my $imagefile = $cgi->upload('image');
my $image;
while(<$imagefile>) { $image .= $_; }
my $binary = pack("H*", $image);

warn length($binary);
#my $size = length($image);
my $size = length($binary);
warn $size;

#according to documentation, "ct_data_info(CS_GET) will fail if the IMAGE/TEXT data for which the CS_IODESC is being fetched is NULL."                
$dbh->do("UPDATE item SET image = ''  WHERE id = '".$cgi->param('id')."' and image is null");
# first we need to find the CS_IODESC data for the data
my  $sth = $dbh->prepare("select image from item where id = ?");
$sth->execute($cgi->param('id'));
while($sth->fetch) {    # don't care about the data!
      $sth->syb_ct_data_info('CS_GET', 1);
}

# OK - we have the CS_IODESC values, so do the update:
$sth->syb_ct_prepare_send() ;
# Set the size of the new data item (that we are inserting), and make
# the operation unlogged
$sth->syb_ct_data_info('CS_SET', 1, {total_txtlen => $size, log_on_update => 0});

# now transfer the data (in a single chunk, this time)
#  $sth->syb_ct_send_data($binary, length($binary));
#  $sth->syb_ct_send_data($image, length($image));
# open the file, and store it in the db in 1024 byte chunks.
while($size){
        my $to_read=$size>1024 ? 1024 : $size;
        my $buff=substr($binary,0,$to_read,'');
#       my $buff=substr($image,0,$to_read,'');
        my $bytesread=length $buff;
#       my $bytesread=read(IN,$buff,$to_read);
        $size-=$bytesread;
#       $size-=length $buff;
warn "sending data $bytesread $size";
        $sth->syb_ct_send_data($buff, $bytesread) ;

}
  # commit the operation
  $sth->syb_ct_finish_send() ;