Photo does not display

Question

I am using Oracle XE.
I am converting an application from Microsoft Access to Oracle. The pictures came over as I was able to see them via Access.
I am trying to display a picture. This is the Oracle table structure.
Name Null? Type
ID NOT NULL NUMBER
YEAR NUMBER
LAST_NAME VARCHAR2(30)
FIRST_NAME VARCHAR2(18)
NICKNAME VARCHAR2(30)
MID_NAME VARCHAR2(18)
MARRIED_NM VARCHAR2(18)
PARK_SPOUS VARCHAR2(5)
SPOUSE_ID NUMBER
SPOUSE_NM VARCHAR2(50)
BOYS NUMBER
GIRLS NUMBER
GRANDCHILDREN NUMBER
ADDRESS1 VARCHAR2(30)
ADDRESS2 VARCHAR2(30)
CITY VARCHAR2(23)
STATE VARCHAR2(2)
COUNTRY VARCHAR2(50)
ZIP_CODE VARCHAR2(10)
print_address VARCHAR2(5)
DT_VER DATE
STATUS VARCHAR2(10)
PHONE VARCHAR2(14)
PRINT_PHONE VARCHAR2(5)
OTHER_PH VARCHAR2(14)
E_MAIL VARCHAR2(50)
PRINT_EMAIL VARCHAR2(5)
PMEMO CLOB
BIO CLOB
PICTURE BLOB
DOD VARCHAR2(20)
This is the procedure to retrieve the picture.
CREATE OR REPLACE procedure "RETRIEVE_IMG_DATA"
(p_img_id IN NUMBER default Null)
is
Begin
For i In (Select 'application/octet' mime_type, dbms_lob.getlength(picture) picture_length, picture
From parkdale
where id = p_img_id)
Loop
-- dbms_output.put_line('in loop len = '||i.picture_length);
Owa_Util.Mime_header(ccontent_type => 'application/octet');
-- dbms_output.put_line('after header');
-- dbms_output.put_line('in loop header close');
wpg_docload.download_file(i.picture);
End Loop;
Exception
When No_Data_Found Then Null;
When Others Then
-- dbms_output.put_line('error: = '||sqlerrm);
htp.prn('Error downloading picture: '||sqlerrm);
End retrieve_img_data;
I created a PL/SQL Region called Picture
The Type is PL/SQL (anonymous block)
The Region Source is:
Begin
htp.p('<img src="retrieve_img_data?p_img_id='||:P3_ID||'">');
End;
All I get is the Red X.
I also tried to execute straight from IE:
http://127.0.0.1:8080/apex/parkdale.retrieve_img_data?p_img_id=43
and received:
You are not authorized to view this page
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks so much,
Becky

Answer 1

Hi Becky,
I think the issue here is not really related to Oracle XE but rather a conversion issue. Currently you have your images stored in OLE objects. When you view the image the OLE container installed on your machine is used to display the image.
When displaying images on a webpage in a browser there are different rules to follow. Usually you store the image (without the reference to the OLE container) directly in binary format in the database (i.e. a BLOB column). For displaying the image you send the proper mime-type together with the binary representation to the browser.
The browser determines by the mime type which (external) helper application is used to display the content, i.e. MS Word, MS Excel or using built-in mechanisms like the internal gif or jpeg viewer.
Thus you will need to convert the images to a standard image format (i.e. gif or jpeg) and upload them manually again.
Here is the procedure on how to build an upload / download application using Application Express: http://download-uk.oracle.com/docs/cd/B25329_01/doc/appdev.102/b25310/up_dn_files.htm#CJAHDJDA
I think this is your best bet. You might get more help in one of the MS Access forums on how to convert the OLE object to BLOBs for rendering the image in a webpage.
Hope that helps,
~Dietmar.