HTMLDB search on columns defined as data type date

Question

I have a HTMLDB applications that has a date column in the report. When I search and enter a date, no rows are returned. How do I enter the date in search text so that rows are returned?

Answer 1

Hi Suresh:
This is what I would do.
Here is the demo...Hope this will help.
BHAVESH@oracle10> create table suresh(created_date date, attribute1 varchar2(20));
Table created.
BHAVESH@oracle10> desc suresh
Name Null? Type
CREATED_DATE DATE
ATTRIBUTE1 VARCHAR2(20)
BHAVESH@oracle10> insert into suresh values (sysdate,to_char(sysdate,'yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:SS'));
1 row created.
BHAVESH@oracle10> insert into suresh values (null,to_char(sysdate,'yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:SS'));
1 row created.
BHAVESH@oracle10> select * from suresh;
CREATED_DATE ATTRIBUTE1
01/01/2009 11:24:08 AM 2009/01/01 11:01:08
2009/01/01 11:01:28
BHAVESH@oracle10> -- please notice my nls_date_format is mm/dd/yyyy hh:mi:ss AM
BHAVESH@oracle10> -- which can be changed to anything...use alter session or on windows..using registry..or on server
BHAVESH@oracle10> -- ....using nls_date_format init parameter.
BHAVESH@oracle10> alter session set nls_date_format = 'DD-MM-YYYY';
Session altered.
BHAVESH@oracle10> select * from suresh;
CREATED_DA ATTRIBUTE1
01-01-2009 2009/01/01 11:01:08
2009/01/01 11:01:28
BHAVESH@oracle10> -- however, this may not work for you.
BHAVESH@oracle10> -- so, you can convert the date in the format you want
BHAVESH@oracle10> select to_char(created_date,'DD-MM-YYYY') as converted_date, ATTRIBUTE1 from suresh;
CONVERTED_ ATTRIBUTE1
01-01-2009 2009/01/01 11:01:08
2009/01/01 11:01:28
BHAVESH@oracle10> -- now use the decode function
BHAVESH@oracle10> ed
Wrote file afiedt.buf
1* select s.*, to_char(decode(created_date,null,to_date(ATTRIBUTE1,'yyyy/mm/dd hh:mi:ss')),'dd-mm-yyyy') as new_date from suresh s
BHAVESH@oracle10> /
CREATED_DA ATTRIBUTE1 NEW_DATE
01-01-2009 2009/01/01 11:01:08
2009/01/01 11:01:28 01-01-2009
If your date format is different under the attribute1 column, then you have to write a PL/SQL function to handle different date formats under the same column of different column!
THanks
- Bhavesh