Re: Forms 4.5, Personal Oracle7 & FRM-40654

In article <3o2ohk$1ot_at_ionews.ionet.net>, Lee Mayhew (lmayhew_at_ionet.net) writes:
>
>Thanks for all the comments and suggestions... After a little playing
>around with Forms 4.5 and some data this weekend. I noticed that I
>didn't get the FRM-40654 when I used a VARCHAR2 variable on a second
>update. I was using CHAR variable. I changed all of my CHAR variables
>to VARCHAR2 and it seems to work fine.
>
>I am sort of clueless is to why one works and the other does.. But anyway
>beware of the CHAR variable.
>
>Lee Mayhew
Howdy Lee,

The answer lies partly in the CHAR data_type, which under Orcale 7xxxx is a fixed length data_type. Orcale fills the column with spaces (ASCIII 32) if the data does not fill the column, whereas VARCHAR2 does not.

Secondly, SQL*Plus and Forms parse and create the query differently.

As a quick demo, create a query under the forms thatw will result in an error (In other words, force the error), and then SHOW ERROR, you will see that the query is treated differently.

CHAR cannot be used in Forms 4xxx as a part of a Master/Detail relationship either, I suppose there _is_ a need for CHAR, but t's sure a bummer when you try to use in Forms, unless it's used carefully.

Regards,
Alex Long    

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