How to return result of many select statements as one custom table - sql

Question

I have a table (let's name it source_tab) where I store list of all database tables that meet some criteria.
tab_name: description:
table1 some_desc1
table2 some_desc2
Now I need to execute a select statement on each of these tables and return a result as a table (I created custom TYPE). However I have a problem - when using bulk collect, only the last select statement is returned. The same issue was with open cursor. Is there any possibility to achieve this goal, another then concatenating all select statements using union all and executing it as one statement? And because I'm the begginer in sql, my second question is, is it ok to use this dynamic sql in terms of sql injection issues? Below is simplified version of my code:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_function RETURN newly_created_table_type IS
ret_tab_type newly_created_table_type;
BEGIN
for r in (select * from source_tab)
loop
execute immediate 'select value1, value2,''' || r.tab_name || ''' from ' || r.tab_name bulk collect into ret_tab_type;
end loop;
return ret_tab_type;
END;
I'm using Oracle 11.

Answer 1

In your case you are trying to populate a collection dynamically and wanted result in a single collection. In your case its not possible to do that in a single loop. Also as mentioned by #OldProgrammer, piperow would be a better solution from performance point. See below demo:
--Tables and Values:
CREATE TABLE SOURCE_TAB(TAB_NAME VARCHAR2(100), DESCRIPTION VARCHAR2(100));
/
SELECT * FROM SOURCE_TAB;
/
INSERT INTO SOURCE_TAB VALUES('table1','some_desc1');
INSERT INTO SOURCE_TAB VALUES('table2','some_desc2');
/
CREATE TABLE TABLE1(COL1 NUMBER, COL2 NUMBER);
/
INSERT INTO TABLE1 VALUES(1,2);
INSERT INTO TABLE1 VALUES(3,4);
INSERT INTO TABLE1 VALUES(5,6);
/
Select * from TABLE1;
/
CREATE TABLE TABLE2(COL1 NUMBER, COL2 NUMBER);
/
INSERT INTO TABLE2 VALUES(7,8);
INSERT INTO TABLE2 VALUES(9,10);
INSERT INTO TABLE2 VALUES(11,12);
/
Select * from TABLE2;
/
--Object Created
--UDT
CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE NEWLY_CREATED_TABLE_TYPE IS OBJECT (
VALUE1 NUMBER,
VALUE2 NUMBER
);
/
--Type of UDT
CREATE OR TYPE NEWLY_CRTD_TYP AS TABLE OF NEWLY_CREATED_TABLE_TYPE;
/
--Function:
--Function
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION MY_FUNCTION
RETURN NEWLY_CRTD_TYP PIPELINED
AS
CURSOR CUR_TAB
IS
SELECT *
FROM SOURCE_TAB;
RET_TAB_TYPE NEWLY_CRTD_TYP;
BEGIN
FOR I IN CUR_TAB
LOOP
--Here i made sure that all the tables have col1 & col2 columns since you are using dynamic sql.
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'select NEWLY_CREATED_TABLE_TYPE(COL1, COL2) from '|| I.TAB_NAME
BULK COLLECT INTO RET_TAB_TYPE;
EXIT WHEN CUR_TAB%NOTFOUND;
FOR REC IN 1 .. RET_TAB_TYPE.COUNT
LOOP
PIPE ROW (RET_TAB_TYPE (REC) );
END LOOP;
END LOOP;
RETURN;
END;
/
Output:
SQL> Select * from table(MY_FUNCTION);
VALUE1 VALUE2
---------- ----------
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
11 12
6 rows selected.

Answer 2

May be you can combine all the queries into one using UNION ALL before execution, if the number and type of columns to be retrieved from all the tables are identical.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION my_function
RETURN newly_created_table_type
IS
ret_tab_type newly_created_table_type;
v_query VARCHAR2 (4000);
BEGIN
SELECT LISTAGG (' select VALUE1,VALUE2 FROM ' || tab_name, ' UNION ALL ')
WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY tab_name)
INTO v_query
FROM source_tab;
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE v_query BULK COLLECT INTO ret_tab_type;
RETURN ret_tab_type;
END;
You could then use a single select statement to get all the values.
select * FROM TABLE ( my_function );