Re: Maybe LOB, BLOB, CLOB is for storing stream objects in a relational database

[CRPence <CRPbottle@xxxxxxxxx>]

  OK.  But I was replying specifically to when the usage of a DataLink 
column was "without Link Control via the DLFM", which I infer would be 
the case for using "DB2 for i to links on a Windows network?"  Unless 
the Windows network files were accessed via a DB2 LUW [or other DRDA AS] 
DataLink File Manager (DLFM), the files would\could not be "linked", and 
would be little more than a URL.?

Regards, Chuck

On 09 May 2012 00:15, Craig Pelkie wrote:
> I think this section from the web page URL given below is a good
> summary of the advantage of a DataLink vs. a URL as column data. It
> can provide some degree of management over the linked-to object.
>
> <from_the_manual>
> Using DataLinks also gives control over the objects while they are in
> "linked" status. A DataLink column can be created such that the
> referenced object cannot be deleted, moved, or renamed while there
> is a row in the SQL table that references that object. This object
> are considered linked. Once the row containing that reference is
> deleted, the object is unlinked. To understand this concept fully,
> one should know the levels of control that can be specified when
> creating a DataLink column.
> </from_the_manual>
>
> http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/iseries/v5r4/topic/sqlp/rbafydatalinks.htm
>
> CRPence on Tuesday, May 08, 2012 3:29 PM wrote:
>
> > As I had understood the DataLinks from a cursory review way back
> > when, without Link Control via the DLFM, there seemed to be little
> > obvious value for using them to store references to external files
> > as compared with just storing the URLs as column data.? Perhaps
> > there are still some benefits that I never learned, as I did not
> > investigate them too much further.
> >
> > On 08 May 2012 14:48, Gqcy wrote:
> > > cool, have people used this to link DB2 for i to links on a windows
> > > network???
> > >
> > > On 5/8/2012 3:53 PM, DeLong, Eric wrote:
> > > > I think perhaps you should look at datalinks...
> > > >
> > > > http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/iseries/v5r4/topic/sqlp/rbafydatalinks.htm