How to batch upload PDF files into database BLOB

Question

Hello.
I have a requirement to batch upload PDF files into BLOB column of an Oracle 8.1.7 table from Forms 6i Web. The content of the blob column (ie. the PDF content) MUST be displayable from all client software (eg. Oracle Web forms, HTML forms, etc.)
Our environment is
Middle-tier is 9iAS on Windows/2000
Database is Oracle 8.1.7.0.0 on VMS
Oracle Web Forms 6i Patch 10
Basically my Oracle web form program will display a list of PDF files to upload and then the user can click on the <Upload> button to do the batch upload. I have experimented the following approaches but with no luck.
1. READ_IMAGE_FILE forms built-in = does NOT work because it cannot read PDF file. I got error FRM-47100: Cannot read image file
2. OCX and OLE form item = cannot use this because it does NOT work on the Web. I got error FRM-41344 OLE object not defined
3. I cannot use DBMS_LOB to do the load because the PDF files are not in the database machine.
4. Metalink Note 1682771.1 (How to upload binary documents back to database blob column from forms). When I used this, I got ORA-6502 during the hextoraw conversion. In using this solution, I have downloaded a bin2hex.exe from the Google site. I've noticed that when I looked at the converted HEX file, each line has the character : (colon) at the beginning of each line. I know the PDF file has been converted correctly to HEX format because when I convert the HEX file back to BIN format using hex2bin.exe, I'm able to display the converted bin file in Acrobat Reader. When I removed the : (colon) in the HEX file, I did NOT get the ORA-6502 error but I CANNOT display the file in Acrobat Reader. It gives an error "corrupted file".
5. upload facility in PL/SQL Web toolkit - I tried to automatically submit the html form (with htp.p) but it does NOT load the contents of the file. I called the URL from Oracle forms using web.show_document. There seems to be issues with Oracle Web forms (JInitiator) and HTML (+ htp.p).
The other options I can think of at this point are:
1. Use SQL*Loader to do the batch upload via SQL*Net connection and use HOST() built-in from Oracle Webforms to execute SQL*Loader from the 9iAS.
2. Write a Visual Basic program that reads a binary file and output the contents of the file into a byte array. Then build a DLL that can be called from Oracle webforms 6i via ORA_FFI. I don't prefer this because it means the solution will only work for Windows.
3. Write a JSP program that streams the PDF file and insert the contents of the PDF file into blob column via JDBC. Call JSP from forms using web.show_document. With this I have to do another connection to the database when I load the file.
4. Maybe I can use dbms_lob by using network file system (NFS) between the application server and VMS. But this will be network resource hungry as far as I know because the network connection has to be kept open.
Please advise. Thank you.
Regards,
Armando

Answer 1

I have downloaded a bin2hex.exe from the Google site.
... each line has the character : (colon) at the
beginning of each line. I'm afraid it isn't a correct utility. I hope you'll find the source code of a correct one at metalink forum:
Doc ID: 368771.996
Type: Forum
Subject: Uploading Binary Files: bin2hex and hex2bin do not reproduce the same file
There is some links to metalink notes and some example about working with BLOB at http://www.tigralen.spb.ru/oracle/blob/index.htm. Maybe it helps. Sorry for my English. If there is any problem with code provided there, let me know by e-mail.