Search Results displaydt_to_date

Overview

FND_DATE is one of the foundational date-handling utilities in the Oracle E-Business Suite Application Object Library (FND) layer. In EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 it provides a single, NLS-aware API for converting between Oracle DATE data types and the various character representations used throughout Forms, concurrent programs, reports, and PL/SQL APIs. The package centralizes the four masks that EBS uses internally: the canonical mask YYYY/MM/DD (and YYYY/MM/DD HH24:MI:SS for date-time), the "name-in" mask DD-MON-YYYY, NLS-derived masks, and a user-definable mask. By isolating conversion logic in one package, EBS ensures that the same string is interpreted consistently regardless of the database session's NLS_DATE_FORMAT, the client's locale, or the calling tool. The searched symbol, STRING_TO_CANONICAL, belongs to this family: it takes an arbitrary date string and returns it in the canonical YYYY/MM/DD form used for storage and comparison in FND tables. The package is declared AUTHID CURRENT_USER and is referenced by a very large number of dependent objects (2098 packages in the documented metadata), making it one of the most widely depended-upon utilities in the EBS codebase.

Key Procedures and Functions

The documented API contains 30 procedures and functions. The conversion family forms the core:

• INITIALIZE / INITIALIZE_WITH_CALENDAR — set the user and user date-time masks used by subsequent conversions; the calendar variant also engages calendar-aware processing.
• DISPLAYDATE_TO_DATE, DISPLAYDT_TO_DATE, DATE_TO_DISPLAYDATE, DATE_TO_DISPLAYDT — convert between the display (user/Forms) format and DATE, covering the obsolete Date/CharDate routines.
• CHARDATE_TO_DATE, CHARDT_TO_DATE, DATE_TO_CHARDATE, DATE_TO_CHARDT — the legacy character-date conversion pairs.
• CANONICAL_TO_DATE, DATE_TO_CANONICAL — convert between DATE and the canonical YYYY/MM/DD representation.
• STRING_TO_DATE — parse a date string, without a canonical round-trip, returning a DATE.
• STRING_TO_CANONICAL — the symbol searched here; converts an input date string to the canonical mask representation, which is the form EBS expects when persisting date values passed as text.
• TO_CHAR_INTL — internationalized TO_CHAR wrapper applying the session's NLS conventions.
• ADJUST_DATETIME — adjusts a date-time value, typically for calendar/time-zone normalization.
• CALENDAR_AWARENESS_PROFILE — returns or evaluates the profile that controls calendar-aware behavior.
• TEST — a diagnostic entry point used to exercise the package's conversion routines.

Tables Accessed

The documented metadata lists one referenced table, FND_LANGUAGES, accessed through the APPS synonym. This table supplies the installed language and NLS information that FND_DATE uses to derive its NLS masks and to correctly interpret month names and date formats for the current session language. No other base tables are documented.

Usage Notes

FND_DATE is invoked from virtually every layer of EBS. Oracle Forms call it to convert the strings returned by date fields into DATE values for querying and DML, and to render DATE values back to the display format without relying on implicit conversion. Concurrent programs and reports use it to normalize parameters passed as text. Custom PL/SQL code should follow the same pattern: call STRING_TO_CANONICAL when a date arrives as a string and must be stored or compared against canonical columns such as those in FND tables; use CANONICAL_TO_DATE and DATE_TO_CANONICAL for round-trips; and use the display routines only when the value is destined for user presentation. Because the package reads NLS settings from FND_LANGUAGES, behavior can differ between sessions, so conversions should be performed after the correct language context is established. Given that 2098 other packages depend on FND_DATE, changes to its masks or conversion semantics have broad impact and the package should be treated as a stable, system-level utility in both 12.1.1 and 12.2.2.