How can I use LONG or LONG RAW data?

Inserting and updating a LONG column

You have no need to do special thing. Just insert and update a value as a String.

note: The maximum length is 65535 on 0.1.15 or earlier. It is 2G on 0.1.16 or later.

Fetching a LONG column

The maximum length is 65535 on 0.1.15 or eariler. As for 0.0.16 and 1.0.x use OCI8#long_read_len to change the maximum length.

 # set the maximum data length
 conn.long_read_len = 1024 * 1024 * 2

The maximum length is 2G on 2.0.x. It doesn't depend on long_read_len, which is an internal buffer size to fetch a LONG data.

Inserting and updating a LONG RAW column

Explicitly bind the value as RAW.

 filename = 'SagradaFamilia.gif'
 image = open(filename, "rb").read()
 cursor = conn.parse('insert into photos values(:1,:2)')
 cursor.bind_param(1, filename))
 # bind image as RAW
 cursor.bind_param(2, image, OCI8::RAW)
 cursor.exec

Fetching a LONG RAW column

Just fetch a column. The maximum length limit is same with a LONG column.