A memory buffer that the program allocates
If you want to handle your own memory allocation for simple large
objects, use the malloc() system call to allocate
the memory and then set the following fields in the locator structure:
- Before a select or fetch of a TEXT or BYTE column, set the loc_buffer field to the address of the allocated memory buffer, and set the loc_bufsize field to the size of the memory buffer.
- Before an insert of a TEXT or BYTE column, set the same fields as for a select or fetch. In addition, set loc_size to the size of the data to be inserted in the database.
If the fetched data does not fit in the allocated buffer, the
Informix® ESQL/C libraries
set loc_status (and SQLCODE) to a negative value (
-451)
and put the actual size of the data in loc_indicator. If the
fetched data does fit, Informix ESQL/C sets loc_size to
the size of the fetched data. Important: When
you allocate your own memory buffer, also free the memory when you
are finished selecting or inserting simple large objects. Informix ESQL/C does
not free this memory because it has no way to determine when you are
finished with the memory. Because you have allocated the memory with malloc(),
you can use the free() system call to free the
memory.