PL/ SQL homework question.

Question

I turn here because I have a bad teacher and I don't want to drop her course but I need help with trying to get a procedure to work. Be patient I will post the assignment first. Then I will post the code I created and the subsequent error that I get. Your help would be greatly appreciated. WARNING: It will be a long post.
Assignment:
The company wants to offer an incentive of free shipping to those customers who have not returned for two months. Create a procedure named PROMO_SHIP_SP that determines who these customers are and then updates the BB_PROMOLIST table accordingly. The procedure uses the following information:
1. Date cutoff = Any customers who have not shopped on the site since this date should be included as incentive participants. use the basket created date to reflect shopper activity dates.
2.) Month = Three-Character month (Such as APR) that should be added to the promotion table to indicate which month the free shipping is available.
3.) Year = Four digit year indicating the year the promotion is effective.
4.) PROMO_FLAG = 1 (representing free shipping).
The BB_PROMOLIST table also has a USED column, which contains a default value of 'N' and is updated to a 'Y' when the shopper uses the promotion. Test the procedure with a cutoff date of 15-FEB-03. Assign the free shipping for the month of APR and the year 2003.
Here is what I wrote based on the instructions:
create or replace procedure promo_ship1_sp
(--p_day in DATE,
p_mth in DATE,
p_yr in DATE)
IS
CURSOR cur_ship IS
SELECT idshopper, MAX(dtcreated) dt
from bb_basket
WHERE dtcreated < '15-FEB-03' -- AND
-- TO_CHAR(dtCreated, 'DD') = p_day
AND TO_CHAR(dtCreated, 'MON') = p_mth
AND TO_CHAR(dtcreated, 'YY') = p_yr
and orderplaced = 1
group by dtcreated;
promo_flag number; --(1);
v_cutoff DATE;
BEGIN
FOR rec_ship in cur_ship LOOP
IF rec_ship.dt < v_cutoff then
promo_flag := 1;
--END IF;
v_cutoff := to_char('15-FEB-03');
ELSIF rec_ship.dt > v_cutoff then
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Dont qualify for shipping.');
END IF;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(rec_ship.idshopper||' cart creation = '|| rec_ship.dt ||'
flag status = '|| promo_flag);
/* IF promo_flag IS NOT NULL THEN
insert into bb_promolist
VALUES (rec_ship.idshopper, p_mth, p_year, promo_flag, 'Y', 'APR-03');
-- END IF;
promo_flag := NULL; */
END LOOP;
--commit;
END;
ERROR I get from execution:
Procedure created.
SQL> execute promo_ship1_sp('FEB', '03');
BEGIN promo_ship1_sp('FEB', '03'); END;
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01858: a non-numeric character was found where a numeric was expected
ORA-06512: at line 1
SQL> execute promo_ship1_sp('03', 'FEB');
BEGIN promo_ship1_sp('03', 'FEB'); END;
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01840: input value not long enough for date format
ORA-06512: at line 1
SQL> execute promo_ship1_sp('2003', 'FEB');
BEGIN promo_ship1_sp('2003', 'FEB'); END;
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01861: literal does not match format string
ORA-06512: at line 1

Answer 1

The best advice we can give you is to do the simplest thing that could work. Quite often that is the best solution. One trap beginners often fall into is overcomplicating things. As it stands, the requirements you have been given can be met by a simple SQL INSERT statement driving off a subquery on the basket table.
I will post a solution: it's up to you to decide whether you want to look at it or figure it out for yourself ;)
This code has not been tested as you haven't given us the structure of the underlying tables, so you may need to debug it.
Cheers, APC
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create or replace procedure promo_ship_sp
     (p_cutoff in DATE
       , p_mth in varchar2
       , p_yr in varchar2
       , p_promo_flag number: =1)
is
begin
     insert into bb_promolist
     select distinct idshopper
          , p_mth
          , p_year
          , p_promo_flag
          , 'N'
     from bb_basket
     where dtcreated <= p_cutoff
     and orderplaced = 1;
end promo_ship_sp;     
/