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October 25, 2006
Oracle Dates and Times -- Success!
In my last blog I described my efforts to convert some varchar2 table columns into their proper date formats. I'm happy to report that this conversion is finished and that I can now display the dates and times appropriately within my calendar views. Having these values in their proper date format will make things easier for the long term of the project, and I'm glad I decided to dive into the mechanics of this change sooner rather than later.
Having the date columns in their proper format will save space within the table, as I now have one column each for the start- and end-dates and times. Previously, I had separate columns for the day-of-the-week, start-date, start-time, end-date and end-time values, all in varchar2 format. Now, to display the desired outputs within the calendar views, I'm using Oracle's trim and to_char functions extensively. The to_char function allows me to extract what I want to display; for example, a day-of-the-week ('Day'), date (I prefer the format 'MM/DD/YY') and time ('HH12:MI AM'). While I realize this represents a very basic (introductory) understanding of Oracle dates and times, I'll have ample opportunity to expand my knowledge later in this project.
I'm still finalizing some coding details with some of my calendar views, especially those for Proctors and Notetakers within the Office of Disability Services. I expect to have these views working properly within the next day or so.
Posted by goodeld at October 25, 2006 11:54 AM