How to call CLOB to BLOB conversion function within stored procedure?

Question

I have a tiny APEX application from which I need to be able to print. I’ve used these two resources: (Is there an inexpensive APEX report printer for invoices/checks/statements? and http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E14373_01/appdev.32/e13363/up_dn_files.htm#CJAHDJDA)
I guess that in order to be able to download the RTF document stored in CLOB, I need to convert it into BLOB. I’ve found this function for this purpose on Oracle forums:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION     c2b( c IN CLOB ) RETURN BLOB
-- typecasts CLOB to BLOB (binary conversion)
IS
          pos PLS_INTEGER := 1;
          buffer RAW( 32767 );
          res BLOB;
          lob_len PLS_INTEGER := DBMS_LOB.getLength( c );
BEGIN
     DBMS_LOB.createTemporary( res, TRUE );
     DBMS_LOB.OPEN( res, DBMS_LOB.LOB_ReadWrite );
LOOP
     buffer := UTL_RAW.cast_to_raw( DBMS_LOB.SUBSTR( c, 16000, pos ) );
     IF          UTL_RAW.LENGTH( buffer ) > 0
     THEN
               DBMS_LOB.writeAppend( res, UTL_RAW.LENGTH( buffer ), buffer );
     END IF;
     pos := pos + 16000;
     EXIT WHEN pos > lob_len;
END LOOP;
RETURN res; -- res is OPEN here
END c2b;And I am trying to use it in the modified download procedure that I also have found on Oracle forums:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE DOWNLOAD_WO(v_id IN NUMBER)
AS
        v_mime          VARCHAR2(48);
        v_length     NUMBER;
        v_file_name     VARCHAR2(2000):= 'WO_Download.rtf';
        lob_loc          CLOB;
          v_blob      BLOB;
          v_company        jobs_vw.company%TYPE;
          v_project        jobs_vw.project%TYPE;
          v_description     jobs_vw.description%TYPE;
          v_date_          jobs_vw.date_%TYPE;
          v_job_no          jobs_vw.job_no%TYPE;
          v_apqwo               jobs_vw.apqwo%TYPE;
--          v_mime           VARCHAR2(48) := 'application/msword';
BEGIN
        SELECT     mime_type, report, DBMS_LOB.GETLENGTH(report)
          INTO     v_mime,lob_loc,v_length
          FROM     report_layouts
          WHERE     rl_id = 22332925279634283;
-- JOB_VW record:
    SELECT     job_no
               ,date_
               ,description
               ,apqwo
               ,project
               ,company       
     INTO     v_job_no
               ,v_date_
               ,v_description
               ,v_apqwo
               ,v_project
               ,v_company
     FROM     jobs_vw
     WHERE     id = 214;
-- Replace holders with actual values:
    lob_loc := REPLACE(lob_loc, '#COMPANY#', v_company);
    lob_loc := REPLACE(lob_loc, '#PROJECT#', v_project);
    lob_loc := REPLACE(lob_loc, '#DESCRIPTION#', v_description);
    lob_loc := REPLACE(lob_loc, '#DATE_#', TO_CHAR(v_date_, 'DD/MM/YYYY'));
    lob_loc := REPLACE(lob_loc, '#JOB_NO#', v_job_no);
    lob_loc := REPLACE(lob_loc, '#APQWO#', v_apqwo);
              -- set up HTTP header
                    -- use an NVL around the mime type and
                    -- if it is a null set it to application/octect
                    -- application/octect may launch a download window from windows
                    owa_util.mime_header( nvl(v_mime,'application/octet'), FALSE );
                -- set the size so the browser knows how much to download
                htp.p('Content-length: ' || v_length);
                -- the filename will be used by the browser if the users does a save as
                htp.p('Content-Disposition:  attachment; filename="'||replace(replace(substr(v_file_name,instr(v_file_name,'/')+1),chr(10),null),chr(13),null)|| '"');
                -- close the headers           
                owa_util.http_header_close;
                -- download the BLOB
--                wpg_docload.download_file( Lob_loc );
                         v_blob := c2b(lob_loc);
                         wpg_docload.download_file( v_blob );
end DOWNLOAD_WO;
/Unfortunately when I try to compile the download_wo stored procedure I am getting this error:
Error at line 64: PL/SQL: Statement ignoredThe 64th line is:
v_blob := c2b(lob_loc);How should I correctly call c2b within download_wo? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time.
Daniel

Answer 1

Hello there,
Well, its invalid :(
Object C2B is Invalid. I didn't know since when I run the create ... function, I only get this feedback:
Statement processed.
0.19 secondsI am investigating.
Daniel