Before OpenEdge Release 10, all data types, other than MEMPTR, were limited in size to 32K. Release 10 introduces three new large object data types that expand this size limit:

  • Binary large object ( BLOB ) — For database and temp-table fields. This data type allows the storage of large binary data in the database. Data previously stored external to the OpenEdge database can now be integrated into the OpenEdge database and accessed by ABL. This data type is the database counterpart of the MEMPTR data type.
  • Character large object ( CLOB ) — For database and temp-table fields. This data type allows the storage of large character strings in the database. It also permits automatic code page translation and null-termination. CLOB values can be in any code page that is supported by the ABL code page conversion map (convmap.p) file. The code page information is retained by the CLOB. ABL ensures that all characters are valid with respect to the code page of the CLOB. This data type is the database counterpart of the LONGHAR data type.
  • LONGCHAR data type — For in-memory use. This data type is the program variable counterpart of the CLOB data type. LONGCHAR allows much of the ABL character handling capabilities to be applied to large strings. Like CLOB values, LONGCHAR values can be in any code page supported by the OpenEdge convmap.p file, and the code page information is retained by the LONGCHAR. ABL ensures that all characters are valid with respect to the code page of the LONGCHAR.

BLOB and CLOB fields can be up to 1GB in size. MEMPTR and LONGCHAR variables can be up to 2GB - 1 byte in size, but are limited by available memory.