Oracle Forms Developer – Form Builder Reference, Volume 1

Builtin_Date_Format property
Description
This property establishes the format mask used in converting a date value to or from a string that is not
potentially visible to the end user. This format mask is most commonly used when executing a built-in
subprogram.
Applies to application (global value)
Set programmatically
Refer to Built-in
• GET_APPLICATION_PROPERTY built-in
• SET_APPLICATION_PROPERTY built-in
Required/Optional optional. However, it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that, for a new
application, you set this property to a format mask containing full century and time information. It is
also recommended that this format mask be the same as the one specified in the
PLSQL_DATE_FORMAT property .
Default
As noted above, it is strongly recommended that you explicitly set this value for a new application.
However, if you do not, the default value used will depend on the context.
Forms first determines whether the item is a DATE2, DATE4, or DATETIME object, and then tries a
series of format masks accordingly. (These default masks are used for compatibility with prior releases.)
Object types are determined as shown in the following table:
Date object Type
Item of datatype DATETIME DATETIME
Item of datatype DATE:
…having a format mask that contains yyyy,
YYYY, rrrr, or RRRR
…having a format mask that does not
contain yyyy, YYYY, rrrr, or RRRR
…not having a format mask, and its length
(Maximum Length) is 10 or more
…not having a format mask, and its length
(Maximum Length) is 9 or less
Parameter (as in :PARAMETER.myparam)
of datatype DATE. (Note that there are no
DATETIME parameters, and that a
parameter's Maximum Length property
applies only to CHAR parameters.)
DATE4
DATE2
DATE4
DATE2
DATE2
LOV column of datatype DATE. (Note that DATE2
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