Date Format Picture?

Our users are getting an ORA-1830 error from a third-party vendor app.

The error text says date format picture ends before converting entire input string. I looked the error up and read the Cause and Action. Cause: A valid date format picture included extra data. The first part of the format picture was converted into a valid date, but the remaining data was not required.
Action: Check the specifications for date format pictures and correct the statement.

My question is: What does the word picture mean in this context? I can not find reference to a date format picture in my manuals. I'm unsure how to explain this to our users as I don't really understand the phrase data format picture.

Can anybody shed any light on this?

Thanks in advance for your enlightenment.

Cherie Received on Tue Oct 07 1997 - 00:00:00 CDT