Overloading problem: Error(83,5): PLS-00307: too many declarations of 'REPORTEQ' match this call

Question

So I am trying to use overloading but I am having some troubles. My package has 4 procedures with the same name but different type of arguments (VARCHAR2, NUMBER, BOOLEAN, DATE). The package header and package body are at the end of my question.

I am trying to use the package procedure like this:

OPEN bookCountCur;
FETCH bookCountCur INTO how_many;
testutil.reporteq('add procedure, book record count',
  expected_value => '1', actual_value => how_many);
CLOSE bookCountCur;

OPEN copiesCountCur;
FETCH copiesCountCur INTO how_many;
testutil.reporteq('add procedure, book copy record count',
  expected_value => '1', actual_value => how_many);
CLOSE copiesCountCur;

And I am getting this compilation error:

Error(83,5): PLS-00307: too many declarations of 'REPORTEQ' match this call

What does it mean?

---

Package header:

CREATE OR REPLACE 
PACKAGE TESTUTIL AS 

  /* TODO enter package declarations (types, exceptions, methods etc) here */ 

  PROCEDURE reporteq(description IN VARCHAR2
  , expected_value IN VARCHAR2, actual_value IN VARCHAR2);

  PROCEDURE reporteq(description IN VARCHAR2
  , expected_value IN NUMBER, actual_value IN NUMBER);

  PROCEDURE reporteq(description IN VARCHAR2
  , expected_value IN BOOLEAN, actual_value IN BOOLEAN);

  PROCEDURE reporteq(description IN VARCHAR2
  , expected_value IN DATE, actual_value IN DATE);

END TESTUTIL;

And the package body:

CREATE OR REPLACE
PACKAGE BODY TESTUTIL AS

  PROCEDURE reporteq(description IN VARCHAR2
  , expected_value IN VARCHAR2, actual_value IN VARCHAR2) AS
  BEGIN
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT(description || ': ');

    IF expected_value = actual_value 
    OR expected_value IS NULL AND actual_value IS NULL
    THEN
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('PASSED');
    ELSE
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('FAILED. Expected ' || expected_value || '; got ' || actual_value);
    END IF;
  END reporteq;

  PROCEDURE reporteq(description IN VARCHAR2
  , expected_value IN NUMBER, actual_value IN NUMBER) AS 
  BEGIN
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT(description || ': ');

    IF expected_value = actual_value 
    OR expected_value IS NULL AND actual_value IS NULL
    THEN
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('PASSED');
    ELSE
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('FAILED. Expected ' || expected_value || '; got ' || actual_value);
    END IF;
  END reporteq;

  PROCEDURE reporteq(description IN VARCHAR2
  , expected_value IN BOOLEAN, actual_value IN BOOLEAN) 
  AS
    expected_value_tostr VARCHAR2(5);
    actual_value_tostr VARCHAR2(5); 
  BEGIN
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT(description || ': ');

    IF expected_value = actual_value 
    OR expected_value IS NULL AND actual_value IS NULL
    THEN
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('PASSED');
    ELSE
      /* Transform TRUE/FALSE to 'TRUE'/'FALSE' */
      IF TRUE = expected_value
      THEN
        expected_value_tostr := 'TRUE';
      ELSE
        expected_value_tostr := 'FALSE';
      END IF;
      IF TRUE = actual_value
      THEN
        actual_value_tostr := 'TRUE';
      ELSE
        actual_value_tostr := 'FALSE';
      END IF;
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('FAILED. Expected ' || expected_value_tostr || '; got ' || actual_value_tostr);
    END IF;
  END reporteq;

  PROCEDURE reporteq(description IN VARCHAR2
  , expected_value IN DATE, actual_value IN DATE) AS
  BEGIN
    DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT(description || ': ');

    IF expected_value = actual_value 
    OR expected_value IS NULL AND actual_value IS NULL
    THEN
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('PASSED');
    ELSE
      DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('FAILED. Expected ' || TO_CHAR(expected_value, 'YYYY/MM/DD') 
      || '; got ' || TO_CHAR(actual_value, 'YYYY/MM/DD'));
    END IF;
  END reporteq;

END TESTUTIL;

Answer 1

What type is your PL/SQL variable how_many? It needs to be a VARCHAR2, else expected_value needs to be a NUMBER. Try this:

testutil.reporteq('add procedure, book record count',
  expected_value => '1', actual_value => TO_CHAR(how_many));

The problem is (assuming how_many is a numeric type) is that you don't have a spec that matches a VARCHAR2 and a NUMBER parameter list. You've got VARCHAR2/VARCHAR2, NUMBER/NUMBER, VARCHAR2/BOOLEAN, and DATE/DATE.