PROBLEMS USING WEBUTIL_FILE_TRANSFER AND CLIENT_HOST COMMAND TO VIEW BLOB

Question

I am using webutil_file_transfer.DB_To_Client_with_progress to retrieve a blob
from the database (that was saved in a word format) into a .doc file on the
client.
1st problem: The document that is being saved is not readable. It has all
kind of special characters in it.
Then using the client_host command, I open the document into ms word.
2nd problem: The document opens fine (again not readable in garbage
characters) but when I close the document, notepad pops up blank with nothing
in it.
Below is a sample of the code.:
PROCEDURE DOWNLOAD_DB IS
l_success boolean;
username varchar2(30);
document_name varchar2(20);
wordexe varchar2(20);
BEGIN
     username := webutil_clientinfo.get_user_name;
     document_name := 'wo'||:wod.fk_work_order_number||'.doc';
     :locals.file_name := 'Documents and Settings\'||username||'\my documents\'||document_name;
l_success := webutil_file_transfer.DB_To_Client_with_progress
(clientFile => 'C:\'||:locals.file_name
,tableName => 'DEFECTS'
,columnName => 'DESCRIPTION'
,whereClause => 'FK_WORK_ORDER_DATE_ID = '||:DEF.FK_WO_DATE_ID
,progressTitle => 'Defect document being opened'
,progressSubTitle=> 'Please wait'
if l_success
then
CLIENT_HOST('cmd /c start /wait winword.exe C:\'||'"'||:locals.file_name||'"');
else
message('File download from Database failed');
end if;
exception
     when others
     then
     message('File download failed: '||sqlerrm);
END;
Any ideas?

Answer 1

Hello,
I use this kind of code with 9i and 10g and it works fine with word, excel and any of windows files.
I think that, if the file is not correct, the cause may be the first save of the file in the database.
Which instruction did you use to save first the doc in the BLOB column ?
Francois