Functions Used in Oracle HRMS Fast Formula

Functions Used in Oracle HRMS

In previous article of Fast Formula, we understood the concept, its usage and different types of
Fast Formulas in Oracle HRMS. In this article i am going to explain the functions that we can
use in Fast formula to make the desired logic. Following are different types of functions that can
be used in the formula

Text Functions
Date Functions
Data Conversion Functions
Number Functions
Functions to Get values from Tables
External Formula Function
Functions Used in Fast Formula

Text Functions
CHR

CHR(n)
The CHR function returns the character having the binary equivalent to number operand n in the
database character set.
Example
/* CHR (10) used to add a newline to the end of REPORT_TEXT2. */
REPORT_TEXT2 = ‘Warning the Transaction Limit has been exceeded’

DEBUG(expr)
This function accepts a string and uses a DBMS_OUTPUT statement to output the string to the
console. Use this function when you are testing a new formula to track its
processing and identify where it is failing.

GREATEST(expr, expr [, expr] . . .)

GREATEST_OF(expr, expr [, expr] . . .)
The GREATEST function compares the values of all the text string operands. It returns the
value of the operand that is alphabetically last. If there are two or more operands that meet the
criteria, Oracle FastFormula returns the first.

INITCAP(expr)
The INITCAP function returns the expression expr with the first letter of each word in
uppercase, all other letters in lowercase. Words are delimited by white space or
characters that are not alphanumeric.Back to Top

INSTR(expr1,expr2[,n[,m]])
The INSTR searches expr1 beginning with its nth character for the nth occurrence of expr2 and
returns the position of the character in expr1 that is the first character of this occurrence. If n is
negative, Oracle FastFormula counts and searches backward from the end of expr1. The value
of m must be positive. The default values of both n and m are 1, meaning Oracle FastFormula
begins searching at the first character of expr1 for the first occurrence of expr2. The return value
is relative to the beginning of expr1, regardless of the value of n, and is expressed in characters.
If the search is unsuccessful (if expr2 does not appear m times after the nth character of expr1)
the return value is 0.

INSTRB(expr1,expr2[,n[,m]])
The same as INSTR, except that n and the return value are expressed in bytes, rather than in
characters. For a single-byte database character set, INSTRB is equivalent to INSTR.

LEAST(expr, expr [, expr] . . .)

LEAST_OF(expr, expr [, expr] . . .)
The LEAST function compares the values of all the text string operands. It returns the value of
the operand that is alphabetically first. If there are two or more operands that meet the criteria,
Oracle FastFormula returns the first.

LENGTH(expr)
The LENGTH function returns the number of characters in the text string operand expr. Note:
The data type of the result of this function is numeric.

LENGTHB(char)
The LENGTHB function returns the length of char in characters. If char has datatype CHAR, the
length includes all trailing blanks. If char is null, this function returns null.

LOWER(expr)
The LOWER function returns the string operand expr with all letters lowercase. The return value
has the same datatype as the argument expr.

LPAD(expr, n [,pad])
The LPAD function returns the text string operand expr left-padded to length n with the
sequence of characters in pad. The default for pad is a blank. If expr is longer than n, then
LPADreturns the portion of expr that fits in n.
Examples:
/* A is set to ‘XYXYXhello’ */
A = LPAD (‘hello, 10, ‘XY’)
/* A is set to ‘hell’ */
A = LPAD (‘hello’, 4 )

LTRIM(expr [,set])
The LTRIM function returns the text string operand expr with all the leftmost characters that
appear in set removed. The default for set is a blank. If none of the leftmost characters of expr
appear in set then expr is returned
Examples:
/* A is set to ‘def’ */
A = LTRIM (‘abcdef’,’abc’)
/* A is set to ‘abcdef’ */
A = LTRIM (‘abcdef’,’bc’)

REPLACE(expr, search_string [,replacement_string])

The REPLACE function returns the text string operand expr with every occurrence of
search_string replaced with replacement_string. If replacement_string is omitted or null, all
occurrences of search_string are removed. If search_string is NULL, expr is returned.
REPLACE allows you to substitute one string for another as well as to remove character strings.
Example:
SELECT REPLACE (‘JACK and JUE’,’J’,’BL’) “Changes”
FROM DUAL
Changes
————–
BLACK and BLUE

RPAD(expr, n [,pad])
The RPAD function returns the text string operand expr right-padded to length n with the
sequence of characters in pad. The default for pad is a blank. If expr is longer than n, then
RPADreturns the portion of expr that fits in n.
Examples:
/* A is set to ‘helloXYXYX’ */
A = RPAD (‘hello, 10, ‘XY’)
/* A is set to ‘hell’ */
A = RPAD (‘hello’, 4 )

