When executing a query that contains DATE bind variables using the SQL Worksheet in the Oracle SQL Developer for VS Code extension, the Binds dialog only has Name, Value, and Null columns — there is no Type column to specify the data type.
This means all values entered in the Binds dialog are implicitly passed as VARCHAR2, relying on Oracle's implicit VARCHAR2→DATE conversion. This is a serious limitation for performance analysis: when studying execution plans and query statistics, it is essential to run the query exactly as written, with correctly typed bind variables. Adding TO_DATE() or any other wrapper would alter the query and potentially produce a different execution plan, invalidating the analysis entirely.
And in any case having to alter a query that works perfectly in a third party tool (i.e.: Allround Automations' PL/Sql Developer, that allows you to define the bind types) to make it run in the OFFICIAL oracle tool is simply not acceptable.
This is a fundamental feature for any professional database development and performance tuning workflow.
Please add a Type selector to the Binds dialog.