Hyperlink target connects from Outlook e-mail to file in Oracle database

Question

Greetings.
Due to lack of permissions, I cannot create text file on the UNIX server.
This will not be changed.
I have stored the file in the Oracle 11g database.
I want to send e-mail from PL/SQL with attached file.
No UNIX scripts at all.
It is a big file.
Thought crossed my mind.
Can I send e-mail from PL/SQL containing a hyperlink which connects to the file stored in the Oracle database ?
The link target is a file stored in the Oracle database.
Has anyone done this before?
Let me know your ideas.
Thank you.

Answer 1

Oracle Freq wrote:
I want to send e-mail from PL/SQL with attached file.
No UNIX scripts at all.Can be done using UTL_SMTP or the newer UTL_MAIL.
Attachments to e-mails are just that - the contents of the file is attached to the body of the mail. The mail arrives at its destination, the mail reader recognises the attachment and enables it to be saved to disk (or opened/viewed).
This is standard stuff.. see MIME for details on how to construct a message body that includes attachments.
Can I send e-mail from PL/SQL containing a hyperlink which connects to the file stored in the Oracle database ?
The link target is a file stored in the Oracle database.Yes. You need a web server that has been configured with Oracle "+access+" - the default is using Oracle's Apache server that includes a module called mod_plsql. This module enables the web browser to use a URL that refers to a web enabled PL/SQL procedure in a specific database schema - and pass parameters (as part of the URL's query string) to the procedure.
You can also use Oracle EPG (Extended Procedural Gateway I think is what the acronym means). This provides a web server directly inside the Oracle instance via the XDB (integrated XML database) option in Oracle. It too has a mod_plsql type module that provides an interface (via http) to web enabled PL/SQL procedures.
This procedure can be a "+document download+" procedure. Oracle provides a system procedure called WPG_DOCLOAD.download_file()+ that you can use inside that web enabled PL/SQL procedure. This will return the contents of blob/clob as a "file" to the web browser.
For example, a download web-enabled procedure will simplistically look something as follows:
create or replace procedure downloadFile( fileName varchar2 ) is
        b       blob;
        mimeType varchar2(50);
begin
        select
            file_content, mime_type  into b, mimeType
        from my_documents where file_name = fileName;
        OWA_UTIL.mime_header( mimeType, false );
        HTP.p('Content-Length: ' || DBMS_LOB.getlength(b));
        OWA_UTIL.http_header_close;
        WPG_DOCLOAD.download_file( b );
end;The URL will look something like:
http://my-webserver.my-domain.com:7777/pls/ora/scott.downloadfile?filename=somefile.docwhere:
scott.downloadfile = name of PL/SQL procedure
filename=somefile.doc = parameter name values to pass to procedure