Using PL/SQL how do you I get a file's contents in to a blob?

Question

I have a file. I want to get its contents into a blob column in my oracle database or into a blob variable in my PL/SQL program. What is the best way to do that?

Answer 1

To do it entirely in PL/SQL, the file would need to be on the server, located in a directory which you'd need to define in the database. Create the following objects:

CREATE OR REPLACE DIRECTORY
    BLOB_DIR
    AS
    '/oracle/base/lobs'
/



CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE BLOB_LOAD
AS

    lBlob  BLOB;
    lFile  BFILE := BFILENAME('BLOB_DIR', 'filename');

BEGIN

    INSERT INTO table (id, your_blob)
        VALUES (xxx, empty_blob())
        RETURNING your_blob INTO lBlob;

    DBMS_LOB.OPEN(lFile, DBMS_LOB.LOB_READONLY);

    DBMS_LOB.OPEN(lBlob, DBMS_LOB.LOB_READWRITE);

    DBMS_LOB.LOADFROMFILE(DEST_LOB => lBlob,
                          SRC_LOB  => lFile,
                          AMOUNT   => DBMS_LOB.GETLENGTH(lFile));

    DBMS_LOB.CLOSE(lFile);
    DBMS_LOB.CLOSE(lBlob);

    COMMIT;

END;
/