Can't view blob data in DESKI - Any ideas?

building semantic layer
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Hi there,

We are trying to view blob data stored in an Oracle 10g database via either DESKI or WEBI (BOXI R2). The blob data actually is storing a pdf file. Looked at some of the other articles mentioning clobs but didn’t have any joy.

Is it possible - would prefer not to use work-around of storing it as hyperlink.

Many Thanks

philipo (BOB member since 2005-07-22)

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BLOB data were never possible as stated in official BOBJ docs in versions earlier to XI and neither in XI I guess

.

haider :es: (BOB member since 2005-07-18)

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Thanks for the info.

philipo (BOB member since 2005-07-22)

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Indeed and I even don’t know if there is a workaround any soft/solution to read them …

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fyi: copy of workaround sent from BO but mentions CLOBs and we are suing BLOBS.

I am summarizing the conversation which is as follows.

According to the information provided you are using BOXIR2 SP2.
We want to use BLOB data type objects stored in the Oracle table for Desktop intelligence and Web intelligence however Business Objects doesn’t support BLOB data type.
Would request you to test and review the following information which might help you to resolve the issue.

Solution1:

Q: Does Business Objects support BLOBs?

A: Business Objects only supports TEXT ones (typed as LONG TEXT), with type * .txt and can only return1000 characters. (You can increase this number by setting the limit of long-text objects to up to 32,000 in universe parameters.)

However, we do support bitmaps and tagged image formats (*.tif, *.tiff) through formulas. You can add a cell with a formula: =“C:\MyPictures\Customer001.bmp”, and format it as a bitmap. You can add variable names, so that the bitmap changes according to the number of the customer retrieved and even share these pictures over a network.

A: Actually, there should not be any object with ‘BLOB’ type for the simple reason that they are not supported in the Reporter module. There are different column types that Business Objects recognizes. The Designer recognizes BLOB columns, and SQL manipulations allowed by the DBMS (database system), but you should not create BLOB objects.

Q: What is exactly the difference between BLOB and LONG TEXT in Designer?

A: LONG TEXT are, for instance, TEXT type in Sybase, or LONG in Oracle. This type covers the types that store long pieces of text, while BLOB type covers all the other types. Moreover, ‘Long Text’ objects are displayed in the Reporter, while ‘BLOB’ objects are not.

Note: An Enhancement Request (# 11442) has been logged requesting that Business Objects support Blobs.

Solution2:

CLOB data type means single-byte character data.

Databases have long been used to store large objects. Oracle 8 introduced the Large Object (LOB) data types. LOBs can be broadly categorized as Internal LOBs and External LOBs.

Internal LOBS can store binary data (Blobs), single-byte character data (CLOBs), or multi-byte character data (NCLOBs). Internal LOBs are stored in the database table spaces in a way that optimizes space and provides efficient access.

External LOBs are stored in operating system files outside the database table spaces. These LOBs do not participate in transactions.

Selecting a LOB returns the LOB locator instead of the LOB value. Two new special functions in Oracle8 SQL DML, EMPTY_BLOB () and EMPTY_CLOB (), allow initialization of NULL or non-NULL LOB columns to empty.

To visualize the CLOB type:

  1. Check whether a file called: DBMS_LOB.SQL is installed on your computer. If not, then install it from the Oracle 8 CD. It contains the SQL functions needed to query a CLOB.

  2. Create a new object in Designer.

  3. Change the object type to “Long” text.

  4. In the Select clause, use the following syntax:

dbms_lob.substr (name of the CLOB column, number of characters to be returned, start)

If you need to get the CLOB length, then use the following function:

dbms_lob.length (CLOB column name)

  1. Uncheck the limitation on the long objects in File > Parameters button > Controls tab.

  2. If you try to visualize the values in Designer, (Right-click on a table in table structure > View table values) you will see that it is not possible. You must use of the function displayed above in order to visualize a CLOB.

Note: If you create the object by dragging the column in the object window, the object type might be ‘BLOB’ instead of ‘Long Text’. You can correct this easily.

philipo (BOB member since 2005-07-22)

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[Moderator Note: Moving from CMC to Semantic Layer - MichaelWelter]

MichaelWelter :vatican_city: (BOB member since 2002-08-08)