One of the requirements for a project I’ve been working on is to connect to Oracle and retrieve some data related to data in MS SQL Server. After successfully setting up the Oracle server as a linked server, I ran into trouble.
Oracle’s data types aren’t quite the same as SQL Server’s data types. In particular, the timestamp type on the Oracle side would not translate to anything on the SQL Server side. After extensive research, I was considering switching to a .Net solution instead, like maybe I could query SQL Server and Oracle separately and then combine the data within the app. Surely not very efficient, but what else could I do?
Fortunately, I had lunch with my brother during the project and his Oracle experience is much greater than mine. After discussing the problem with him, I ended up using a view to get around the issue. For my project, I only needed the year out of the timestamp. Using the TO_CHAR function, I created a view that allowed me to select the year from the Oracle data as a char(4). Perfect!
November 27, 2023
Volano Software – ESOP Company Volano Software Company based in Omaha, Nebraska announced recently the employees are now co-owners of the software development company. This transition ushers in continued confidence in the team during a challenging time for employee retention for many other software companies. Volano Software, celebrating its 16th year as of 2023, demonstrates […]
June 13, 2023
Data is like a vast set of building blocks, each has different shapes, sizes, and colors. Just like each brick has its unique utility, every piece of data carries a unique piece of information. As a business owner, how can you possibly start understanding what all the pieces of data from those fancy reports mean? […]
June 2, 2023
For small manufacturing companies with less than 100 employees and revenues of around $20–50 million, several key factors contribute to their success. Here are some important considerations: By focusing on these key factors, small manufacturing companies can enhance their competitiveness, achieve sustainable growth, and maintain profitability. It’s important to adapt these factors to the specific […]
June 1, 2023
Several years ago, I was working on a product that required some attention from the software product teams. This happens to all software over time because a user’s needs change, features need to be added, and bugs happen (naturally). The undertaking was large enough, so our team agreed it would be ideal to talk with […]
May 30, 2023
There’s an ongoing debate: custom software versus off-the-shelf Software as a Service (SaaS). A few misconceptions tend to cloud everyone’s judgment and influence decisions in this area. It’s time to put these myths to rest and bring clarity to the conversation. Myth 1: Custom Software is Outdated Custom software is inherently outdated, which couldn’t be […]
March 15, 2023
Why continue to utilize a mess of spreadsheets to run your operations? We think there’s a better way. Here are the top 7 reasons you should switch to custom software.