Parameter has incorrect value

Question

I have a simple test function that I have tried with both ODP.NET and MS Data Provider for Oracle. The same code (except for the datatype args when adding an OracleParameter) is used in both projects. The MS one works fine. But in the ODP.NET one, the first parameter passed in (In_A) is always 0 (zero) inside the function (I am saving it in a table). Why is it changing from
the original value (1234567890123456789) to 0?
Here is the VB.Net code and the function:
Dim oCon As OracleConnection
Dim oCmd As OracleCommand
Dim sSessID As String
Try
oCon = New OracleConnection("Data Source=DEV;User ID=XX;Password=XXXX;")
oCon.Open()
oCmd = New OracleCommand("SYSVC.CP_PACK.DOTNET_TEST", oCon)
oCmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure
oCmd.Parameters.Add(New OracleParameter("In_A", OracleDbType.Varchar2, 19, ParameterDirection.Input, False, 0, 0, "", DataRowVersion.Current, "1234567890123456789"))
oCmd.Parameters.Add(New OracleParameter("Out_B", OracleDbType.Int16, 7, ParameterDirection.Output, True, 0, 0, "", DataRowVersion.Current, Convert.DBNull))
oCmd.Parameters.Add(New OracleParameter("Out_C", OracleDbType.Varchar2, 19, ParameterDirection.Output, True, 0, 0, "", DataRowVersion.Current, Convert.DBNull))
oCmd.Parameters.Add(New OracleParameter("DOTNET_TEST", OracleDbType.Varchar2, 19, ParameterDirection.ReturnValue, True, 0, 0, "", DataRowVersion.Current, Convert.DBNull))
oCmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
Catch ex As Exception
Throw New Exception(ex.Message & " -- " & sSessID, ex)
End Try
sSessID = oCmd.Parameters("DOTNET_TEST").Value
oCmd.Dispose()
oCmd = Nothing
oCon.Close()
oCon = Nothing
Logon = sSessID
FUNCTION DOTNET_TEST(In_A IN VARCHAR2,
Out_B OUT NUMBER,
Out_C OUT VARCHAR2) RETURN VARCHAR2
IS
BEGIN
SELECT h.co_num, h.acct_num
INTO out_b, out_c
FROM def_acct_hdr h
WHERE h.acct_num = in_a AND actv = -1;
RETURN out_c;
EXCEPTION
WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND THEN
DECLARE
errorMessage VarChar2(300) := SQLERRM;
BEGIN
errorMessage := In_A || ':' || Out_B || ':' || Out_C;
INSERT INTO cp_err(cp_cd, acct_num, err_msg, cr8_dt)
VALUES(NULL, In_A, errorMessage,SYSDATE);
RETURN 'XXXXXXX';
END;
WHEN OTHERS THEN
DECLARE
errorCode NUMBER := SQLCODE;
errorMessage VarChar2(300) := SQLERRM;
BEGIN
errorMessage := 'Error in DOTNET_TEST Procedure: ' || TO_CHAR(errorCode) || ': ' || errorMessage;
Raise_Application_Error(-20001, errorMessage);
END;
END DOTNET_TEST;
Thanks for any help!
Chris Garland
Volvo
[email protected]
[phone]

Answer 1

I still need help with this!
I'm getting an InvalidCastException; which I think is occuring on this line:
sSessID = oCmd.Parameters("DOTNET_TEST").Value
See above code for the declarations.
How can I get the actual string value from a "OUT" OracleParameter with an OracleString structure type?
1) I'm writing in VB.NET not c#
2) sSessID is a .NET String type. I don't want an OracleString structure. I just want the returned value assigned to the .NET String sSessID. The original error is "Cast from type 'OracleString' to type 'String' is not valid."
How come only a DataReader seems to have an easy way to cast an Oracle string to a .Net string (.ToString)? I would think that if Oracle were providing a tool (ODP.NET) for people developing against an Oracle database in .NET, they would provide simple methods for casting their datatypes into .Net datatypes for all access methods (DataSet, DataReader AND OUT OracleParameters. Why would someone want an OracleString structure in .Net? It's useless. I can see that when a value is passed back to Oracle you would want it passed in a datatype common to Oracle. But why would I want a useless structure after I've retrieved the data on the .Net side?
Sorry for the[i]Long postings are being truncated to ~1 kB at this time.