RTRIM(expr [,set])
The RTRIM function returns the text string operand expr with all the rightmost characters that
appear in set removed. The default for set is a blank. If none of the
rightmost characters of expr appear in set then expr is returned
Examples:
/* A is set to ‘abc’ */
A = RTRIM (‘abcdef’,’def’)
/* A is set to ‘abcdef’ */
A = RTRIM (‘abcdef’,’de’)

SUBSTR(expr, m [,n])
SUBSTRING(expr, m [,n])
The SUBSTRING function returns a substring of the text string operand expr of length n
characters beginning at the mth character. If you omit the third operand, the substring starts
from m and finishes at the end of expr.
Note: The first operand is a text operand. The second and third operands are numeric
operands. The resulting data type of this function is text.
Tip: Always check string length before you start to substring.

For example:
/* Check that the tax code starts with GG */
IF length(Tax_code) <= 2
THEN
(message = ‘Tax code is too short’
RETURN message
)
IF substr( Tax_code, 1, 2) = ‘GG’ THEN …
Or, to check if Tax_code is a string of at least two characters starting
with ‘GG’:
IF Tax_code LIKE ‘GG%’ THEN …
SUBSTRB(expr, m [,n])
The same as SUBSTR, except that the arguments m and n are expressed in bytes, rather than
in characters. For a single-byte database character set, SUBSTRB is equivalent to SUBSTR.

TRANSLATE(expr, from, to)

The TRANSLATE function returns the text string operand expr with all occurrences of each
character in from replaced by its corresponding character in to. Characters in expr that are not
in from are not replaced. The argument from can contain more characters than to. In this case,
the extra characters at the end of from have no corresponding characters in to. If these extra
characters appear in expr, they are removed from the return value. Oracle FastFormula
interprets the empty string as null, and if this function has a null argument, it returns null.

TRIM(trim_character FROM trim_source)

The TRIM function allows you to trim heading or trailing characters (or both) from a character
string. If trim_character or trim_source is a character literal, you must enclose it in single quotes.
You can specify LEADING or TRAILING to remove leading or trailing characters. If you specify
none of these, both leading and trailing characters are removed equal to trim_character.

UPPER(expr)
The UPPER function converts a text string to upper case.

Numeric Functions
ABS(n)
The ABS function returns the magnitude of a numeric operand n as a positive numeric value. If
the value of the operand is positive, its value returns unchanged. If the operand is negative then
the value’s sign inverts, and the value returns as a positive number.
Example:
ABS (-17) returns 17

CALCULATE_HOURS_WORKED(n, date1, date2, standard_frequency)

The CALCULATE_HOURS_WORKED function returns the total number of hours worked in a
given date range. The function works by calculating the total number of hours worked for an
employee between date1 and date2, taking into account that the employee works n hours in the
standard working period standard_frequency. This parameter gives the unit of measurement for
the standard working period. It can be one of:
• W (weekly)
• M (monthly)
• Y (yearly)
Example:
CALCULATE_HOURS_WORKED (40, 01-FEB-2003, 28-FEB-2003, W) returns 160
This indicates that the employee has worked 160 hours in the month of February 2003, based
on a 40-hour week and taking into account the number of working days in that month.

FLOOR(n)
The FLOOR function returns the integer part of a numeric operand n. If the value of the operand
contains information after the decimal point, Oracle
FastFormula discards that information and returns a whole number.
Example:
FLOOR(35.455) returns 35
GREATEST(n, n [, n] . . .)
GREATEST_OF(n, n [, n] . . .)
The GREATEST function compares all the operands and returns the largest value.

LEAST(n, n [, n] . . .)
LEAST_OF(n, n [, n] . . .)
The LEAST function compares all the operands and returns the smallest value.

POWER(m,n)
Returns m raised to the nth power. The base m and the exponent n can be any numbers, but if
m is negative, n must be an integer.

ROUND(n [, m])
The ROUND function rounds off a numeric value n to m decimal places and a date depending
on the format of m. For numeric values, the first operand is the value Oracle FastFormula
rounds off, the second the number of places Oracle FastFormula rounds off to. For dates,
ROUND returns n rounded to the unit specified by the format model of m such as Year or Day.
Refer to the SQL Language Reference Manual for details of the
valid formats you can specify.
Examples:
ROUND(2.3401, 2) returns 2.34
ROUND (2.3461, 2) returns 2.35
ROUND (TO_DATE(’27-OCT-1992′, ‘DD-MON-YYYY’), ‘YEAR’) returns 01-JAN-1993

ROUNDUP(n [, m])
ROUND_UP(n [, m])
The ROUNDUP function rounds a numeric value n up to m decimal places. The first operand is
the value to be rounded up, the second the number of places to round to. If the digits after the
rounding point are zero, the value is unchanged. If the digits are not zero, the value is
incremented at the rounding point.
Examples:
ROUND_UP(2.3401, 2) returns 2.35
ROUND_UP(2.3400, 2) returns 2.34.

