Calling the load() method on a lob locator or calling OCIFetchInto with the OCI_RETURN_LOBS flag set causes the error 'Document contains no data' if the value of the lob is empty (i.e., initialized with empty_clob() or empty_blob()). No error occurs if the value is null (i.e., uninitialized) or contains data.

Here are the details:

PHP 3.0.12
Apache 1.3.9
Oracle 8.0.4
Solaris 2.6

$stmt = OCIParse($conn, "insert into foobar (id, lob1, lob2) values (1, null, empty_clob())");
OCIExecute($stmt);
OCIFreeStatement($stmt);

$stmt = OCIParse($conn, "select lob1, lob2 from foobar where id = 1");
OCIExecute($stmt);
OCIFetch($stmt);
$lob1 = OCIResults($stmt, 0);
$contents1 = $lob1->load; //**OK
$lob2 = OCIResults($stmt, 1);
$contents2 = $lob2->load; //**error occurs
OCIFreeStatement($stmt);

-- OR --

$stmt = OCIParse($conn, "select lob2 from foobar");
OCIExecute($stmt);
OCIFetchInto($stmt, &$results, OCI_RETURN_LOBS); //**error occurs
OCIFreeStatement($stmt);