Migrating From 6.6.x to 7.5.x Causes Data Type Error With Oracle 9i

Metastorm

The information in this article applies to:

Product: Metastorm BPM
Version: 6.6.x 7.5.x

Issue

• Using the migration tool to migrate from Metastorm BPM (e-Work) 6.6.x to 7.5.x with the same Oracle 9i database results in a data type error. When the tool tries to re-publish the procedures, it displays an error similar to The custom variable **** has previously been published with another data type. The custom variable specified is of data type Real.

Resolution

• An Oracle database stores all numeric values as data type NUMBER. For integers, it uses NUMBER(10,0) and for real numbers it uses NUMBER(20,3), where the numbers in parentheses indicate, respectively, the precision (total number of digits) and scale (number of digits to the right of the decimal point).

• The workaround is as follows:

  1. Export the custom variable table data as a SQL file.

  2. Modify the custom variable data type in the database to match the Metastorm custom variable data type. For example, the custom variable in the procedure may be of data type Real, and the database may be NUMBER(10,0). This would have to be changed to NUMBER(20,3). It could be done by running the following:

     alter table table\_name modify ( customVariable\_column\_name NUMBER(20,3) );
     

  3. Restore the exported data back to the data table where the custom variable in question is stored.
  4. Procedures can now be published without issues.

• This scenario is unlikely to occur in Oracle 10g as it has a better way of handling numeric values.