APEX- How to open world document (and other files) stored in a blob column?

Question

Hi,
I have an application developed in Oracle Apex 3.2.1 and RDBMS Oracle 9.2.0.8 (SUN SOLARIS SPARC 64 BITS).
I have a table called BAC_ARQUIVO, with the following structure:
CREATE TABLE BAC_ARQUIVO
(NAME VARCHAR2(4000), /* Name of the file stored in BLOB column */
SUBJECT VARCHAR2(4000), /* A brief description about this file stored */
ID NUMBER, /* An identification of this file - It´s a PK column of this table*/
BLOB_CONTENT BLOB, /* Blob field that store diferent kind of files - XLS, DOC, PPT, PDF, EXE, ZIP, etc);
MIME_TYPE VARCHAR2(4000) /* Identification about which kind of file is stored on BLOB field */
The field BLOB_CONTENT of this table can store:
- Executable files;
- MS-World Documents (DOC);
- Zip Files (ZIP);
- Ms-Excel Files (XLS);
- Ms-Powerpoint files (PPT);
- Adobe documents (PDF);
Actually, in this APEX application, i have developed a interactive Report in which the user can download these files to desktop without problems.
But now, my user would like to know if it´s possible that APEX application can OPEN some of these files stored on this BLOB column WITHOUT download it.
My user would like to see a hiperlink (or button) that, if pressed/acessed, can open a new page (or a page inside application) with the document. He doesn´t need to edit this oppened file. He only wants to see it.
For example, if the file stored in the blob column is ms-word type , so the application will open a MS-WINDOWS application with these file.
Is it possible?
I saw in this forum that it´s possible to open a file stored on "/i/" directory, but i need to open the file stored in BLOB column. I don´t want to store the file in operational system of the server.
Could any one demonstrate to me how it could be done?
Best regards,
Sergio Coutinho

Answer 1

Hi Sergio,
This link might be helpful:
http://www.oracle.com/webfolder/technetwork/tutorials/obe/db/apex/r31/apex31nf/apex31blob.htm
Also refer the BLOB Download Format Mask :
{message:id=9716335}
Here I have given the format mask for APEX 4.0, which will slightly differ for 3.2.1 and proposed changes
in the format mask are:
1) Format Mask: DOWNLOAD
2) Content Disposition: Inline
This will be achieved with it:
>
But now, my user would like to know if it´s possible that APEX application can OPEN some of these files stored on this BLOB column WITHOUT download it.
My user would like to see a hiperlink (or button) that, if pressed/acessed, can open a new page (or a page inside application) with the document. He doesn´t need to edit this oppened file. He only wants to see it.
>
Hope it helps!
Regards,
Kiran