Try OpenEdge Now
skip to main content
ABL Data Types Addenda
Large object data types : Binary large objects : What you can do with BLOB values
 

What you can do with BLOB values

You can do the following with BLOB values:
*You can define a database table field or a temp-table field as a BLOB.
*You can use the COPY-LOB statement to copy large object data from one BLOB or MEMPTR to another. COPY-LOB also handles moving BLOB or MEMPTR data to or from the file system. For more information, see Copyinglarge objects.
*You can EXPORT and IMPORT BLOB data to and from disk.
*You can use the LENGTH() function on a BLOB field to get the size of the BLOB in bytes.
*The BUFFER-COPY and BUFFER-COMPARE statements operate on BLOB fields. A BUFFER-COPY of a record with a BLOB in it results in the creation of a BLOB for the new record. BUFFER-COMPARE compares the data in the BLOB fields and reports any discrepancy. To skip BLOB fields during BUFFER-COPY and BUFFER-COMPARE, use the NO-LOBS option.
*You can use the dynamic BUFFER-FIELD:BUFFER-VALUE for a BLOB field in the same places you can use a static reference.
*To determine whether the buffer has large object fields defined in it, you can use the HAS-LOBS attribute for a BUFFER object. You can then check the data type of the buffer fields for the BLOB data type.
For examples on how to use BLOB fields in an application, see Using large objects in ABL.