SQL question (that seems to be JDBC-specific): Can I do this UDF better?

We have (in a legacy database) a date that is stored as an 8-digit zoned decimal number, YYYYMMDD.

And we have, in order to present that date as an actual date field, an SQL VIEW that calls a UDF defined thusly:

DROP FUNCTION FOO/DISPLAYDAT;
create function FOO/DISPLAYDAT(i_date NUMERIC(8))
returns DATE
language sql deterministic not fenced set option datfmt=*ISO
begin
declare continue handler for sqlexception
return date('99991231000000');
if i_date = 0 then return date('00010101000000'); end if;
return date(digits(i_date) concat '000000');
END

Now, this works great. Unless (1) we're using JDBC, and (2) the underlying numeric date is 0.

Now, if I'm doing a STRSQL session, I either get ++++++++ (if the date format is *MDY), or I get the correct value of January 1, 0001 (if the date format is *ISO or *USA).

But if I'm accessing the database via Squirrel (which uses JDBC), then every time it gets the zeroed-out raw value that produces January 1, 0001, there's an SQL Exception 181, we take a significant performance hit, and the displayed result set shows a year of 2001 instead of 0001.

Now, I'm already being proactive about a raw value of 00000000. But can I be *more* proactive?

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JHHL