How do I manage column order when using PL/SQL's %ROWTYPE records? I have a table with a large number of columns, which has data gathered from several other tables. I want to write some PL/SQL like:

DECLARE
  TYPE t_toptab_list IS TABLE OF toptab%ROWTYPE;
  l_data t_toptab_list;
BEGIN
  SELECT ... -- many columns, with some manipulation, etc.
  BULK COLLECT INTO l_data
  FROM a,b,c,d
  WHERE ... -- join and filter, etc.

  -- EDIT:
  FORALL i IN 1..l_data.count
    INSERT INTO toptab VALUES l_data(i);
END;


In order for the BULK COLLECT to work properly, I have to list the columns in the SELECT clause in exactly the same order as they are declared in the toptab table. So the problem is that this code would be run in multiple environments. How do I either: (a) guarantee that all environments have the exact same column ordering, or (b) explicitly specify which columns go to which record elements but still use a bulk bind?

I understand that (a) could be done through strict schema management procedures. But let's say that's not an option here. In fact the different schemas may already have different column orderings. Can I reorder the columns without rebuilding the entire table? (Prohibitive.)

I know that (b) can be accomplished without the BULK COLLECT by explicitly selecting into each record element, but I really want to do it in bulk.

Any ideas?

Edit: I want to bulk insert into toptab with the data I've collected. I separate these two steps because I need to batch the inserts into smaller transactions. (We use streams and find smaller transactions keep things moving smoother. However, batching each transaction is still much faster than doing N individual inserts.)
If the definition of toptab will potentially be different in different environments (which is, of course, a separate issue that needs addressing), your options would generally be to either create an object type that does have a defined order and BULK COLLECT into that or to define a different collection for each column that you specify as the targets of your BULK COLLECT.

For the object approach, you'd define an object

CREATE TYPE toptab_like_object
    AS OBJECT (
  col1 number,
  col2 number,
  ...
  colN number
 );


and then use that object rather than the %ROWTYPE in your code

DECLARE
  TYPE t_toptab_list IS TABLE OF toptab_like_object;
  l_data t_toptab_list;
BEGIN
  SELECT toptab_like_object( ... ) -- many columns, with some manipulation, etc.
  BULK COLLECT INTO l_data
  FROM a,b,c,d
  WHERE ... -- join and filter, etc.
END;


You could also define a different collection for each column (you could probably define a much smaller number of collection types)

DECLARE
  TYPE t_col1_list IS TABLE OF toptab.col1%TYPE;
  TYPE t_col2_list IS TABLE OF toptab.col2%TYPE;
  ...
  TYPE t_colN_list IS TABLE OF toptab.colN%TYPE;

  l_col1 t_col1_list;
  l_col2 t_col2_list;
  ...
  l_colN t_colN_list;
BEGIN
  SELECT ... -- many columns, with some manipulation, etc.
  BULK COLLECT INTO l_col1, l_col2, ... l_colN
  FROM a,b,c,d
  WHERE ... -- join and filter, etc.
END;