pdi-cd-8.1.0.0-365 / 8.2.x.x Excel Writer Step DATE TIMESTAMP Column null in Sheet

Hi All,

Test Environment

Windows 8.1/10 64 bit
Oracle 12.2.0.1
java version "1.8.0_131"
pdi-cd-(7.1,8.1,8.2)

What I did

Create simple transformation
Table Input step (with select * from user_objects)
Excel Writer Step (xlsx) writes file to local folder

What I found

The Excel file has been written but no content (null) in the DATA/TIMESTAMP Cells. This means the oracle table contains two DATE fields CREATED and LAST_DDL_TIME. This fields where empty in the excel file.

Further I tried to set in the Excel Writer Step a format for the date fields --> nothing changed --> column are null
Further I set the values in the select statement of table input step to a formated string for the DATE fields, means: to_char(DATE,'dd.mm.yyyy') --> now the fields are filled in the excel file. If I use the "format cells" use case in the file it sais "User defined format", but it is not a DATE.

Question/s

in previous versions (e.g. pdi-4.4 )we did not need formatting. Do I always have to specify formatting in the table input step?
A statement like "select * from my_table" with TIMESTAMP or DATE columns would be null for the columns?
Do I use the Excel Writer Step in a wrong manner?

Thank you for helping me

T.