Update table problem

Question

Hello,
I want to update table building_test from table buildings if name is null or if county_id or region_id is null or -1
The below query works fine if my building_test table contains null values. if I add a test value with region or county -1, I get the error below.
Note: table building are in a remote DB. I just make it simple to post it to the forum.
Tha datatypes of the tables are OK.
Oracle is 9i
BEGIN
FOR i IN (
SELECT building_id, name, county_id, region_id
FROM buildings
WHERE building_id IN (SELECT building_id
FROM building_test
WHERE name IS NULL
OR county_id IS NULL
OR region_id IS NULL
OR county_id = '-1'
OR region_id = '-1'
LOOP
UPDATE building_test
SET name = i.name
WHERE building_id = i.building_id
AND name IS NULL;
UPDATE building_test
SET county_id = i.county_id
WHERE building_id = i.building_id
AND county_id IS NULL
OR county_id = -1;
UPDATE building_test
SET region_id = i.region_id
WHERE building_id = i.building_id
AND region_id IS NULL
OR region_id = -1;
END LOOP;
END;
Error starting at line 5 in command:
Error report:
ORA-01401: inserted value too large for column
ORA-06512: at line 17
01401. 00000 - "inserted value too large for column"
*Cause:   
*Action:
Any help will be much appreciated.
Thank you.

Answer 1

it's not always clear, what AND and OR combinations really do:
WHERE building_id = i.building_id
AND county_id IS NULL
OR county_id = -1;can mean
WHERE (building_id = i.building_id AND county_id IS NULL) OR county_id IS NULL 
*OR*
WHERE building_id = i.building_id AND (county_id IS NULL OR county_id IS NULL)try with brackets and post the result.