We must be able to store and retrieve ALL the documents (PDF, Word .doc, ASCII, .RTF, XML, HTML, ...) our application generates.

- What is the best data type to store these documents in? BLOB, CLOB, DBCLOB ?
- How does one store/retrieve a Java object in/from a xLOB ?

Any references, comments, ... are very much appreciated.

I would imagine you're looking for a BLOB for most of those, since you're dealing with binary data. ie. PDF, Word.

However, if you chose BLOB then be aware that for your non-binary files (ie. HTML, .txt) there will be no codepage conversion. What you INSERT is what will be there.

There are examples of accessing CLOB/BLOB/etc in sqllib/samples/java, they're as good as anything I could post for you here so check them out first, and ask any questions you might have about them.

probably a blob to keep any type of document
for references see : http://www.dbforums.com/t1198711.html