TRUNC(n [, m])
TRUNCATE(n [, m])
The TRUNC function rounds a numeric value n down to m decimal places. The first operand is
the value to be rounded down, the second the number of places to round to. TRUNC also
returns n with the time portion of the day truncated to the unit specified by the format model of
m. If you omit m, d is truncated to the nearest day The default model, ‘DD’, returns the date
rounded or truncated to the day with a time of midnight. Oracle FastFormula drops all digits (if
any) after the specified truncation point.
Examples:
TRUNC(2.3401, 2) returns 2.34.
TRUNC(TO_DATE(’27-OCT-1992′, ‘DD-MON-YYYY’), ‘YEAR’) returns 01-JAN-1992

Date Functions
ADD_DAYS(date, n)
The ADD_DAYS function adds a number of days to a date. The resulting date accords with the
calendar. Note: Oracle FastFormula ignores any fractional part of the number n.
Example:
ADD_DAYS (’30-DEC-1990′ (date), 6) returns 5 JAN 1991

ADD_MONTHS(date, n)
The ADD_MONTHS function adds a number of months to a date. The resulting date accords
with the calendar. Note: Oracle FastFormula ignores any fractional part of the number n.

ADD_YEARS(date, n)
The ADD_YEARS function adds a number of years to a date. The resulting date accords with
the calendar. Note: Oracle FastFormula ignores any fractional part of the number n.

GREATEST(date1, date2[, date3] . . .)

The GREATEST function compares all the operands and returns the latest date.

LAST_DAY(d)
The LAST_DAY function returns the date of the last day of the month that contains d. You might
use this function to determine how many days are left in the current month.

LEAST(date1, date2 [, date3] . . .)

The LEAST function compares all the operands and returns the earliest date.

DAYS_BETWEEN(date1, date2)
The DAYS_BETWEEN function returns the number of days between two dates. If the later date
is first, the result is a positive number. If the earlier date is first, the result is a negative number.
The number returned is also based on the real calendar.
Note: The result is a numeric data type.
Example:
DAYS_BETWEEN(‘1995/06/27 00:00:00’ (date), ‘1995/07/03 00:00:00’ (date)) returns -5

MONTHS_BETWEEN(date1, date2)
The MONTHS_BETWEEN function returns the number of months between two dates. If the
later date is first, the result is a positive number. If the earlier date is first, the result is a negative
number. The number returned is also based on the real calendar. If the result is not a whole
number of months (that is, there are some days as well), the days part is shown as a decimal.
Note: The result is a numeric data type.

NEW_TIME(d, zl, z2)

Returns the date and time in zone z2 when the date and time in zone z1 are d. The arguments
z1 and z2 can be any one of these text strings:
AST or ADT Atlantic Standard or Daylight Time
BST or BDT Bering Standard or Daylight Time
CST or CDT Central Standard or Daylight Time
EST or EDT Eastern Standard or Daylght Time
GMT Grenwich Mean Time
HST or HDT Alaska-Hawaii Standard Time or Daylight Time
MST or MDT Mountain Standard or Daylight Time
NST Newfoundland Standard Time
PST or PDT Pacific Standard or Daylight Time
YST or YDT Yukon Standard or Daylight Time
NEXT_DAY(d, expr)
The NEXT_DAY function returns the date of the first weekday named by expr that is later than
the date d. The argument expr must be a day of the week in your session’s date language. The
return value has the same hours, minutes, and seconds component as the argument d.

Data Conversion Functions

Use data conversion functions to convert from one data type to another data type. For example,
you could have an expression returning a number value for salary, which you want to include in
a printed message (that is, a character value). To print the number as part of the message, you
need to convert the value of salary from a number to a character value, using the TO_TEXT
function.

CONVERT(expr, dest_char_set [,source_char_set])

The CONVERT function converts a character string from one character set to another. The expr
argument is the value to be converted. The dest_char_set argument is the name of the
character set to which expr is converted. The source_char_set argument is the name of the
character set in which expr is stored in the database. The default value is the database
character set.

INSTR(expr1,expr2[,n[,m]])
The INSTR function searches expr1 beginning with its nth character for the mth occurrence of
expr2 and returns the position of the character in expr1 that is the first
character of this occurrence. If n is negative, Oracle FastFormula counts and searches
backwards.

