void odbc_lob_read(sth, colno, buf, length, attr = NULL)
     SV *sth
     int colno
     char *buf
     UV length
     SV *attr;
    PROTOTYPE: $$$$;$
    PREINIT:
     SV * const bufsv = SvROK(ST(2)) ? SvRV(ST(2)) : ST(2);
     UV ret_len;
     IV sql_type = 0;
    CODE:
     if (length == 0) {
         croak("Cannot retrieve 0 length lob");
     }
     if (attr) {
         SV **svp;
         DBD_ATTRIBS_CHECK("odbc_lob_read", sth, attr);
         DBD_ATTRIB_GET_IV(attr, "Type", 4, svp, sql_type);
     }
     sv_setpvn(bufsv, "", 0);                   /* ensure we can grow ok */

     /* length is the length in chrs/bytes depending on the underlying
      * datatype. i.e., it is usually bytes but if we are built to support
      * unicode and the column is not a binary type, we will convert to
      * UTF8 encoding so we need at least 6 * as many bytes. */
     buf = SvGROW(bufsv, length * + 1);
     ret_len = odbc_st_lob_read(sth, colno, bufsv, length, sql_type);
     if (ret_len > 0) {
         SvCUR_set(bufsv, ret_len);      /* set length in SV */
         *SvEND(bufsv) = '\0';           /* NUL terminate */
         /*sv_setpvn(ST(3), buf, 4);*/
         SvSETMAGIC(ST(2));
     }
     ST(0) = (ret_len >= 0) ? sv_2mortal(newSViv(ret_len)) : &PL_sv_undef;

##</code><code>##

my $s = $h->prepare(q{select 'frederick'});
$s->execute;
$s->bind_col(1, undef, {BindAsLOB=>1});
$s->fetch;
# SQL_SUCCESS = 0
# SQL_SUCCESS_WITH_INFO = 1
# SQL_NO_DATA = 100
while(my $len = $s->odbc_lob_read(1, \my $x, 8)) {
    print "len=$len, x=$x\n";
}