When you retrieve or update columns, in general PowerBuilder converts data appropriately between the Oracle datatype and the PowerScript datatype. Keep in mind, however, that similarly or identically named Oracle and PowerScript datatypes do not necessarily have the same definitions.
For information about the definitions of PowerScript datatypes, see the PowerScript Reference.
When a DataWindow object is defined in PowerBuilder, the Oracle datatype number(size,d) is mapped to a decimal datatype. In PowerBuilder, the precision of a decimal is 18 digits. If a column’s datatype has a higher precision, for example number(32,30), inserting a number with a precision greater than 18 digits produces an incorrect result when the number is retrieved in a DataWindow. For example, 1.8E-17 displays as 0.000000000000000018, whereas 1.5E-25 displays as 0.
You might be able to avoid this problem by using a different datatype, such as float, for high precision number columns in the Oracle DBMS. The float datatype is mapped to the number datatype within the DataWindow’s source.
