GET_BLOB_FILE_SRC Function

As an alternative to using the built-in methods of providing a download link, you can use the APEX_UTIL.GET_BLOB_FILE_SRC function. One advantage of this approach is more specific formatting of the display of the image (with height and width tags). This function must be called from a valid Oracle APEX session and also requires that the parameters that describe the BLOB are listed as the format of a valid item within the application. That item is then referenced by the function.

If the URL returned by this function is passed to APEX_UTIL.PREPARE_URL, the p_plain_url argument must be set to TRUE to ensure that no modal dialog code is added when the referenced page item is on a modal page.

Syntax

APEX_UTIL.GET_BLOB_FILE_SRC (
    p_item_name           IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
    p_v1                  IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
    p_v2                  IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
    p_content_disposition IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL )
RETURN VARCHAR2;

Parameters

Table 48-37 GET_BLOB_FILE_SRC Parameters

Parameter	Description
`p_item_name`	Name of valid application page item with type `FILE` that contains the source type of DB column.
`p_v1`	Value of primary key column 1.
`p_v2`	Value of primary key column 2.
`p_content_disposition`	Specify `INLINE` or `ATTACHMENT`, all other values ignored.

Example

As a PL/SQL Function Body:

RETURN '<img src="'||APEX_UTIL.GET_BLOB_FILE_SRC('P2_ATTACHMENT',:P2_EMPNO)||'" />';

As a Region Source of type SQL:

SELECT ID, NAME,CASE WHEN NVL(dbms_lob.getlength(document),0) = 0
    THEN NULL 
    ELSE CASE WHEN attach_mimetype like 'image%'
    THEN '<img src="'||apex_util.get_blob_file_src('P4_DOCUMENT',id)||'" />' 
    ELSE 
    '<a href="'||apex_util.get_blob_file_src('P4_DOCUMENT',id)||'">Download</a>'
    end 
    END new_img
    FROM TEST_WITH_BLOB

The previous example displays the BLOB within the report if it can be displayed, and provides a download link if it cannot be displayed.