Sending multiple sets of parameters to procedure - vb.net

Question

I'm using vb.net and oracle db, and currently I have a stored-procedure that is called from my code. Right now it looks similar to this:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE MYPROCEDURE(
param1 table.field1%TYPE,
param2 table.field2%TYPE,
param3 table.field3%TYPE,
param4 varchar2,
output OUT number) AS
BEGIN
DO STUFF
END;
I want to ask if it is possible to change this to send multiple sets of parameters at once, so I could use a FOR LOOP inside my procedure to minimize the number of calls. I want to achieve something like this:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE MYPROCEDURE(
param myArray
output OUT number) AS
BEGIN
FOR i IN 1..myArray.COUNT LOOP
UPDATE FIELD FROM TABLE WHERE ID = myArray(i).field1;
END LOOP;
END;
Or if there's anything else that would work the same it would be great.
Many thanks.

Answer 1

Yes you can pass a list of objects as parameter in oracle procedure. First you must create the datatype of this list of objects, but you can't do this inside a procedure you have to define it as an oracle object. For example:
CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE TEST."MY_TYPE" AS OBJECT
(PARAM1 VARCHAR (20), PARAM2 NUMBER);
Unfortunately you can define dynamic datatypes inside objects (table.field1%TYPE), but I think you know what datatype this field have.
Second, create a package that have the list of parameter and procedure definition like this:
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE ARRAY_EXAMPLE2
AS
TYPE COL IS TABLE OF MY_TYPE;
PROCEDURE PROCESS_ARRAY (ArrayIn IN COL);
END;
And finally the package implementation
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY ARRAY_EXAMPLE2
AS
PROCEDURE PROCESS_ARRAY (ArrayIn IN COL)
IS
BEGIN
FOR i IN 1 .. ArrayIn.COUNT
LOOP
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('Hello ' || ArrayIn (i).PARAM1);
END LOOP;
END;
END;
You can try it using this lines of code:
BEGIN
ARRAY_EXAMPLE2.
PROCESS_ARRAY (
array_example2.
COL (MY_TYPE ('Peter', 12),
MY_TYPE ('Jorge', 4),
MY_TYPE ('Bryan', 5)));
END;