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Should Oracle consider creating a new datatype to handle data in the
format '###.###.###.###' such as i.p. addresses and software version
numbers?
What sort of datatype would you call it if we could create a new data
type?
e.g. VERSION
You can not use NUMBER format because of the multiple periods. Programmers currently use VARCHAR2; but you get situations where programmers forget and store '9.2.0.1' and '10.0.0.1' where ten-dot is less than nine-dot (wrong).
What is the "best" data type for storing the information at present? Is that a good use for a custom object? How would you store the object into the database?
Do you have a PL/SQL stored procedure or function to parse and clense such data in your own internal applications as a work-around the current lack of a new data type?
Thanks in advance. Received on Tue Apr 26 2005 - 17:00:38 CDT