Converting data from an ABL data type to an Oracle data type might affect the precision of the data that is changed in the conversion.

The following table provides details on converting ABL DATE and DATETIME, and DATETIME-TZ data types to similar Oracle data types:

Table 1. Converting ABL DATETIME types to ORACLE TIMESTAMP types
Source Data Type (OpenEdge) Destination Data Type (Oracle) Default Conversion Non-default Conversion
DATE DATE Straight copy of date portion. Time set to midnight up to second precision (00:00:00). Straight copy of date portion. Time set to midnight up to second precision (00:00:00).
DATE TIMESTAMP Straight copy of date portion. Time set to midnight (00:00:00.000) up to millisecond precision. Straight copy of date portion. Time set to midnight (00:00:00.000) up to millisecond precision.
DATE TIMESTAMP-LTZ OpenEdge client session time zone context of the DATE data type is normalized to the Oracle database time zone. The date portion is then stored. Time set to midnight up to millisecond precision (00:00:00.000) and stored. Oracle Session time zone context (defined by the application to the Oracle client OCI driver) of the DATE datatype is normalized to the Oracle database time zone.Date portion (in session time) is then stored. Time set to midnight up to millisecond precision (00:00:00.000) and stored.
DATE TIMESTAMP-TZ Straight copy of date portion. Time set to midnight up to millisecond precision (00:00:00.000). Time zone set to the OpenEdge client session time zone context. Straight copy of date portion. Time set to midnight up to millisecond precision (00:00:00.000). Time zone set to the Oracle client session time zone context.
DATETIME DATE Straight copy of datetime portion up to second precision. Millisecond portion is dropped. Straight copy of datetime portion up to second precision. Millisecond portion is dropped.
DATETIME TIMESTAMP Straight copy of the datetime up to millisecond precision. Straight copy of the datetime up to millisecond precision.
DATETIME TIMESTAMP-LTZ OpenEdge client session time zone context of the DATETIME data type is normalized to the Oracle database time zone. Datetime value is then stored to millisecond precision. Oracle client session time zone context of the DATETIME data type is normalized to the Oracle database time zone. Datetime value is then stored to millisecond precision.
DATETIME TIMESTAMP-TZ Straight copy of the datetime portion. Time zone set to the OpenEdge client session time zone context. Straight copy of the datetime portion. Time zone set to the Oracle session time zone context (defined by the application or through -Dsrv switch).
DATETIME-TZ DATE Straight copy of the datetime portion of OpenEdge client session time zone context of the DATETIME-TZ data type up to second precision. Millisecond portion is dropped. Time zone portion is dropped. Straight copy of the datetime portion of Oracle session time zone context of the DATETIME-TZ data type up to second precision. Millisecond portion is dropped. Time zone portion is dropped.
DATETIME-TZ TIMESTAMP Straight copy of the datetime portion of OpenEdge client session time zone context of the DATETIME-TZ data type up to millisecond precision. Time zone portion is dropped. Straight copy of the datetime portion of Oracle session time zone context of the DATETIME-TZ data type up to millisecond precision. Time zone portion is dropped.
DATETIME-TZ TIMESTAMP-LTZ OpenEdge client session time zone context of the DATETIME-TZ data type is normalized to Oracle database time zone. The datetime value is then stored to millisecond precision. Oracle session time zone context of the DATETIME-TZ data type is normalized to Oracle database time zone. The Datetime value is then stored to millisecond precision.
DATETIME-TZ TIMESTAMP-TZ Straight copy with millisecond precision. Straight copy with millisecond precision.