Thanks,

But what about oracle as an external process....

As indicated by the following....

SQL> create or replace library GetFile AS 'C:\winnt\system32\GetFile.dll';
2 /

Library created.

SQL>
SQL> CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION FGetFile(cDir CHAR)
2 RETURN CHAR AS EXTERNAL
3 LIBRARY GetFile
4 NAME "GetName";
5 /

Function created.

SQL> select fgetfile() from dual;
select fgetfile() from dual
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-06553: PLS-306: wrong number or types of arguments in call to 'FGETFILE'


SQL> select fgetfile('ccc') from dual;
select fgetfile('ccc') from dual
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-06521: PL/SQL: Error mapping function
ORA-06522: Unable to load symbol from DLL
ORA-06512: at "LINDEX.FGETFILE", line 0
ORA-06512: at line 1


This error is in my experience. The same as
DECLARE STRING GetName in 'C:\winnt\system32\GetFile.dll' as string@
?GetName()


So what I guage is that Oracle does not support COM in this manner.

But maybe someone knows another way to sort this out.