OS: Solaris 2.6
RDBMS: Oracle 8.1.7.0
CharSet: UTF8
CLOB Data: Chinese

We're experiencing a problem with a JDBC app that retrieves CLOBs from
a table. On about 3 or 4 of the CLOBs, the app errors out with
'DBMS_LOB.READ: ORA-21560 - argument is null, invalid, or out of
range'. However, the other rows with their associated CLOBs can be
read w/o issue.

Note in the error that there is a glaring space between the words
"argument" and "is". According to Oracle, the normal error should
specify an index of the argument list, such as 2 or 3, right in the
space between those two words. Not so in this case.

I tested it with a small PL/SQL script, attempting to read in the
maximum allowable 32k increments with dbms_lob.read, and failed with
the exact same error on those same rows. Here's the kicker: If I
simply reduce the read increment in the argument to dbms_lob.read to
between 16k - 20k, all the records can be read just fine.

Also, *all* rows are able to be read with dbms_lob.substr(loc,
32767,1) w/o issue.

I see that others have had this error before working with CLOBs, but
there have been no resolutions posted to their postings. Any help
will be greatly appreciated.

On 9 Jul 2003 22:20:13 -0700, medawsonjr (AT) yahoo (DOT) com (El Toro) wrote:


You are not running on the most recent 8.1.7 release, which is
8.1.7.4. I would recommend upgrading to the latest patch release,
and/or find out on Metalink whether your error has been addressed.


Sybrand Bakker, Senior Oracle DBA

To reply remove -verwijderdit from my e-mail address

I guess I should've clarified above where I looked when I stated "I
see that others have had this error" (I guess I assumed people here
would know by now that I exhaust all avenues before using this forum).

To clarify, I've searched all google newsgroups, the web, and MetaLink
on this issue. There have been 0 resolutions posted for people who've
had my problem.

Another clarification: We're bumping our heads against the wall
because another site with 8.1.7.0 and Solaris 2.6 was able to import
this schema and run the JDBC app without issue. So, while my initial
idea was that a patch would help, this latter test that we performed
early on with the software company who developed the app gave us
doubts.