How to create an oracle.sql.ARRAY object?

Question

This question is related to my original issue How to return an array from Java to PL/SQL ?, but is a more specific.

I have been reading Oracle Database JDBC Developer's Guide and

• Creating ARRAY objects
• Server-Side Internal Driver
• oracle.jdbc.OracleConnection
• oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver

but I still fail to write a minimum code where I can create ARRAY using

ARRAY array = oracle.jdbc.OracleConnection.createARRAY(sql_type_name, elements);

as instructed in Creating ARRAY objects.

I'm using Oracle Database JVM.

I have tried following:

Example 1

create or replace type widgets_t is table of varchar2(32767);
/

create or replace and compile java source named "so20j1" as
public class so20j1 {
    public void f1() {
        String[] elements = new String[]{"foo", "bar", "zoo"};
        oracle.sql.ARRAY widgets =
            oracle.jdbc.OracleConnection.createARRAY("widgets_t", elements);
    }
};
/
show errors java source "so20j1"

Fails with:

Errors for JAVA SOURCE "so20j1":

LINE/COL ERROR
-------- -----------------------------------------------------------------
0/0  so20j1:4: non-static method
     createARRAY(java.lang.String,java.lang.Object) cannot be
     referenced from a static context

0/0  1 error
0/0  ^
0/0  oracle.sql.ARRAY widgets =
     oracle.jdbc.OracleConnection.createARRAY("widgets_t", elements);

Example 2

create or replace type widgets_t is table of varchar2(32767);
/

create or replace and compile java source named "so20j2" as

public class so20j2 {
    public void f1() {
        String[] elements = new String[]{"foo", "bar", "zoo"};
        oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver ora = new oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver();
        java.sql.Connection conn = ora.defaultConnection();
        oracle.sql.ARRAY widgets = conn.createARRAY("widgets_t", elements);
    }
};
/
show errors java source "so20j2"

Fails with:

Errors for JAVA SOURCE "so20j2":

LINE/COL ERROR
-------- -----------------------------------------------------------------
0/0  so20j2:6: cannot find symbol
0/0  symbol  : method createARRAY(java.lang.String,java.lang.String[])
0/0  1 error
0/0  oracle.sql.ARRAY widgets = conn.createARRAY("widgets_t",
     elements);

0/0  ^
0/0  location: interface java.sql.Connection

Disclaimer: I'm not a Java programmer (yet).

Answer 1

Based on answers of Affe and Chris Mazzola I have succeeded to build two examples that compile in Oracle 11g R2 database.

Example based on Affe's answer

create or replace type widgets_t is table of varchar2(32767);
/

create or replace and compile java source named "so20ja1" as
public class so20ja1 {
    public void f1() throws java.sql.SQLException {
        String[] elements = new String[]{"foo", "bar", "zoo"};
        oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver ora = new oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver();
        java.sql.Connection conn = ora.defaultConnection();
        oracle.jdbc.OracleConnection oraConn = (oracle.jdbc.OracleConnection)conn;
        java.sql.Array widgets = oraConn.createARRAY("widgets_t", elements);
    }
};
/
show errors java source "so20ja1"

Example based on Chris Mazzola's answer

create or replace type widgets_t is table of varchar2(32767);
/

create or replace and compile java source named "so20ja2" as
public class so20ja2 {
    public void f1() throws java.sql.SQLException {
        String[] elements = new String[]{"foo", "bar", "zoo"};
        oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver ora = new oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver();
        java.sql.Connection conn = ora.defaultConnection();
        oracle.sql.ArrayDescriptor desc = 
            oracle.sql.ArrayDescriptor.createDescriptor("widgets_t", conn);
        java.sql.Array widgets = new oracle.sql.ARRAY(desc, conn, elements);
    }
};
/
show errors java source "so20ja2"

Answer 2

// array sample (using a stored procedure to sum two or more numbers)
Connection connection = dataSource.getConnection(username,password);
ArrayDescriptor desc = 
    ArrayDescriptor.createDescriptor(schemaName + "." + arrayType, connection);

// first ? is the array, second ? is the result via out parameter
String sql = "call sum_numbers(?,?)";
CallableStatement cs = connection.prepareCall(sql);

String[] args = {"5","15","25","35"}; // what to sum
Array array = new oracle.sql.ARRAY(desc, connection, args);

cs.setArray(1, array);
cs.registerOutParameter(2, Types.INTEGER);
cs.execute();
int result = cs.getInt(2);
cs.close();

Answer 3

Just to mention that in Java 1.6 you have connection.createArrayOf(..), which is standard.

Answer 4

You're on the right track with #2, but you can't create an oracle Array from a connection of type java.sql.Connection. It has to be an OracleConnection to be able to use those methods.

oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver ora = new oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver();
java.sql.Connection conn = ora.defaultConnection();
OracleConnection oraConn = conn.unwrap(OracleConnection.class);
oracle.sql.ARRAY widgets = oraConn.createARRAY("widgets_t", elements);