proper way to save/retrieve a clob data

hi php+oci8 experts, can someone help me with my php+oracle clob problem? the examples on the manual doesnt work for me. is there anything wrong in my code below? $content is a 4k+ string, $conn my oci connection id... c is my clob field... 1. $c_lob=ocinewdescriptor($conn); 2. $stmt=ociparse($conn, "insert into t (a,b,c) values 3. ('$a_var', '$b_var', EMPTY_CLOB()) 4. returning c into :the_blob"); 5. $c_lob->save($content); 6. ociexecute($stmt); -> with the above, i get the error INVALID HANDLE at line 5. I'd appreciate any working code snippets on clob inserts. this has been the boggling part in my migration from mysql to oracle8. thanks a lot.. omar __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/