Field definitions when creating a table?

[Jasper Vader]

Hi,
(1) i want to create table with a boolean field type - possible?
i thought it would be possible, but i am just having a bit of a headache with the following code...

create table emp_question 
(employee_start_date DATE,
job_type CHAR (1),
extra_merit BOOLEAN,
current_salary NUMBER(6,2));  

the error keeps coming up concerning
extra merit BOOLEAN,
it says it is an invalid data type.
do i have to create the table in a PL/SQL block or something?
also, there is a "Bonus" field, in the sense that a bonus is to be calculated ...
i thought of including this code in the actual creation of the table...

bonus_amount NUMBER(4,2) 

but am not sure whether this is necessary at all as it will be calculated. Should i place certain code within the initial definition of the table, so that the bonus field is always created each time the table is viewed?
Or should i not include it in the creation of the table at all?

[Jasper Vader]

On the google group search area, i found that boolean can be a variable but not a data type, so the following code works for creating my table
create table emp_question
(employee_start_date DATE,
job_type CHAR (1),
extra_merit CHAR(1),
current_salary NUMBER(6,2),
bonus_amount NUMBER(4,2));

cool ... and just put either T or F into the extra_merit field ... i guess a Boolean variable will be able to be derived form that when selecting or whatever?

[Jasper Vader]

okay i changed the limit of merit CHAR field to be able to hold 5 characters, so i can put TRUE or FALSE in there ... but i am having trouble assigning the field value to a BOOLEAN variable ... of course .... any ideas on how to do this?
here is what i have done so far...

DECLARE
employee_start_date emp_question.start_date%TYPE;
job_type emp_question.job%TYPE;
extra_merit BOOLEAN;
current_salary emp_question.salary%TYPE;
bonus_amount emp_question.bonus%TYPE;
BEGIN
select start_date, job, merit, salary, bonus into
employee_start_date, job_type, extra_merit, current_salary, bonus_amount
from emp_question
where start_date = TO_DATE('01/05/1982', 'MM/DD/YYYY');
END;
/
  

[Jasper Vader]

btw i have inserted some rows in there

[Jasper Vader]

Oh it's okay dont worry, i am just going to bring the Char field into a Char var, not a Boolean var.