I've discovered a strange behavior in APEX that I thought it works out of the box. It's about validation of the number type items.
1) I've created two number items on a page, named P16_MIN_VALUE and P16_MAX_VALUE, and a submit button:
2) Next, I've added the validation that checks if P16_MAX_VALUE is greater or equal than P16_MIN_VALUE
I can't say if this is a bug or expected behaviour because there's no documentation about it (or at least I didn't found it). I know there are functions for getting numeric value of an item: apex_util.get_numeric_session_state and NV but I thought if you have a numeric item and you use it as a bind variable that it will be "binded" like a number.
So, the solution is to explicitly convert your items to numbers or to use one of those functions mentioned above. Your validation should look like this:
Simple Case
2) Next, I've added the validation that checks if P16_MAX_VALUE is greater or equal than P16_MIN_VALUE
Example
If you put 2 in field Min value and 1 in filed Max value, the validation message is displayed on screen (as expected):
If you put 12 in field Min value and 2 in filed Max value, the validation message is NOT displayed on screen. You'll see success message:
The problem (or unexpected behavior) is that APEX doesn't validates number type items as numbers but as strings.
Demo is available here.
Solution
I can't say if this is a bug or expected behaviour because there's no documentation about it (or at least I didn't found it). I know there are functions for getting numeric value of an item: apex_util.get_numeric_session_state and NV but I thought if you have a numeric item and you use it as a bind variable that it will be "binded" like a number.
So, the solution is to explicitly convert your items to numbers or to use one of those functions mentioned above. Your validation should look like this:
...or even better, write your logic in packages with number input parameters.
Enjoy! ;)
Tested on APEX 5.0.3.00.03
