What LOB locator really is
TiminJul 25 2011 — edited Jul 26 2011Hi friends!
I have a very simple question. I've been a little confused reading docs on oracle 11g. I don't remember the exact number of topic but it was all about working with LOB data types. So in the first statement they say that when null value is assigned to a LOB field that field doesn't hold any locator, so it is not possible to extract it and use in some plsql block to associate the field with a lob data. At the same paragraph they say that if use empty_blob instead for initialization purposes, we can get in later on inside plsql block and bind it to some data.
At the same topic a bit down the text it is claimed that a locator always exists doesn't matter what value has been assigned to the field: null, empty_blob or other. How can it be? If a locator should be think of as a pointer, then to what area it references after creating with emp_LOB method?
Thanks.