What's New with Large Objects (LOBs)?

This section describes the new features in the following releases:

LOB Features Introduced with Oracle9i, Release 1 (9.0.1)

The following sections describe the new features in Oracle9i Large Objects (LOBs):

LONG-to-LOB Migration API

To assist you in migrating to LOBs, Oracle now supports the LONG API for LOBs. This API ensures that when you change your LONG columns to LOBs, your existing applications will require few changes, if any. When possible, change your existing applications to use LOBs instead of LONGs because of the added benefits that LOBs provide.

See:

Chapter 8, "Migrating From LONGs to LOBs"

Using SQL Semantics with LOBs

In this release, for the first time, you can access (internal persistent) LOBs using SQL VARCHAR2 semantics, such as SQL string operators and functions. By providing you with an SQL interface, which you are familiar with, accessing LOB data can be greatly facilitated. These semantics are recommended when using small-sized LOBs (~ 10-100KB).

See:

Chapter 7, "Modeling and Design"

Using Oracle C++ Call Interface (OCCI) with LOBs

Oracle C++ Call Interface (OCCI) is a new C++ API for manipulating data in an Oracle database. OCCI is organized as an easy-to-use collection of C++ classes which enable a C++ program to connect to a database, execute SQL statements, insert/update values in database tables, retrieve results of a query, execute stored procedures in the database, and access metadata of database schema objects. OCCI API provides advantages over JDBC and ODBC.

See:

New JDBC LOB Functionality

The following are new JDBC LOB-related functionality:

Temporary LOB APIs: create temporary LOBs and destroy temporary LOBs
Trim APIs: trim the LOBs to the specified length
Open and Close APIs: open and close LOBs explicitly
New Streaming APIs: read and write LOBs as Java streams from the specified offset.
Empty LOB instances can now be created with JDBC. The instances do not require database round trips
See :

Chapter 3, "LOB Support in Different Programmatic Environments"

Chapter 10, "Internal Persistent LOBs"

Chapter 11, "Temporary LOBs"

Chapter 12, "External LOBs (BFILEs)"

Support for LOBs in Partitioned Index-Organized Tables

Oracle9i introduces support for LOB, VARRAY columns stored as LOBs, and BFILEs in partitioned index-organized tables. The behavior of LOB columns in these tables is similar to that of LOB columns in conventional (heap-organized) partitioned tables, except for a few minor differences.

See:

Chapter 5, "Large Objects: Advanced Topics"

Using OLEDB and LOBs (new to this manual)

OLE DB is an open specification for accessing various types of data from different stores in a uniform way. OLEDB supports the following functions for these LOB types:

Persistent LOBs. READ/WRITE through the rowset.
BFILEs. READ-ONLY through the rowset.

See:
Chapter 13, "Using OraOLEDB to Manipulate LOBs"

LOB Features Introduced with Oracle8i Release 2 (8.1.6)

Note:

There was no change in LOB functionality between Oracle8i Release 2 (8.1.6) and Oracle8i Release 3 (8.1.7).

New LOB features introduced in Oracle8i, Release 2 (8.1.6) were:

A CACHE READS option for LOB columns
The 4,000 byte restriction for bind variables binding to an internal LOB was removed

LOB Features Introduced with Oracle8i, Release 8.1.5

New LOB features included in the Oracle8i, Release 8.1.5 are:

Temporary LOBs
Varying width CLOB and NCLOB support
Support for LOBs in partitioned tables
New API for LOBs (open/close/isopen, writeappend, getchunksize)
Support for LOBs in non-partitioned index-organized tables
Copying the value of a LONG to a LOB