At this article, I will demonstrate How to

Read BLOB  field from Oracle using Generic Handler in ASP.NET.

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What’s the Generic Handler in ASP.NET?

Some ASP.NET files are dynamic. They are generated with C# code or disk resources. These files do not require web forms. Instead, an ASHX generic handler is ideal.

It can return an image from a query string, write XML, or any other data.to know more about Generic Handler check this.

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Generic Handler (ASHX) VS Web Forms (ASPX)

The WebForms (ASPX) can be used in

• Simple Html Pages.
• ASP.Net Custom Controls.
• Simple Dynamic Pages.

The Handlers(ASHX) can be used with

• Binary files.
• Dynamic Image Views.
• Performance critical web pages.
• XML files.
• Minimal Web Pages.

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Steps:

Get BLOB  field from Oracle using Generic Handler in ASP.NET

Open Visual Studio > Open existing  ASP.NET Solution > Add tag within a page that should look like this

<img id="EmpImg" 
src="ShowImage.ashx?Account="
alt="" width="100px" height="100px" style="float:right"/>

Note:  The image source is a generic handler called ShowImage.ashx.

Create a Generic Handler In Visual Studio

• Open your ASP.Net Web Site and go to File menu > New >Check Generic Handler.

• Rename the generic handler with an appropriate name. In my case, it is  ShowImage.
• Click on add, the below-structured file will be shown.

Note: Handler is an interface that includes a function called “ProcessRequest” which will be used to execute the code that has been placed within it.

• In Handler, add System.Data.OracleClient namespace

using System.Data.OracleClient; //Oracle client to can Work with Oracle Database

• In “ProcessRequest”  function Add the following code to retrieve a BLOB field from OracleDB.

public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) {

string Account;

if (context.Request.QueryString["Account"] != null) {

Account = context.Request.QueryString["Account"].ToString();

OracleConnection con = new OracleConnection(OracleConn);

con.Open();

OracleCommand com = con.CreateCommand();

com.CommandText = "(SELECT pi.image img  FROM fnd_user fu,per_images pi WHERE fu.user_name = '" + Account.ToUpper() + "'   AND fu.employee_id = pi.parent_id)";

OracleDataReader img = com.ExecuteReader();

try {

img.Read();

context.Response.BinaryWrite((byte[])img[img.GetOrdinal("img")]); img.Close();

}

catch { }

finally { con.Close(); } } }

• Finally, Make sure that tag source parameters are provided correctly.
• Go back to run the Web Application that should now be working properly.

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See also

• Download and install Oracle Client.
• Configure Oracle Connection string and tnsnames.ora file.