NUM_TO_CHAR(n, format)
Converts the number n from number data type to text data type using the specified format. This
function is equivalent to the SQL TO_CHAR function. For example:
NUM_TO_CHAR(amount, ‘$9,990.99’) This returns the amount with a leading dollar sign,
commas every three digits, and two decimal places. Refer to the SQL Language Reference
Manual for a full list of the valid number formats you can specify.

TO_DATE (expr [, format])

Converts the expression expr of text data type to a date data type. The text expression must be
of the form ‘YYYY/MM/DD HH24:MI:SS’ if no format is provided. The day and year must be in
numeric form. For example:
* legal */
date_1 = TO_DATE (’12 January 89′, ‘DD Month YY’)
/* illegal */
date_1 = TO_DATE (’12 January Nineteen-Eighty-Nine’,’DD Month Year’)

Note: When assigning date variables from constants it is much more efficient to say:

date_1 = ‘1989/01/12 00:00:00′(date)

Note: The text expression must be in the format of either YYYY/MM/DD HH24:MI:SS or DD-
MON-YYYY if no format is provided.
TO_NUMBER(expr)
Converts the expression expr of text data type to a number data type. The expression must
represent a valid number. So for example, you cannot convert an expression such as `Type 24′
but you can convert the text expression `1234′. For decimal values, you must always use a
period as a decinal point, for example ‘4.5’.

TO_TEXT(n) TO_TEXT (date1 [, format])

TO_CHAR(n) TO_CHAR(date1 [, format])
DATE_TO_TEXT(n) (date1 [, format])
The TO_TEXT function converts:
• the number n from number data type to text data type. The default number format has the
decimal point as a period, for example ‘4.5’.
• The date date1 from date data type to text data type. The optional format should be a text
string like ‘DD/MM/YYYY’. The default format is ‘YYYY/MM/DD HH24:MI:SS’.
For example:
birthdate = ’21-JAN-1960′ (date)
mesg = ‘Birthdate is: ‘ + TO_CHAR (birthdate)

/* sets mesg to ‘Birthdate is: 1960/01/21 00:00:00’ */

mesg = ‘Birthdate is: ‘ + TO_CHAR (birthdate, ‘DD-MON-YY’)

/* sets mesg to ‘Birthdate is: 21-JAN-60’ */

mesg = ‘Birthdate is: ‘ + TO_CHAR (birthdate, ‘DD Month Year’)

/* sets mesg to ‘Birthdate is: 21 January Nineteen-Sixty’ */

Functions to Get values from Tables

GET_LOOKUP_MEANING(lookup_type , lookup_code)
The GET_LOOKUP_MEANING function enables Oracle FastFormula to translate a lookup code
into a meaning. This can be used for any descriptive flexfield items or
developer flexfield items that are based on lookups.
Example:
GET_LOOKUP_MEANING (‘ETH_TYPE’, PEOPLE_GB_ETHNIC_ORIGIN)

GET_TABLE_VALUE(table_name, column_name, row_value [,effective date])

The GET_TABLE_VALUE function returns the value of a cell in a user-defined table. The three
text operands, which identify the cell (table_name, column_name, and
row_value), are mandatory. The date operand is optional. If it is not supplied, the function
returns the cell value as of the effective date. You cannot use this function in formulas for user
table validation or QuickPaint reports.
Example:
GET_TABLE_VALUE(‘WAGE RATES’, ‘Wage Rate’, Rate_Code)

RAISE_ERROR(application_ID, message name)

This function allows you to raise a functional error message from within a formula. It accepts an
Application ID and the message_name of an Oracle Applications error message to raise.
Example:
ERROR = RAISE_ERROR(800, ‘error_name’)

RATES_HISTORY(element or rate type name, date, element or rate type indicator, time
dimension)
This function uses information stored in the UK Element Attribution Information EIT and
information about the assignment’s contract type to calculate a payment rate as of the given
date and expressed for the selected time dimension (such as hourly or annual). If the element or
rate type indicator is R, the function sums the rates for all elements classified with the given rate
type (which is stored against the element in the Rate Type Information EIT).

The time dimension parameter must be A (annual), D (daily), H (hourly), or P (periodic). The
element or rate type parameter must be R (rate type) or E (element).
The function can also adjust the returned rate for FTE and length of service, if these factors are
set to Yes in the Element Attribution Information.Back to Top
External Formula Function

External Functions refers to logic written in database package and calling in fast formula by
defining it through Define Function in Oracle HRMS. I shall write a seperate article on it.