Validation To check numeric value

Question

BEGIN
IF :P3_TOTAL_AMOUNT >= :P3_NET_AMOUNT THEN
RETURN TRUE;
ELSE
RETURN FALSE;
END IF;
END;
The function returning boolean should compare total amount and net amount and through error if it less than net amount.
It works fine when the value of TOTAL amoun =365 and value of net amount = 364*(if it is all numeric value and no zero behind it)*
But the problem is
when is use Total amount = 9 and net amount = 100 (It doesnt works becuse it just takes 1 from the net amount and eliminates the zeros behind the 1(100) and it doesnt comes up with a error after validation )
Is there any one who can help me with this
Thanks,
Hary

Answer 1

Lev,
I'm not sure I follow. If you use to_number with a format mask and the user doesn't follow your mask, you'll get an error:select to_number('1000','999G990') from dual;This throws an "ORA-01722: invalid number" exception. That's why I say to try calling to_number without a format mask first, to handle the trivial case of the user not putting in the grouping separators (or whatever else is involved in your format).
You could, of course, put in a validation to make sure that the number follows the format you're expecting before you convert it (either for further validation, as in the original post, or for processing), but then you have multiple places where the format mask is specified--not to mention the annoyance for users when they put in a number only to be told that they need to use the appropriate grouping separators as well. My solution uses the data dictionary to get the format mask assigned to the page item and feeds that to to_number; if I change the page item's format mask, all of my processes automatically handle the new format. Because of the extra lookup, it's slightly slower than hard-coding the format mask, but that should be minimal as long as you don't use it in a where clause.
-David