SQL Bug on 11.2

Question

We recently upgraded to 11.2, but had to downgrade back to 10.2 due to an error with part of our application. This error does not occur in version 10 or 11.1. We are running Oracle on Windows 2003 Server (happens on my laptop also, Windows 7). We have asked a customer to run the query who run Oracle on Linux, same problem.
To replicate this, I have simplified the table, view and query below, but the error still occurs. Note that it is four queries unioned. My developers insist that this is best practice to get the data they want so who am I to argue - fact that there are full table scans going on is irrelevant. Run each query on its own is fine. Take the last unioned query out and it works fine. Have all four queries and it fails.
Table required:
Create table GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA (
LOCATIONID NUMBER(8) ,
CALL_LOCATIONID NUMBER(8) ,
LOC_SEQ NUMBER(3) ,
CONTACTID NUMBER(8) ,
CALL_CONTACTID NUMBER(8) ,
CALL_SEQ NUMBER(3) ,
LOC_REFNO VARCHAR2(60) ,
PHONE VARCHAR2(40) ,
PHONE_TYPE VARCHAR2(8) ,
CASENO VARCHAR2(12) ,
VERSION NUMBER(3) ,
REP_SEQ NUMBER(3));
View required:
CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW VW_GT_CONTACT_TEL
AS
SELECT LOCATIONID, CONTACTID, CASENO, REP_SEQ, PHONE, LOC_REFNO
FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA
WHERE PHONE_TYPE = 'TEL';
The query:
SELECT DISTINCT DR.LOCATIONID, DR.CALL_LOCATIONID, DR.LOC_SEQ, DR.CONTACTID, DR.CALL_CONTACTID, DR.CALL_SEQ,DR.CASENO, DR.VERSION, DR.REP_SEQ,
DR.LOC_REFNO, DR1.PHONE
FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA DR LEFT OUTER JOIN VW_GT_CONTACT_TEL DR1 ON DR1.LOCATIONID = DR.LOCATIONID AND DR1.CONTACTID = DR.CONTACTID
AND DR.CASENO = DR1.CASENO
WHERE DR.CASENO IS NOT NULL AND
(DR.LOCATIONID,DR.CONTACTID) IN (SELECT LOCATIONID,CONTACTID FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA D
WHERE CASENO IS NULL AND D.CONTACTID = DR.CONTACTID
AND D.LOCATIONID = DR.LOCATIONID)
UNION
SELECT DISTINCT DD.LOCATIONID, DD.CALL_LOCATIONID, DD.LOC_SEQ, DD.CONTACTID, DD.CALL_CONTACTID, DD.CALL_SEQ,DD.CASENO, DD.VERSION, DD.REP_SEQ,
DD.LOC_REFNO, DD1.PHONE
FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA DD LEFT OUTER JOIN VW_GT_CONTACT_TEL DD1 ON DD1.LOCATIONID = DD.LOCATIONID AND DD1.CONTACTID = DD.CONTACTID
AND DD.CASENO = DD1.CASENO
WHERE DD.CASENO IS NULL AND
(DD.LOCATIONID,DD.CONTACTID) IN (SELECT LOCATIONID,CONTACTID FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA D
WHERE CASENO IS NOT NULL AND D.CONTACTID = DD.CONTACTID
AND D.LOCATIONID = DD.LOCATIONID)
union
SELECT DISTINCT DR.LOCATIONID, DR.CALL_LOCATIONID, DR.LOC_SEQ, DR.CONTACTID, DR.CALL_CONTACTID, DR.CALL_SEQ,DR.CASENO, DR.VERSION, DR.REP_SEQ,
DR.LOC_REFNO, DD.PHONE
FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA DR LEFT OUTER JOIN VW_GT_CONTACT_TEL DD ON DD.CASENO = DR.CASENO AND DD.REP_SEQ = DR.REP_SEQ
AND DR.CASENO = DD.CASENO
WHERE DR.CASENO IS NOT NULL
AND (DR.LOCATIONID,DR.CONTACTID) NOT IN (SELECT LOCATIONID,CONTACTID FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA WHERE CASENO IS NULL)
UNION
SELECT DISTINCT DD.LOCATIONID, DD.CALL_LOCATIONID, DD.LOC_SEQ, DD.CONTACTID, DD.CALL_CONTACTID, DD.CALL_SEQ,DD.CASENO, DD.VERSION, DD.REP_SEQ,
DD.LOC_REFNO, DD1.PHONE
FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA DD LEFT OUTER JOIN VW_GT_CONTACT_TEL DD1 ON DD1.LOCATIONID = DD.LOCATIONID AND DD1.CONTACTID = DD.CONTACTID
AND DD.CASENO = DD1.CASENO
WHERE DD.CASENO IS NULL
AND (DD.LOCATIONID,DD.CONTACTID) NOT IN (SELECT LOCATIONID,CONTACTID FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA WHERE CASENO IS NOT NULL);
Error:
Error at Command Line:43 Column:90
Error report:
SQL Error: ORA-01790: expression must have same datatype as corresponding expression
01790. 00000 - "expression must have same datatype as corresponding expression"
*Cause:   
*Action:
Anyone have any idea what could be causing this and what we can do (apart from the obvious splitting the query) to fix this.
Many thanks.
James

