NUMBER format

[Gaffer]

Hi there, dumb question (Oracle 8)

I have created a table in Oracle8, of which there are several fields of type NUMBER (Length 22, Scale 2, Precision 38).

When data is inserted into this table, and the table viewed via ODBC to say Access, or VB, the fields I was expecting to be numerical are in fact textual.

And when I view the tables directly on the Oracle db using a GUI (such as PL/SQL developer), the same fields have the data aligned left, as if they are textual.

Any ideas? I need to have these field viewed as numerical. Do I need to change the data type structure of the table?

[Heath]

Originally posted by Gaffer
Hi there, dumb question (Oracle 8)

I have created a table in Oracle8, of which there are several fields of type NUMBER (Length 22, Scale 2, Precision 38).

This number definition doesn't make sense to me; I'm not sure what you mean by length 22. What is the actual DDL statement used to create the table?

When data is inserted into this table, and the table viewed via ODBC to say Access, or VB, the fields I was expecting to be numerical are in fact textual.

And how did you determine that they are textual? I suspect that the actual datatype used to store the value in Access or VB is a Variant.

And when I view the tables directly on the Oracle db using a GUI (such as PL/SQL developer), the same fields have the data aligned left, as if they are textual.

I don't know anything about PL/SQL Developer, so I can't answer this.

Any ideas? I need to have these field viewed as numerical. Do I need to change the data type structure of the table?

I wouldn't think that at all. Don't confuse the presentation of the data with how it is stored in the database. If you are storing numbers, then you should use the NUMBER type in the database. If your front end isn't displaying them in a manner that you like, then address that in the front end.

Not sure if I helped,

Heath