Problem: Function doesn't guarantee not to update database (ORA-06571)

I thought being able to use my own function in my select statments would a great time saver. However, there seems to be the limitation that the fucntion must quarantee not to update the database. I'm trying to identify ways around this or at least identify what to avoid.

Here's what I got so far:

Functions (called from selects) cannot be in a package. I didn't think this was true til I called the one and only function in a package that only had a return statement in it.

Functions (called from selects) cannot call so standard packages like raise_application_error.

Any thought or insights on this?

Thanks in advance!

Virtually,

John Dennis  

John Dennis
Tactics, Inc
Atlanta, GA Received on Tue Jul 30 1996 - 00:00:00 CEST