Answer 1

I Can reproduce the issue without problem.
The query however needs to be revised, as all DISTINCTs are redundant: UNION will filter out duplicates as UNION is a set operation and by definition sets don't contain duplicates.
I have formatted the query to make it readable
SELECT  DR.LOCATIONID,
        DR.CALL_LOCATIONID,
        DR.LOC_SEQ,
        DR.CONTACTID,
        DR.CALL_CONTACTID,
        DR.CALL_SEQ,
        DR.CASENO,
        DR.VERSION,
        DR.REP_SEQ,
        DR.LOC_REFNO,
        DR1.PHONE
FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA DR LEFT OUTER JOIN VW_GT_CONTACT_TEL DR1
ON DR1.LOCATIONID = DR.LOCATIONID
AND DR1.CONTACTID = DR.CONTACTID
AND DR.CASENO = DR1.CASENO
WHERE DR.CASENO IS NOT NULL  -- CASENO IS NOT NULL AND A CORRESPONDING NULL CASENO EXISTS
AND  (DR.LOCATIONID,DR.CONTACTID) IN
     (SELECT LOCATIONID,CONTACTID
      FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA D
      WHERE CASENO IS NULL
        AND D.CONTACTID = DR.CONTACTID
       AND D.LOCATIONID = DR.LOCATIONID
UNION
SELECT DD.LOCATIONID,
       DD.CALL_LOCATIONID,
       DD.LOC_SEQ,
       DD.CONTACTID,
       DD.CALL_CONTACTID,
       DD.CALL_SEQ,
       DD.CASENO,
       DD.VERSION,
       DD.REP_SEQ,
       DD.LOC_REFNO,
DD1.PHONE
FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA DD LEFT OUTER JOIN VW_GT_CONTACT_TEL DD1
  ON DD1.LOCATIONID = DD.LOCATIONID
AND DD1.CONTACTID = DD.CONTACTID
AND DD.CASENO = DD1.CASENO
WHERE DD.CASENO IS NULL -- CASENO IS NULL AND A CORRESPONDING NOT NULL CASENO EXISTS
  AND (DD.LOCATIONID,DD.CONTACTID)
IN (SELECT LOCATIONID,CONTACTID
    FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA D
    WHERE CASENO IS NOT NULL AND D.CONTACTID = DD.CONTACTID
    AND D.LOCATIONID = DD.LOCATIONID
union
SELECT  DR.LOCATIONID,
        DR.CALL_LOCATIONID,
        DR.LOC_SEQ,
        DR.CONTACTID,
        DR.CALL_CONTACTID,
        DR.CALL_SEQ,
        DR.CASENO,
        DR.VERSION,
        DR.REP_SEQ,
        DR.LOC_REFNO,
        DD.PHONE
FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA DR LEFT OUTER JOIN VW_GT_CONTACT_TEL DD
  ON DD.CASENO = DR.CASENO
  AND DD.REP_SEQ = DR.REP_SEQ
  AND DR.CASENO = DD.CASENO
WHERE DR.CASENO IS NOT NULL
AND (DR.LOCATIONID,DR.CONTACTID)
NOT IN (SELECT LOCATIONID,CONTACTID
        FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA
        WHERE CASENO IS NULL
UNION
SELECT DD.LOCATIONID,
       DD.CALL_LOCATIONID,
       DD.LOC_SEQ,
       DD.CONTACTID,
       DD.CALL_CONTACTID,
       DD.CALL_SEQ,
       DD.CASENO,
       DD.VERSION,
       DD.REP_SEQ,
       DD.LOC_REFNO,
       DD1.PHONE
FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA DD LEFT OUTER JOIN VW_GT_CONTACT_TEL DD1
ON DD1.LOCATIONID = DD.LOCATIONID
AND DD1.CONTACTID = DD.CONTACTID
AND DD.CASENO = DD1.CASENO
WHERE DD.CASENO IS NULL
AND (DD.LOCATIONID,DD.CONTACTID) NOT IN
(SELECT LOCATIONID,CONTACTID
FROM GT_CONTACT_LVL1_DATA
WHERE CASENO IS NOT NULL
Sybrand Bakker
Senior Oracle DBA