Re: working with LONG RAW datatype

dathedba_at_mindspring.com (Doug Anderson) wrote:

>Balakrishnan Subramanian <bala.subramanian_at_mci.com> wrote:
>>You need to write a proc program to read the binary file and insert it
>>into long raw column. There is a sample program in the directory
>>$ORACLE_HOME/proc/demo/sample4.pc. you can make use of it.
>
>
>We use SQL*Loader to load the LONG RAW (BLOBs). There are
>some gotchas though. You have to guarantee there are no CR/LF
>(line breaks) in your data, otherwise Loader won't know that the row
>has ended. Also, Loader is too stupid to allow each row to be
>variable length. You have to declare the exact length of every row
>in the control file.

Hmmm. Do you mean that EACH line in the table itself occupies exactly the amount of memory you gave it in the SQL*Loader control file?

I always assumed that SQL*Loader just needs to know how much conversation space it should take. So your data can well be of variable length, but you should make sure that the long attribute is the last in the row.

I use SQL*Loader to load longs (not raw, though) into a table as well. In the SQL*Loader control file I use a CHAR(x) field. However most data is (of course) much shorter than x. I really do hope now that the space occupied in the table is not fixed to x for every row!

        Gerhard.

-- 
 Dipl. Inform. Gerhard Möller -- Gerhard.Moeller_at_OFFIS.Uni-Oldenburg.DE

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