Oracle C++ Call Interface Programmer's Guide

External Datatypes
LONG
The external datatype LONG stores character strings longer than 4000 bytes and up
to 2 gigabytes in a column of datatype LONG. Columns of this type are only used for
storage and retrieval of long strings. They cannot be used in methods, expressions,
or WHERE clauses. LONG column values are generally converted to and from
character strings.
LONG RAW
The external datatype LONG RAW is similar to the external datatype RAW, except that
it stores up to 2 gigabytes.
LONG VARCHAR
The external datatype LONG VARCHAR stores data from and into an Oracle LONG
column. The first four bytes contain the length of the item. The maximum length of
a LONG VARCHAR is 2 gigabytes.
LONG VARRAW
The external datatype LONG VARRAW store data from and into an Oracle LONG RAW
column. The length is contained in the first four bytes. The maximum length is 2
gigabytes.
NCLOB
The external datatype NCLOB is a national character version of a CLOB. It stores
fixed-width, multibyte national character set character (NCHAR), or varying-width
character set data. An NCLOB can store up to 4 gigabytes of character text data.
NCLOBs have full transactional support. Changes made through OCCI participate
fully in the transaction. NCLOB value manipulations can be committed or rolled
back. You cannot save an NCLOB locator in a variable in one transaction and then
use it in another transaction or session.
You cannot create an object with NCLOB attributes, but you can specify NCLOB
parameters in methods.
NUMBER
You should not need to use NUMBER as an external datatype. If you do use it, Oracle
returns numeric values in its internal 21-byte binary format and will expect this
format on input. The following discussion is included for completeness only.
Datatypes 4-13