Download pdf into browser, object not stored in wwv_flow_files

Question

Was wondering if you’re able to help? I want to view a pdf I’ve stored in a blob column via APEX.
I can view pdf’s I’ve uploaded and stored via apex i.e. stored in wwv_flow_files, but not objects stored in other tables.
To help see what I’m doing I will detail the way I can get working (Via Apex)
Scenario via apex:
create table demo.apex_document_upload(
name varchar2(90),
load_date date,
load_user varchar2(100));
Create upload page
Using a HTML region
I insert a button called upload with a branch to page of &APP_PAGE_ID.
Create a file browse item
Add a page process plsql to run on upload button
begin
insert into demo.apex_document_upload (name,load_date,load_user )
values (:P9_FILE_NAME,sysdate, :app_user);
end;
Run page and upload a pdf document.
Create PDF Apex View page
Create a reports page using below sql code.
select
wff.id, lf.load_date, lf.load_user, wff.filename PDF_FILE
from
wwv_flow_files wff, demo.apex_document_upload lf
where
wff.name = lf.name;
Edit the report attributes and go into the pdf_file link attributes:
Set
link text = #PDF_FILE#
target=URL
url=p?n=#ID#&p_inline=YES
Run the report page click on the link and the pdf should be launched.
Issue
Issue I want to store the images in the user’s schema and load the images in bulk, I have over 100,000 pdfs to load and do not want to do this one at a time.
I can load the images into Oracle OK using below:
The issue with this is that the blob is stored in the wwv_flow_files table and you have to laod one image at a time. I’m looking at loading on 100k of images so this is not practical.
So I was wanting to load the images via sqlldr
create table demo.schema_document_upload
name varchar2(100),
file_name varchar2(100),
file_image blob,
load_date date)
sqlldr controlfile
load_bulk_pdf.ctl
load data
infile *
append
into table demo.schema_document_upload
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ','
Name CHAR
, file_name CHAR
, file_image LOBFILE(file_name)
TERMINATED BY EOF
NULLIF file_name='NONE'
, load_date SYSDATE
begindata
image1,00000002.pdf
image2, 00000006.pdf
image_3,0000000A.pdf
This loads the PDF’s into the demo.schema_document_upload table, but I’ve been unable to get APEX to open these PDF’s.
Has anyone tried this before?

Answer 1

Hello dtt676 (Tip for you, put your name in your profile) :-)
Here's how I do it...
1)Create a stored procedure (Standalone or as a part of a package as appropriate) like this...
  PROCEDURE get_pdf (p_pdf_id IN NUMBER) IS
    v_blob       BLOB;
    l_length     NUMBER;
    v_mime_type  VARCHAR2(30);
    v_file_name  VARCHAR2(200);
  BEGIN
    -- get pdf_data and its mime type from the database
    SELECT a.pdf
          ,a.mimetype
          ,a.filename
    INTO   v_blob
          ,v_mime_type
          ,v_file_name
    FROM   pdf_table a
    WHERE  a.pdf_id = p_pdf_id;
    l_length := dbms_lob.getlength(v_blob);
    owa_util.mime_header(v_mime_type, FALSE);
    htp.p('Content-length: ' || l_length);
    htp.p('Content-Disposition: filename="' || v_file_name || '"');
    owa_util.http_header_close;
    wpg_docload.download_file(v_blob);
    EXCEPTION
      WHEN OTHERS THEN
           RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR(-20001, 'Error:  '                || SQLERRM
                                   ||'. p_pdf_id: '  || p_pdf_id
  END get_pdf;2) In "Shared Components", create an "Application Process" of type "On Demand" type "PL/SQL Anonymous Block" called GET_PDF with the following 'Source'
BEGIN
  get_pdf(p_pdf_id => &P1_PDF_ID.);
END;3) Make sure your target page for displaying your PDF has an item containing the unique ID of the stored PDF you want to display, an item containing the mimetype and an item containing the filename.
4) create an HTML Region on the page you want to display your PDF with the following in the region source.
<iframe src="f?p=&APP_ID.:1:&APP_SESSION.:APPLICATION_PROCESS=GET_PDF" width="800" height="1000" name="&P1_FILENAME." type="&P1_MIMETYPE."></iframe>You will need to set the page IDs to the relevant page for your application and you'll need to set the item names to those you're using in your database but, assuming you have your PDFs stored in a BLOB column, this should do the trick.
Please feel free to come back to me if you have any questions.
Kind regards
Simon Gadd