At 11:33 AM 09-02-02 +1100, I wrote:

>> Sorry, John, I missed the possibility that your problem was coming
>> from having sub_type 0 blobs. Exactly the same problem hit me during
>> testing and I had to rebuild my test database, re-storing sub_type 0
>> blobs with sub_type 1. I *thought* I had documented it, too, so I'll
>> go back and check up on that.

Geoff wrote:

>Helen,
>
>I believe it was a sub_type 1 blob that he was using. It was me that
>suggested the trigger code built for that column was inappropriate for
>a blob (comparing the blob column to a blank string).
>
>Am I wrong? Is firebird now able to automatically translate text
>blobs inside trigger/procedure languages to allow direct text
>assignments and comparisons??

No, a UDF would still be needed to translate text blobs inside PSQL. But Firebird accepts a string for input to a blob column. Thus it is feasible for a trigger to parse the input as a string and use it with a UDF for comparison with an existing blob.

If the PSQL wants to compare blobs, the BlobCompare UDF works for any kind of blob; but FTS can't extract anything from Blob Sub_type 0, even if it stores plain text.

FTS doesn't currently support Firebird's capability to accept strings as blob inputs, AFAIK.

I hope this clarifies rather than muddies....


regards,
Helen Borrie (TeamIBO Support)

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