Need to convert long data type to varchar2

Question

I need to convert a long datatype in an existing table to a
varchar2, in either another table or view. I have a 3rd party
application which needs to query the data in the long data type,
but it can "handle" the long.
What is the best way to do this? I tried to make a trigger, but
I must be missing something. Here is the trigger.
CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER "PROD".SV_GET_RTG_COMNT
BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE ON PROD.RELS_RTG_SEQ_COMNT
FOR EACH ROW
WHEN (OLD.rels_rtg_no = NEW.rels_rtg_no)
DECLARE
-- DECLARE VARIABLES
RTG_COMNT_VAR VARCHAR2(32);
RTG_COMNT_LONG LONG;
BEGIN
Select COMNT_TXT into RTG_COMNT_LONG
from rels_rtg_seq_comnt;
RTG_COMNT_VAR := 'TEXT' || substr(RTG_COMNT_LONG,1,32);
-- If INSERTING
Insert into SV_RTG_SEQ_COMNT (print_cd, comnt_no,
seq_no, rtg_no, comnt_txt) values
(:new.print_cd, :new.comnt_no, :new.seq_no, :new.rels_rtg_no,
rtg_comnt_var);
END;
I tried to use the substr command on the comnt_txt in view but
received an invalid datatype error.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Doug

Answer 1

create another table with clob datatype
1)create table clob_tab(pkval number,clob_col clob);
2) insert into clob_tab (select pkval,to_lob(long_col) from
long_tab);
3) use dbms_lob package to do string manipulation using
substr,instr functions on clob column.