Hi,

Environment:
DB2 : 9.x
unix: aix

We are storing XML in BLOB data type.

We need to display XML (which is stored in BLOB data type) in some JSP.

While displaying the XML, we are not able to see some special characters related to UTF-8 encoding (Ex: β).

If the same character is stored in some varchar datatype, then we are able to display the content properly.

BLOB - used for images.
This field in the table has been created with BLOB and can it be displayed as required.

Anything to do with character set? But i did see BLOB does not require any character set. And i suppose BLOB column should be created in separate table, is it so?

Can any of you show me a lead?

thanks

A BLOB stores binary data, i.e. DB2 will not do any code page conversions. Therefore, you get returned what you put in and you have to look at your application for the source of your problems.

It is best to use varchar if you keep in under 32K (row size has to be under 32K also) so that it can use DB2 bufferpools. LOB data uses synchronous I/O to disk for reads and writes (at least make sure you have OS file system caching enabled for a lob tablespace).

If over 32K, use a CLOB for XML data.

Another alternative is to wrap the BLOB into a structured type. Then you get the benefits of buffer pools for small objects (fitting into the page) and you can also handle large objects that exceed the page size (or rather the "inline length").