Load image file into a LONG RAW column via SQL*Loader

Question

Does anyone know how to load a image file into a LONG RAW column via SQL*Loader?
Thanks
-Hsing-Hua-

Answer 1

Are you trying to import the image on the client into Oracle lite, or from the server end into the main oracle database for download to the client?
On our system images are loaded into the the oracle lite database (10g R1 at the moment) on the client (DELL X50 PDA's) into a BLOB (Not LONG RAW) column using Java (relatively standard functionality in Java) as this is what our application software is written in.
From the server end, we do not at the moment load images as such, but we do load the application software into the database for deployment of new versions to the clients (the DMC/DMS updates we have found very unreliable), and the technique should be the same for images. Again the file is imported into a BLOB column.
NOTE a column defined as BLOB on the main Oracle database appears as a LONG VARBINARY on the client Oracle lite database, but the synchronisation process handles the conversion with no problem.
To import into a BLOB column on the server try the following
1) you will need to create a DIRECTORY (CREATE DIRECTORY command) within the database, pointing at a directory on the database server (or accessible from it). This is needed for the file location.
CREATE OR REPLACE DIRECTORY PDA_FILE_UPLOAD AS '/pdaapps/jar/'
NOTE create directory needs to be run as SYSTEM
2) define your table to hold the image and other data. Our tables is
SQL> desc pda_applications
Name Null? Type
ID NOT NULL NUMBER(12)
PDAAT_CODE NOT NULL VARCHAR2(10)
VERSION NOT NULL NUMBER(5,2)
PART_NO NOT NULL NUMBER(3)
FILE_OBJECT BLOB
DEPLOY_APPLICATION_YN NOT NULL VARCHAR2(1)
3) copy the image (or in our case a .jar file) to the database server directory specified in step 1
4) the actual import is done using a DBMB_LOB procedure
PROCEDURE pr_load_file
Module Name     :     pr_load_file
Description     :     Main call. Create a new pda_applications record, and import the specified file into it
Version History:
Vers. Author Date Reason
1.0 G Wilkinson 03/02/2006 Initial Version.
(PA_VERSION IN NUMBER
,PA_FILENAME IN VARCHAR2
,PA_PDAAT_CODE IN VARCHAR2
,PA_PART_NO IN NUMBER DEFAULT 1
,PA_DEPLOY IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'Y')
IS
l_FileLocator BFILE;
l_blobLocator BLOB;
l_seq NUMBER;
l_location VARCHAR2(20);
no_params EXCEPTION;
call_fail EXCEPTION;
BEGIN
-- Throw error if required details not present
IF pa_version IS NULL
OR pa_filename IS NULL
OR pa_pdaat_code IS NULL THEN
RAISE no_params;
END IF;
-- Initialize the BLOB locator for writing. Note that we have
-- to import a blob into a table as part of a SELECT FOR UPDATE. This locks the row,
-- and is a requirement for LOADFROMFILE.
SELECT pdaa_id_seq.nextval
INTO l_seq
FROM dual;
-- First create the application record (file is imported by update, not insert
INSERT INTO pda_applications
(ID,PDAAT_CODE,VERSION,PART_NO,FILE_OBJECT,DEPLOY_APPLICATION_YN)
VALUES (l_seq,pa_pdaat_code,pa_version,pa_part_no,EMPTY_BLOB(),pa_deploy);
-- Lock record for update to import the file
SELECT file_object INTO l_blobLocator
FROM pda_applications
WHERE id=l_seq
FOR UPDATE;
-- Initialize the BFILE locator for reading.
l_FileLocator := BFILENAME('PDA_FILE_UPLOAD', pa_filename);
DBMS_LOB.FILEOPEN(l_FileLocator, DBMS_LOB.FILE_READONLY);
-- Load the entire file into the character LOB.
-- This is necessary so that we have the data in
-- character rather than RAW variables.
DBMS_LOB.LOADFROMFILE(l_blobLocator, l_FileLocator
,DBMS_LOB.GETLENGTH(l_FileLocator)
,src_offset => 1);
-- Clean up.
DBMS_LOB.FILECLOSE(l_FileLocator);
-- Create download records for each user associated with the application for sending to the PDA's
-- to install the software
IF pa_deploy = 'Y' then
IF fn_deploy (pa_pdaa_id => l_seq
,pa_pdaat_code => pa_pdaat_code) != 'SUCCESS' THEN
RAISE call_fail;
END IF;
END IF;
EXCEPTION
WHEN no_params THEN
pkg_appm.pr_log_message( pa_mdl_name => g_module_name
, pa_mdl_version => fn_get_body_version
, pa_error_code => SQLCODE
, pa_location => l_location
, pa_text => 'Missing parameters'
, pa_severity => 'E'
WHEN OTHERS THEN
DBMS_LOB.FILECLOSE(l_FileLocator);
pkg_appm.pr_log_message( pa_mdl_name => g_module_name
, pa_mdl_version => fn_get_body_version
, pa_error_code => SQLCODE
, pa_location => l_location
, pa_text => SQLERRM
, pa_severity => 'E'
END pr_load_file;
I hope this may be of some help