ORA-22275 with BFILE record processing

Question

Hi All,
I'm processing records in a table that contains an optional bfile column and then comparing each record with another record from the same table. I'm getting "ORA-22275: Invalid LOB locator specified" when I get my comparison record using a function - and the cursor record contains a null bfile following a not null bfile record.
Here's my simplified 11g test case:
create table jr_test
(pk_id number not null
,stuff varchar2(100) not null
,external_file bfile);
insert into jr_test values (1,'Some other data',bfilename('MY_DIR','jr1.txt'));
insert into jr_test values (2,'Some other data',bfilename('MY_DIR','jr2.txt'));
insert into jr_test values (3,'No bfile',null);
commit;
DECLARE
   l_rec_1 jr_test%ROWTYPE;
   l_rec_2 jr_test%ROWTYPE;
   FUNCTION record_to_compare(p_id IN jr_test.pk_id%TYPE) RETURN jr_test%ROWTYPE IS
      l_rec jr_test%ROWTYPE;
   BEGIN
      SELECT *
      INTO   l_rec
      FROM   jr_test
      WHERE  pk_id = p_id;
      RETURN l_rec;
   END record_to_compare;
BEGIN
   FOR x IN (SELECT *
             FROM   jr_test
             ORDER  BY pk_id /* desc */) -- ORA-22275 when order by pk_id asc
   LOOP
      l_rec_1 := x;
      -- Get another record (it's always the same one in this test case)
      l_rec_2 := record_to_compare(x.pk_id);
   END LOOP;
END;With a descending order by clause (ie. null bfile first) it works OK.
With an ascending order by clause (ie. not null bfiles first) it crashes with ORA-22275.
It looks like a LOB initialisation problem, but I's welcome your comments.
Regards
JR

Answer 1

Hello
It doesn't actually appear to have anything to do with the order by as such, it is just the order in which the rows are accessed. I've modified your test case to just call the function in a specific order. However if I change to use a stored procedure with an OUT parameter, there is no such issue. I'll dig a bit more but maybe this helps narrow the field of search down a little...
XXXX> declare
  2      l_rec_1 jr_test%ROWTYPE;
  3      l_rec_2 jr_test%ROWTYPE;
  4
  5      FUNCTION record_to_compare(p_id IN jr_test.pk_id%TYPE) RETURN jr_test%ROWTYPE IS
  6         l_rec jr_test%ROWTYPE;
  7      BEGIN
  8         SELECT *
  9         INTO   l_rec
10         FROM   jr_test
11         WHERE  pk_id = p_id;
12
13         RETURN l_rec;
14      END record_to_compare;
15
16   BEGIN
17
18     -- Get another record (it's always the same one in this test case)
19     l_rec_2 := record_to_compare(1);
20     l_rec_2 := record_to_compare(2);
21     l_rec_2 := record_to_compare(3);
22
23   END;
24   /
declare
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-22275: invalid LOB locator specified
Elapsed: 00:00:00.12
XXXX>
XXXX>   declare
  2      l_rec_1 jr_test%ROWTYPE;
  3      l_rec_2 jr_test%ROWTYPE;
  4
  5      FUNCTION record_to_compare(p_id IN jr_test.pk_id%TYPE) RETURN jr_test%ROWTYPE IS
  6         l_rec jr_test%ROWTYPE;
  7      BEGIN
  8         SELECT *
  9         INTO   l_rec
10         FROM   jr_test
11         WHERE  pk_id = p_id;
12
13         RETURN l_rec;
14      END record_to_compare;
15
16   BEGIN
17
18     -- Get another record (it's always the same one in this test case)
19     l_rec_2 := record_to_compare(3);
20     l_rec_2 := record_to_compare(2);
21     l_rec_2 := record_to_compare(1);
22
23   END;
24   /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
Elapsed: 00:00:00.01
XXXX>
XXXX>  declare
  2      l_rec_1 jr_test%ROWTYPE;
  3      l_rec_2 jr_test%ROWTYPE;
  4
  5      PROCEDURE record_to_compare
  6      (p_id IN jr_test.pk_id%TYPE,
  7       p_row out jr_test%ROWTYPE
  8      )
  9      IS
10      BEGIN
11         SELECT *
12         INTO   p_row
13         FROM   jr_test
14         WHERE  pk_id = p_id;
15      END;
16
17   BEGIN
18
19     -- Get another record (it's always the same one in this test case)
20     record_to_compare(3,l_rec_2);
21     record_to_compare(2,l_rec_2);
22     record_to_compare(1,l_rec_2);
23
24   END;
25   /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
Elapsed: 00:00:00.01
XXXX>
XXXX>    declare
  2      l_rec_1 jr_test%ROWTYPE;
  3      l_rec_2 jr_test%ROWTYPE;
  4
  5      PROCEDURE record_to_compare
  6      (p_id IN jr_test.pk_id%TYPE,
  7       p_row out jr_test%ROWTYPE
  8      )
  9      IS
10      BEGIN
11         SELECT *
12         INTO   p_row
13         FROM   jr_test
14         WHERE  pk_id = p_id;
15      END;
16
17   BEGIN
18
19     -- Get another record (it's always the same one in this test case)
20     record_to_compare(1,l_rec_2);
21     record_to_compare(2,l_rec_2);
22     record_to_compare(3,l_rec_2);
23
24   END;
25   /
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.HTH
David