Numeric Output problem with 'MS ODBC Driver to Oracle'/Access'97/Oracle

Dear Reader,

Please help identifying the following problem.

DETAILS:
I created a pass-through query in MS Access as shown below. We are running Oracle in UNIX host as our back-end database, and use 'Microsoft ODBC driver to Oracle' and MS Access'97 as front-end tools.

 select 40000
 from dual

The version of our back-end database is Oracle 7.3. The error message as shown below is returned when the query executes:  'ODBC--call failed', and '[Microsoft][ODBC driver for Oracle]Error in column 1: Numeric value out of range [#0]', one after another.

When the number quoted in the query decreases to 32767, it works as expected. It continues to work until the number is less than -32768. Besides, the query with decimals like the following one returns only the integer portion 100 instead of the expected 100.125.  select 100.125
 from dual

I don't need to know the workaround since I've already had one. The reason why it is so is my main concern. Will it be a bug in MS Access? Or, is it a limitation of the ODBC driver that it handles number with signed integer of size 2^15? Or, is it a problem with the Oracle Server? If it is a know problem, please tell me the key to the source of information.

Actually, I have emailed to Microsoft with this question in early-March. They have not given any advice up till now.

Your help is much appreciated.

Rgds. Received on Wed Apr 28 1999 - 22:19:07 CDT