Error in filter with SQL Expression

Question

HI Experts,
I have a sql query which works fine, but have to_date funtion() in the where clause as below :
and oe.ORDERED_DATE BETWEEN to_date('09-APR-2009 23:59:59','DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS')
AND to_date('10-APR-2009 23:59:59','DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS')
and (ol.ORDERED_ITEM LIKE 'abckdo%' OR ol.ORDERED_ITEM LIKE 'xysalnb%')
I am trying to create an OBIEE report with filter where the values of the filter are select as SQL Expression. and gave value to first variable as "to_date('09-APR-2009 23:59:59','DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS')" and the second variable as " to_date('10-APR-2009 23:59:59','DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS')"
But the report is giving me an error. If I remove the date condition, then the report works fine. Can anyone give some inputs in resolving the problem. The mentioning of the HH24:MI:SS is very import to get the right resultset.
Thanks in Advance.
svr

Answer 1

Hi SVR,
I've had similar difficulties in the past with OBIEE and using the TO_DATE in the logical SQL expressions. I'm not sure if OBIEE recognizes TO_DATE or if it only recognizes TO_DATE is certain situations.
However, I believe OBIEE recognizes the CAST( AS DATE) in all situations. Here's what I would recommend doing.
1) Go into the connection pool associated with the report your creating and click on the second tab, "Connection Scripts"
2) In the "Execute on Connect" area, click the "New" button and paste the following code: alter session set NLS_DATE_FORMAT='DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS' ** this step changes the default DD-MON-YYYY format of Oracle, to the format you will be giving the data in.
3) Save the RPD and bounce the services if you made this change off-line.
4) Instead of using TO_DATE() on your formulas, use CAST('09-APR-2009 23:59:59' AS DATE). Since we changed the default DATE mask to be the format that you're passing in, you should no longer see any issues.
Hope that helps!
-Joe