Verifying that a date does not exceed sysdate

Question

This is probably an easy task, however I'm having difficulty having Application Express validate that a date selected by the user using a drop-down date picker is <= sysdate. The date picker is formatted as 'MM/DD/YYYY'.
I've tried various combinations of to_char and to_date will no success. When I use :P22_INSPECTION_DATE <= SYSDATE I get an error 'ORA-01843: not a valid month'
Using :P22_INSPECTION_DATE <= to_char(SYSDATE, 'MM/DD/YYYY') the form kicks back saying that dates from last year are not valid. For example it shows that 09/01/2006 is not <= today's date of 01/03/2007.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Jason,</BR></BR>
Despite the format mask on the date picker the item P22_INSPECTION it is still a string. Apex validates '09/01/2006' <= '01/03/2007'. Note the quotes, Apex compares strings, not dates. Comparing dates is done by: to_date(:P22_INSPECTION_DATE,'MM/DD/YYYY') <= SYSDATE</BR></BR>
A more elegant way of converting dates into strings with avoiding the hard coded date mask is by using the substitution string PICK_DATE_FORMAT_MASK. You find more information about it here.
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Jornica