Preface

This guide describes how to use Oracle interMedia Audio, Image and Video.

Oracle interMedia Audio, Image, and Video requires Oracle8i or Oracle8i Enterprise Edition.

For information about the differences between Oracle8i and Oracle8i Enterprise Edition and the features and options that are available to you, see Getting to Know Oracle8i.

Audience

This guide is for application developers and database administrators who are interested in storing, retrieving, and manipulating audio, image, and video data in an Oracle database, including developers of audio, image, and video specialization options.

Organization

This guide contains the following chapters and appendixes:

Chapter 1	Introduces multimedia and Oracle interMedia; explains multimedia-related concepts.
Chapter 2	Provides basic examples of using Oracle interMedia object types and methods.
Chapter 3	Provides compatibility information for ensuring future compatibility with evolving object types.
Chapter 4	Provides reference information on Oracle interMedia ORDAudio object type and methods.
Chapter 5	Provides reference information on Oracle interMedia ORDImage object type and methods.
Chapter 6	Provides reference information on Oracle interMedia ORDVideo object type and methods.
Chapter 7	Provides reference information on Oracle interMedia ORDSource object type and methods.
Chapter 8	Provides tuning tips for the DBA for more efficient storage of multimedia data.
Appendix A	Describes the supported audio data formats.
Appendix B	Describes the supported image data formats.
Appendix C	Describes the supported video data formats
Appendix D	Describes the process and processCopy operators.
Appendix E	Describes the raw pixel format.
Appendix F	Describes how to run the sample program and includes the source program.
Appendix G	Emphasizes several entries from the online FAQ.
Appendix H	Lists exceptions raised and potential errors, their causes, and user actions to correct them.
Appendix I	Describes the deprecated image object types and methods.
Appendix J	Describes the deprecated audio and video methods.

Related Documents

Note: For information added after the release of this guide, refer to the online README.txt file in your ORACLE_HOME directory. Depending on your operating system, this file may be in: ORACLE_HOME/ord/img/admin/README.txt Please see your operating-system specific installation guide for more information. For the latest documentation, see the Oracle Technology Network Web site: http://technet.oracle.com/

For more information about using interMedia in a development environment, see the following documents in the Release 8.1.7 Oracle database server documentation set:

• Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide

• Oracle8i Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals

• Oracle8i Application Developer's Guide - Large Objects (LOBs)

• Oracle8i Concepts

• PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference

• Oracle interMedia Audio, Image, and Video Java Classes User's Guide and Reference

Conventions

In this guide, Oracle interMedia is sometimes referred to as interMedia.

In examples, an implied carriage return occurs at the end of each line, unless otherwise noted. You must press the Return key at the end of a line of input.

The following conventions are also used in this guide:

Convention	Meaning
. . .	Vertical ellipsis points in an example mean that information not directly related to the example has been omitted.
...	Horizontal ellipsis points in statements or commands mean that parts of the statement or command not directly related to the example have been omitted.
boldface text	Boldface text indicates a term defined in the text.
italic text	Italic text is used for emphasis, book titles, and variable names.
< >	Angle brackets enclose user-supplied names.
[ ]	Brackets enclose optional clauses from which you can choose one or none.

Changes to This Guide

The following substantive changes were made to this guide since its previous version for release 8.1.6 on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) Web site.

Other minor corrections and clarifications are also included.

Information is provided to ensure future compatibility of the 8.1.7 release with a future release of the evolving interMedia object types (ORDAudio, ORDImage, ORDVideo, and ORDSource) containing new object attributes. Client-side applications should call the new compatibility initialization function (compatibilityInit( ) method) at the beginning of an application if necessary. See Chapter 3 for more information.

In addition, users are recommended to use the new static methods, init( ) and init(srcType, srcLocation,srcName); these two methods have been added to each of the media types (ORDImage, ORDAudio, ORDVideo) to allow for easy initialization of instances of these types. Do not use the default constructors because INSERT statements using the default constructors will fail if the object type has evolved, adding new attributes. See Section 4.2, Section 5.2, and Section 6.2 for more information.

The export( ) method now works for the source type FILE. See Section 4.3, Section 5.3, and Section 6.3 for more information.

An additional ORDSource.import method has been defined. It is nearly identical to the existing import method except that the destination BLOB is not passed in as a separate (redundant) parameter. See Section 7.2 for more information.

The deleteContent method no longer touches the metadata attributes. See Section 4.3, Section 5.3, and Section 6.3 for more information.

The digital camera format known as EXIF is now recognized; it is a variation of the JFIF format, and the setProperties method sets the fileFormat attribute to JFIF. See Table B-3 for more information.