Heavens forfend that a coder test with unexpected data! I mean, if we did that, we wouldn't have a job cause the system would never break!! *runs around screaming*

To answer your question, you are a very correct DBA who is escalating correctly. You're also a very annoying lazy weasel, at least from the programmer's point of view. I'm of the opinion that programs should be liberal in the input they will handle and strict in their output. He's not being very liberal, is he? How hard is it to test that input and die gracefully if it's ' '? I know Java sucks, but it can't suck that bad, can it?

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We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

The idea is a little like C++ templates, except not quite so brain-meltingly complicated. -- TheDamian, Exegesis 6

Please remember that I'm crufty and crochety. All opinions are purely mine and all code is untested, unless otherwise specified.