Symptom

If you are using any version of an Oracle database and upgrade from Java 1.4.2 to Java 5 (either Sun JVM or IBM JVM), you find incorrect decimal values in exposed numeric columns in the database after the upgrade.

BEA notes on their Resolved Issues page that some Oracle drivers, when used with either Sun or IBM JDK 5.0, failed BEA’s internal testing for decimal data types. 

“The Oracle Thin JDBC driver has not been certified with JDK 5.0. In internal testing, BEA has noted test failures with the DECIMAL data type (TAR 4019650.995).

This issue is fixed in Oracle's 10.2.0.2 thin driver. Please obtain the driver from Oracle."

A customer of Pegasystems notes a similar issue on a different application server than WebLogic; this issue is not application-server specific. 

Solution

Workaround

BEA believes this issue is fixed in Oracle’s 10.2.0.2 driver, which was the driver used in testing the gold Oracle platform combinations for Process Commander. 

Based on this information, Pegasystems recommends that sites using Oracle and JDK 5.0 should use the Oracle 10.2.0.2 driver.  Contact Oracle for additional information.

Download the driver from Oracle's website.

You must have an Oracle Technology Network (OTN) account to download this driver.

Important:  This issue is the result of an interaction of the Java 5 JVM and the Oracle JDBC driver.  It cannot be corrected within Process Commander or application code; only using compatible JVM and Oracle driver versions will address the issue.

Article originally written 09/15/2006.