Manage the reference count
The reference count of a smart large object is the number of LO handles that refer to the smart large object in its sbspace. Each LO handle contains the location of the smart large object in an sbspace. The reference count is stored with the smart-large-object data in an sbspace. You can obtain the reference count with the mi_lo_stat_refcnt() function.
A smart large object remains allocated as long as its reference
count is greater than zero. A reference count greater than zero indicates
that at least one column contains an LO handle that references the
smart large object. In this sense, the smart large object is permanent.
The management that the database server performs on a reference count
depends on the associated smart large object:
- A smart large object whose LO handle is stored in a CLOB or BLOB column.
- A smart large object whose LO handle is stored in an opaque data type.
- A transient smart large object.