How to Copy a Long Column in PL/SQL

Question

Hello. Can anyone tell me how to copy a table that contains a long column? I am using Oracle 8.0.5 SQL Worksheet
with the following code that generates an ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error.
CREATE TABLE "Tmp_CB_REPORT"
     CB_RPT_ID NUMBER(38, 0),
     CB_ID NUMBER(38, 0),
     CB_REGION_ID NUMBER(38, 0),
     WHEN_PULLED DATE NOT NULL,
     PARSED NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     RAW_DATA LONG NOT NULL,
     JOINT NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     RPTTYPE NUMBER(38, 0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION1 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION2 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION3 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION4 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION5 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION6 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION7 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION8 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION9 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION10 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION11 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION12 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION13 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION14 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION15 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION16 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION17 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION18 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION19 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     OPTION20 NUMBER(1, 0) DEFAULT (0) NOT NULL,
     REGION_ID NUMBER(38, 0),
     RPT_TYPE_DESC VARCHAR2(40)
LOCK TABLE CB_REPORT IN EXCLUSIVE MODE NOWAIT;
DECLARE
     CURSOR datacursor IS SELECT CB_RPT_ID, CB_ID, CB_REGION_ID, WHEN_PULLED, PARSED, RAW_DATA, JOINT, RPTTYPE, OPTION1, OPTION2, OPTION3, OPTION4, OPTION5, OPTION6, OPTION7, OPTION8, OPTION9, OPTION10, OPTION11, OPTION12, OPTION13, OPTION14, OPTION15, OPTION16, OPTION17, OPTION18, OPTION19, OPTION20, REGION_ID, RPT_TYPE_DESC FROM CB_REPORT;
     datarecord datacursor%ROWTYPE;
BEGIN
     OPEN datacursor;
     LOOP
          FETCH datacursor INTO datarecord;
          EXIT WHEN (datacursor%NOTFOUND);
          INSERT INTO "Tmp_CB_REPORT"(CB_RPT_ID, CB_ID, CB_REGION_ID, WHEN_PULLED, PARSED, RAW_DATA, JOINT, RPTTYPE, OPTION1, OPTION2, OPTION3, OPTION4, OPTION5, OPTION6, OPTION7, OPTION8, OPTION9, OPTION10, OPTION11, OPTION12, OPTION13, OPTION14, OPTION15, OPTION16, OPTION17, OPTION18, OPTION19, OPTION20, REGION_ID, RPT_TYPE_DESC) VALUES (datarecord.CB_RPT_ID, datarecord.CB_ID, datarecord.CB_REGION_ID, datarecord.WHEN_PULLED, datarecord.PARSED, datarecord.RAW_DATA, datarecord.JOINT, datarecord.RPTTYPE, datarecord.OPTION1, datarecord.OPTION2, datarecord.OPTION3, datarecord.OPTION4, datarecord.OPTION5, datarecord.OPTION6, datarecord.OPTION7, datarecord.OPTION8, datarecord.OPTION9, datarecord.OPTION10, datarecord.OPTION11, datarecord.OPTION12, datarecord.OPTION13, datarecord.OPTION14, datarecord.OPTION15, datarecord.OPTION16, datarecord.OPTION17, datarecord.OPTION18, datarecord.OPTION19, datarecord.OPTION20, datarecord.REGION_ID, datarecord.RPT_TYPE_DESC);
     END LOOP;
END;
The copy works fine if I remove the long column from the CREATE TABLE "Tmp_CB_REPORT" statement
and the cursor copy statement. Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

What I think you should do is to turn your long into a LOB. LOBs are much malleable than LONGs. I suggest you have a look at the documentation for DBMS_LOB. You can create a function using DBMS_LOB that uses a temporary CLOB to reas your long column an dreturn a CLOB.
Cheers, APC