How to Change the Return Format of Bootstrap Date Picker for Oracle 11g

Struggling with the Bootstrap date picker returning dates in an unsupported format for Oracle 11g? Discover a simple method to adjust the returned date format to seamlessly integrate with your database.
---

Visit these links for original content and any more details, such as alternate solutions, latest updates/developments on topic, comments, revision history etc. For example, the original title of the Question was: change return format of bootstrap date picker

If anything seems off to you, please feel free to write me at vlogize [AT] gmail [DOT] com.
---
Handling Bootstrap Date Picker Formats in Oracle 11g

When building web applications, developers often face challenges with date formats, especially when integrating frontend libraries with backend databases. One common issue arises when using the Bootstrap date picker in a C- web application connected to an Oracle 11g database. Specifically, you might encounter a scenario where the date picker returns dates in the format YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm (e.g. 2021-12-21T09:46), which is not directly recognized by Oracle’s date parsing functions.

In this post, we will dive into the solution for this issue and help you smoothly integrate the Bootstrap date picker with Oracle 11g.

The Problem

The root of the problem lies in the appearance of the letter T in the returned date string. This specific formatting is not acceptable to Oracle's date handling functions, causing them to throw errors like ORA-01821: date format not recognized. For instance, using the following SQL attempts fails:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Similar attempts with other date parsing functions such as TO_TIMESTAMP and TO_TIMESTAMP_TZ also yield errors. Thus, merely using these functions is not an option for converting the format.

The Solution

To resolve this issue, we need to adjust the way we specify the date format in our SQL queries. The good news is that you can easily handle the T character in the date format mask by wrapping it in double quotes within your SQL statement. Here’s how you can do it:

Step-by-Step Solution

Modify Your SQL Query: Instead of passing the raw string with T to the date parsing function, format it as shown below:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

By using double quotes around T, you're instructing Oracle to treat it as a literal character rather than part of the date-time format.

Testing the Change: Run the modified SQL statement and you should be able to retrieve the date without encountering format errors.

Example Output: Successfully executing the above SQL will now store the date in your database in a format that Oracle can correctly interpret.

Conclusion

Handling date formats effectively can save developers from encountering unnecessary errors in database applications. By wrapping literals like T in double quotes in Oracle SQL queries, you can seamlessly integrate frontend date formats from libraries such as Bootstrap date picker with backend databases like Oracle 11g.

If you find yourself dealing with date format issues in the future, remember this simple adjustment technique!

Happy coding!