Convert blob to array

Question

Hello everybody.
I saw an article that describes how to bind array parameter.
The main idea is to send Varchar and convert it to array in a function.
This is the article:
http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/asktom/f?p=100:11:0::::P11_QUESTION_ID:146012348066
The function is:
<code>
create or replace function in_list( p_string in varchar2 )
return myTableType
as
l_data myTableType := myTableType();
l_string long default p_string || ',';
l_n number;
begin
loop
exit when l_string is null;
l_data.extend;
l_n := instr( l_string, ',' );
l_data( l_data.count ) :=
substr( l_string, 1, l_n-1 );
l_string := substr( l_string, l_n+1 );
end loop;
return l_data;
end;
<code>
I want to send blob (binary) and convert it to array like the function do.
I want to send blob because the function above uses varchar that restrict to 4k and I want to send more than 4k chars.
How to do that?
Edited by: DevMTs on Mar 1, 2010 10:13 AM

Answer 1

The example I gave works - it just produces an extra null line so you need to modify it as follows:
create or replace function in_list( p_string in clob) return myTableType
as
l_data myTableType := myTableType();
l_n number := -1;
old_l_n number := 0;
begin
loop
l_n := instr( p_string || ',' , ',', old_l_n+1);
exit when l_n = 0;
l_data.extend;
l_data( l_data.count ) := substr( p_string|| ',', old_l_n+1, l_n-old_l_n-1);
old_l_n := l_n;
end loop;
return l_data;
end;I do not understand why you are getting an error
what have you defined the myTableType as?
what version of Oracle are you on?
Below I what I did to test the above function:
create type myTableType as table of varchar2(400);
-- generate clob with over 4K
var x clob;
declare
  i number
begin
  for i in 1..12 loop
     :x := :x || lpad('Loop - ' || i, 400) || ',';
  end loop
  :x := 'The End';
end;
-- test function
select * from table(in_list(:x));