Re: BLOBs from Oracle to MS Sql server

> Please keep in mind that BLOB column can take about 1M, there is limitation
> in PL/SQL that a variable can not exceed 32k. Is there such limitation in
> Delphi, and which version of Delphi you suggesting.

In Oracle, LOBs can be as large as 4GB, and there are actually no restrictions on LOB size in PL/SQL, because PL/SQL doesn't work with LOB data directly, instead it works with LOB locators, which are kind of pointers to actual data, and there is special package called DBMS_LOB that provides chunked access to the LOB data (in chunks of up to 32K, since VARCHAR2 and RAW types in PL/SQL indeed have this size limit).

As of Delphi limitations - I am not aware of such, Delphi works with LOBs pretty well. Any version would do, although in my experience Version 5 was the most stable. Version 6 introduced new db connectivity layer (dbExpress) instead of their proven, but outdated, BDE and there was a lot of issues with it among other irritating bugs not found in v5. No idea about Version 7 as it was just recently released and surely contains some new bugs as usual. Anyway, your particular task is pretty simple and should work the same when implemented in any version of Delphi (or even Visual Basic, using OLEDB.)

By the way, there is an application bundled with Delphi Professional and up, called DataPump, which can be used to transfer data from Oracle to SQL Server and back with minimum effort - it's designed specifically for transferring data between different databases doing all necessary data type conversions on the fly. Not sure it supports LOBs though (don't see why it wouldn't, but didn't try so can't be absolutely positive on this).

DTS would probably do it with ease, too.

-- 
Vladimir Zakharychev (bob@dpsp-yes.com)                http://www.dpsp-yes.com
Dynamic PSP(tm) - the first true RAD toolkit for Oracle-based internet applications.
All opinions are mine and do not necessarily go in line with those of my employer.