nrr@inesc.UUCP (Nuno R. Rua) (08/04/89)
Hi netlanders!
(this is my first posting. please forgive me any mistakes)
Here at INESC we've choose to use ORACLE in an application which needed
distributed capabilities, but we're having some troubles in ORACLE SQL*Forms.
Is there any ORACLE guru that can tell us what we're doing wrong,
or if this is a bug in ORACLE ?
The problem arose when we tried to use a date/time field, using virtual
characters fields and post-change triggers. We could not update time values
in those fields (the time was always 0:00).
Then we tried to separate the fields date and time, creating a number(7)
and a number(5) in database tables, and choosing EDATE and TIME datatypes
in SQL*Forms (as described in pp.7-9 of SQL*Forms Designer's Reference).
It seemed to work well but then some strange error messages appeared
when working with those forms:
"Inconsistent RBA translation" and other cryptic messages.
We finally think to have tracked down the problem. Here's the script :
"Create a table with a number(5) field.
Create a form with only that field, changing its datatype to time.
Try doing some inserts, updates and querys on that form."
We've tried this on 2 different machines (an Olivetti LSX3020 running
ORACLE V5.1.17.4 on UNIX system V, and a VAXstation 2000 running ORACLE
V5.1.22.1 with Ultrix 4.2) and both had some strange behave.
When the field has length 5 (for HH:MM), you can not change previously
inserted values. The error message was:
"RECORD CHANGED BY ANOTHER USER; RE-QUERY TO SEE CHANGE, UPDATE OR DELETE"
(I was the only user in the machine at the time).
In one machine, we could not insert time values without seconds
(although the help screen showed: Data type= TIME, Format= HH:MM[:SS])
Is this optional or what ? -------------^---^
If the field is 8 characters long, the problem with inserts and updates
seems to be gone, but try to do some querys. It'll retrieve values that
do not match the input. Besides that, we can not afford to impose the users
of this application, to enter irrelevant values as these seconds.
Is there a bug in ORACLE time datatype fields ?
Is it possible that we have a problem in BOTH our installations ?
If someone knows a solution to this, please tell us (quickly please.
We have to have a prototype ready for next month, and this is postponing
our vacations :-).
--
Nuno Neves Rua
INESC, Lisboa, Portugal. Telef. 351.1.545150
Rua Alves Redol, 9 Fax. 351.1.525843
Apartado 10105 UUCP: ...!mcvax!inesc!nrr@sis
1017 LISBOA CODEX.