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Q199293: PRB: Numeric Value Out of Range Error with MS Oracle ODBC Driver

Article: Q199293
Product(s): Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)
Version(s): 2.5,Build 2.573.2927,Build 2.573.3513
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kberrmsg kbProgramming kbDatabase kbDriver kbODBC kbOracle kbGrpDSMDAC kbDSupport kbGrp
Last Modified: 12-SEP-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft ODBC for Oracle version 2.5, versions Build 2.573.2927, Build 2.573.3513 
- Microsoft Data Access Components version 2.5 
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SYMPTOMS
========

A client application may receive the following error when using Msorcl32.dll
version 2.5 (build 2.573.2927, 2.573.3513, and 2.573.4403):

  [Microsoft][ODBC Driver for Oracle]Error in column #: Numeric value out of
  range.

CAUSE
=====

The earlier versions of the driver return hard-coded values for precision and
scale when the Oracle database does not return these values. In the Oracle ODBC
driver version 2.5, these values are set to zero in such cases according to the
ODBC specifications.

In such cases, some applications that depend on these values usually bind the
columns in the resultset to the lowest possible datatype (integer) for numeric
datatypes. When the values go out of range for these data columns, the Oracle
driver throws the error message.

For example, do the following:

1. Create a sequence generator using the following code:

  Create SEQUENCE test_seq
  INCREMENT BY 10
  START WITH 32766

2. From Microsoft Access (do a pass-through query):

SELECT test_seq.NEXTVAL FROM SYS.DUAL

RESULTS: An "ODBC Call failed" is returned and the error above because the next
value 32776 is out of range with respect to the integer datatype.

RESOLUTION
==========

To resolve this problem, use one of the following four workarounds:

- Use the ODBC driver for Oracle version 2.573.6526 that ships with Microsoft
  Data Access Components (MDAC) version 2.6. You can download MDAC 2.6 from the
  following Microsoft Web site:

  http://www.microsoft.com/data/download.htm

- Use version 1.0 of the driver.

- Modify your SQL statements such that they return commonly used datatypes. For
  example:

Select TO_CHAR(test_seq.NEXTVAL) from SYS.DUAL.

- Use precision and scale on Oracle's NUMBER datatype. For instance,
  NUMBER(10,3).


Additional query words:

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Keywords          : kberrmsg kbProgramming kbDatabase kbDriver kbODBC kbOracle kbGrpDSMDAC kbDSupport kbGrpDSODBC 
Technology        : kbAudDeveloper kbODBCSearch kbMDACSearch kbMDAC250 kbODBCOracle25732927 kbODBCOracle25733513 kbODBCOracle250Search
Version           : :2.5,Build 2.573.2927,Build 2.573.3513
Issue type        : kbprb

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