Programming with simple large objects

supports SQL simple large objects and the data types TEXT and BYTE with the loc_t data type.

Tip: You cannot use literal values in an INSERT or UPDATE statement to put simple-large-object data into a TEXT or BYTE column. To insert values into a simple large object, you can use the LOAD statement from DB-Access or loc_t host variables from the client application.

Because of the potentially huge size of simple-large-object data, the program does not store the data directly in a loc_t host variable. Instead, the loc_t structure is a locator structure. It does not contain the actual data; it contains information about the size and location of the simple-large-object data. You choose whether to store the data in memory, an operating-system file, or even user-defined locations.

To use simple-large-object variables in the program, take the following actions:
  • Declare a host variable with the loc_t data type
  • Access the fields of the loc_t locator structure