes the standard constants, validation conventions, and utility routines used by every Oracle Application Object Library (AOL) / Application Programming Interface (API) in the EBS codebase. It does not perform any single business transaction; instead it defines the shared scaffolding that makes the many hundreds of EBS APIs behave consistently — particularly the convention of distinguishing "parameter not passed" from "parameter passed with a NULL value" through the so-called "missing" sentinels.

The package is declared with AUTHID DEFINER, meaning it executes with the privileges of its owner (APPS) rather than the caller, an important property for a public utility used across schemas. Per the ETRM metadata for 12.2.2 the package is classified as an API and is referenced by 11,143 other packages, which is consistent with its role as the most widely depended-upon package in the EBS schema.

Key Procedures and Functions

  • COMPATIBLE_API_CALL — Used by all EBS APIs to compare the version number supplied by a caller against the version number of the API itself, so that an incompatible call can be detected before any data is modified. Where the major version numbers differ, the function issues a standard unexpected-error message and returns FALSE; where the caller and current version numbers match, it returns TRUE.
  • TO_BOOLEAN — A documented conversion routine in FND_API that maps a value (typically a character flag such as 'Y'/'N') to a PL/SQL BOOLEAN. It provides the canonical conversion used throughout AOL code, avoiding ad-hoc banner comparisons.

Tables Accessed

The ETRM metadata lists no tables referenced via APPS synonyms for FND_API. This is expected: the package is a constants-and-utilities library and does not read or write application data. Any data access performed by consuming APIs is attributed to those APIs, not to FND_API itself.

Usage Notes

FND_API is not invoked directly by end users through concurrent programs or forms; it is invoked from within PL/SQL API code, including forms-based client extensions, concurrent programs, workflow activities, and custom integrations. The most visible element in day-to-day development is the family of G_MISS_* constants, all defined in this spec:

These constants are used as default values for API parameters so that a procedure can tell whether an argument was actually supplied. A caller who omits the argument causes the default sentinel to be received; a caller who explicitly passes NULL is distinguishable from one who omits it.

Because the presence of the string g_miss_attr_rec in the search reflects the documented convention described in the header comment (the G_MISS_XXX family, together with the newer G_NULL_XXXX constants), developers should note the guidance in the spec itself: G_MISS_XXX should no longer be used to default missing values. Oracle directs developers toward the newer G_NULL_XXXX constants defined at the end of the specification. Older custom code that still passes G_MISS_* values (or a corresponding record such as an attribute record) should be reviewed against GSCC Standard File.Sql.48 before being carried forward into 12.1.1 or 12.2.2.

Also published here are the validation-level constants used by API validation logic: G_VALID_LEVEL_NONE (0), meaning the lowest validation level for a transaction, and G_VALID_LEVEL_FULL (100), the highest. Consuming APIs compare their p_validation_level argument against these constants to decide how much checking to perform.