R12: AP: Why Does the Invoice Workbench Allow the Entry of Duplicate Invoice Numbers When the Value is Pasted From an External Source? (Doc ID 2449913.1)

Last updated on MARCH 22, 2023

Applies to:

Goal

It is possible to create two invoices with what appears to be the same invoice number for the same supplier and site. This appears to be the same because what is stored in the database and what is displayed on screen and reports are different.

For example, on screen and on reports, two invoices could show the number 00129296-INV. However, when the values are reviewed using a query that selects the ASCII values in the column, the values are different.

INVOICE_NUM    DUMP(INVOICE_NUM)
------------    ------------------------------------------------------
00129296-INV    Typ=1 Len=12: 48,48,49,50,57,50,57,54,45,73,78,86
00129296-­INV    Typ=1 Len=13: 48,48,49,50,57,50,57,54,194,173,73,78,86

The difference in the two numbers are ASCII values 194 and 173 in the middle, rather than the 45. ASCII 45 is a dash character, and 194 plus 173 are displayed in the Invoice Workbench and invoice reports as a dash. However, they are different values in the database. Even though the numbers look the same, because the values in the invoice number field are different, the duplicate invoice number validation does not identify this as a duplicate invoice number.

This can happen when the invoice number value is copied from a file that includes "non printable" characters. For example, if the value is copied from a PDF file or MS Word, this can occur. It can also occur if the invoice number is entered using the ALT+numbers to create a value that cannot be displayed.

Solution

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