Index By Tables or Associate Arrays

 An index-by table has no limit on its size. Elements are inserted into index-by table whose
index may start non-sequentially including negative integers.
 Associate Arrays can only be accessed in PL/SQL. (not in SQL)
 They are modeled as similar to database tables but they are not permanent tables i.e. they
can be created and manipulated only in PL/SQL block.
 Index can be of any data type.
 We can store unlimited values.
 Suitable for storing and displaying the values of one column of a table given by a cursor.
 These Associate arrays do not require initialization and have no constructor syntax.
 No need to allocate space before assigning values (i.e. no extend method is required) as in
Varrays and Nested tables.
 Associate arrays cannot be used in tables. They may be used only as programming
structures i.e. in pl/sql.

 
Example1:-
[sql]DECLARE
       /* declaring the Index-by-table or associate array based on the “emp” table type*/
    TYPE enametab IS TABLE OF emp.ename%TYPE
    INDEX BY BINARY_INTEGER;
         /*assigning the tabletype variable into anther variable which same as table type variable*/
    enames   enametab;
        /*declaring the cursor*/
    CURSOR emp_cur
    IS
    SELECT ename FROM emp;
    v_num NUMBER;
BEGIN
     v_num:=1;
     FOR v_ec IN emp_cur
     LOOP
         /*assign the index based on the ename’s of the “emp” table*/
     enames (v_num):= v_ec.ename;
     v_num:=v_num+1;
     END LOOP;
          /*print the elements in “enames” type by using table type methods i.e. FIRST and LAST*/
     FOR i IN enames.FIRST.. enames.LAST
     LOOP
       DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line (enames (i));
     END LOOP;
END;[/sql]
Output:-

anonymous block completed

KING    /*DBMS output */
BLAKE
CLARK
ALLEN
WARD
MARTIN
TURNER
JAMES
MILLER

 
Example2:-
[sql]DECLARE
       /*define variables to traverse a string indexed associative array.*/
   current VARCHAR2 (9 CHAR);
   element INTEGER;
       /* define required collection data types. */
       /* first define varray of size 12. */
   TYPE months_table IS VARRAY (12) OF VARCHAR2 (10);
      /*define a pl/sql table type */
   TYPE calendar_table IS TABLE OF VARCHAR2 (9) INDEX BY VARCHAR2 (9);
   /*declare a varray.*/
   month_list months_table :=
   months_table(‘January’,’February’,’March’,’April’,’May’,’June’
      ,’July’,’August’,’September’,’October’,’November’,’December’);
   /*declare empty associative array.*/
   Calendar_num calendar_table;
BEGIN
        /*Check if calendar has no elements.*/
   IF Calendar_num.COUNT = 0
   THEN
        /* Print assignment output title.*/
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (‘Assignment loop :’);
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (‘—————-‘);
      FOR i IN month_list.FIRST.. month_list.LAST
      LOOP
         Calendar_num(month_list(i)):= TO_CHAR (i);
         DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (‘Index [‘|| month_list(i)||’] is [‘||i||’]’);
      END LOOP;
            /* Print assigned output title.*/
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT (CHR (10));
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (‘Post-assignment loop:’);
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (‘———————‘);
      FOR i IN 1.. Calendar_num.COUNT
      LOOP
         IF i = 1 THEN
               /*assign the first character index to a variable.*/
            current := Calendar_num.FIRST;
                /* Use the derived index to find the next index.*/
            element := Calendar_num(current);
         ELSE
               /*Check if next index value exists.*/
            IF Calendar_num.NEXT (current) IS NOT NULL
            THEN
                /*Assign the character index to a variable.*/
               current := Calendar_num.NEXT (current);
                /*Use the derived index to find the next index.*/
               element := Calendar_num(current);
            ELSE
                /* Exit loop since last index value is read.*/
               EXIT;
            END IF;
         END IF;
                /*Print an indexed element from the array.*/
         DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE (‘Index [‘||current||’] is [‘||element||’]’);
      END LOOP;
   END IF;
END;[/sql]
Output:-

anonymous block completed

Assignment loop :        /* DBMS output and it may be different in your systems */
----------------
Index [January] is [1]    
Index [February] is [2]
Index [March] is [3]
Index [April] is [4]
Index [May] is [5]
Index [June] is [6]
Index [July] is [7]
Index [August] is [8]
Index [September] is [9]
Index [October] is [10]
Index [November] is [11]
Index [December] is [12]

Post-assignment loop:
---------------------
Index [April] is [4]
Index [August] is [8]
Index [December] is [12]
Index [February] is [2]
Index [January] is [1]
Index [July] is [7]
Index [June] is [6]
Index [March] is [3]
Index [May] is [5]
Index [November] is [11]
Index [October] is [10]
Index [September] is [9]