I have two questions:
1. The function wwv_flow_item.md5 seems to have changed from 4.2 to 5.0. It used to produce a 32-character hexadecimal string, but now it produces a 128-character string. My guess is that it no longer uses MD5 hashing, but perhaps SHA-3? Can anyone confirm this?
2. The package APEX_UTIL now has the function GET_HASH. This function produces a markedly different hash string, in that it contains arbitrary printable characters, not just hexadecimal ones. It looks like the hash strings are always 86 characters. I can find no explanation of this function. Does it also use SHA-3? The API says to use it like this:
APEX_UTIL.GET_HASH(apex_t_varchar2('val1', 'val2', 'val3'))
My guess is that the apex_t_varchar2 function is converting the input to an internal type. Can someone say more about this?
3. (Bonus question) The APEX_UTIL API seems to indicate that the get_hash function is now the hash function of choice for tasks such as lost update detection. Am I reading this right?
Ed Sciore