Re: "Delta" or "elapsed" time column in Oracle

"Bill McLaughlin" <mcbill20_at_hotmail.com> wrote in message news:e9cbc4f2.0406032216.78d2dbfc_at_posting.google.com...
> Thanks to both of you for the info. I ended up using the INTERVAL DAY
> TO SECOND to store the data. I hope I made the right choice. Now my
> main problem is using this column in calculations. It's easy to select
> based on interval ranges, but I am having difficult using other
> functions (like mean and average) as they are expecting numeric
> values. I am going through the SQL reference to find the solution.
> However, if anyone can point me to any specific documentation or
> examples I'd appreciate it.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Bill

I would recommend more experimentation before you settle on an approach; interval types have many limitations. Here's a function that can help your calculations:

• converts interval day to second to number of seconds function dsintervaltonum(val dsinterval_unconstrained) return number is begin return extract(day from val) * secs_per_day + extract(hour from val) * secs_per_hour + extract(minute from val) * secs_per_minute + extract(second from val); end;

Dave Received on Fri Jun 04 2004 - 12:52:12 CDT