Search Results pa_ext_drivers_v




Overview
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Overview

PA_EXT_DRIVERS_V is an Oracle EBS Projects (PA) view owned by the APPS schema. It is documented in the ETRM as an "Extensible Context View," a designation that reflects its role as a consolidated, read-only source of the various driver values used throughout Oracle Projects. In Oracle Projects terminology, a "driver" is a dimension or classification value that determines how project-related processes behave — for example, how costs are burdened, how labor is priced, or how transactions are accounted. Rather than requiring reporting tools, extracts, or integrations to join against multiple disparate tables, PA_EXT_DRIVERS_V presents class codes, task types, and project types through a single, uniform interface.

The view is especially relevant when a user searches for "driver_name," since DRIVER_NAME is one of its four exposed columns. It allows developers and report authors to retrieve a human-readable driver name alongside its type and internal identifier in a single query. This makes the view a convenient lookup source for Oracle Projects extensibility and setup validation.

Underlying Base Objects

The view text is defined as a series of UNION operations over three distinct sources, each contributing one DRIVER_TYPE category:

The documented base object list also identifies PA_CLASS_CATEGORIES (SYNONYM) and PA_INSTALL (PACKAGE). PA_CLASS_CATEGORIES provides category-level data that contextualizes the class codes, while PA_INSTALL is the standard Oracle Applications installation/version package referenced within the APPS schema. Because these are synonyms in the APPS schema, the view resolves them to their underlying PA base tables at runtime.

Key Columns

  • DRIVER_TYPE — Identifies the category of driver. Documented literal values are 'CLASS_CODE', 'TASK_TYPE', and 'PROJECT_TYPE'. This column is the discriminator that makes the union meaningful and should be used to constrain queries.
  • DRIVER_NAME — The display name of the driver. For class codes it is a composite of category and code; for task and project types it is the type name itself. This is the column most commonly searched for in reporting scenarios.
  • DRIVER_ID — The internal primary identifier of the underlying record (CLASS_CODE_ID, TASK_TYPE_ID, or PROJECT_TYPE_ID). It is the value expected by foreign-key style joins in custom code.
  • DESCRIPTION — The descriptive text carried over from the source record, offering additional context for the driver.

Common Use Cases and Queries

The view is typically used to build value lists, validate setup data, and resolve driver identifiers to readable names in custom reports and interfaces. A common pattern is filtering by DRIVER_TYPE to restrict results to one category:

  • Retrieve all class codes: SELECT driver_id, driver_name FROM pa_ext_drivers_v WHERE driver_type = 'CLASS_CODE';
  • List project types with descriptions: SELECT driver_name, description FROM pa_ext_drivers_v WHERE driver_type = 'PROJECT_TYPE' ORDER BY driver_name;
  • Search by partial name: SELECT driver_type, driver_id, driver_name FROM pa_ext_drivers_v WHERE driver_name LIKE '%&search%';
  • Join a stored driver identifier back to its name: SELECT d.driver_name FROM pa_ext_drivers_v d WHERE d.driver_id = :driver_id AND d.driver_type = :driver_type;

Because the view is read-only and based on synonyms and a stable view, it is safe to reference in custom SQL*Plus scripts, BI Publisher data models, and Oracle Forms/ADF lookups within the EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 environments. Consult the Oracle Projects setup documentation to confirm which driver types are active in a given implementation.