NLS_DATE_FORMAT setting on my local pc

Question

Hello, I am running into a small problem and need some expertise on how to fix it. I am making the following SP call from my Database server:
SQL> exec SP_STAGED_CUSTOMER_PROCESS;
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
As you can see, it works fine.
The NLS_DATE_FORMAT on the server is set to
DD-MM-YYYY HH24:MI:SS
When I run the same SP on my local machine against the same database, I get the following error:
SQL> exec SP_STAGED_CUSTOMER_PROCESS;
BEGIN SP_STAGED_CUSTOMER_PROCESS; END;
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error
ORA-06512: at "CRM.SP_STAGED_CUSTOMER_PROCESS", line 479
ORA-20001: Error processing Additional Info query "UPDATE CUSTOMER SET
ANNIVERSARY_DATE='19-May-01' WHERE CUSTOMER_ID = 10009": -1843:ORA-01843: not a
valid month:50001001510100000230
ORA-06512: at line 1
If I do a select SYSDATE from DUAL on my local pc, it is in the following format:
09/19/2006 09:56:21
I need it to be the same as the Database server setting of:
DD-MM-YYYY HH24:MI:SS
Is there somewhere on my local pc that I can specify this or have it use the server side value. I can not be doing an alter session each time to correct this. There must be a config file somewhere where I can define this.
David

Answer 1

It seems the NLS_DATE_FORMAT setting on your server and the database are different. If it's not explicitly set in the database, the default value is dictated by the NLS_TERRITORY setting. If you set the format in the server environment, the default format is overwritten by this environment variable. However, when you call a SP from a client, there is no environment variable setting, so the database format comes into play. Make sure why you need to set the environment variable. If you don't need it, remove it and modify the SP to accept the date value according to the database format. Then it should work whether you run the program from the server or the client.