title: Serializing objects as BLOBs in Oracle
body: <p>I have a HashMap that I am serializing and deserializing to an Oracle db, in a BLOB data type field.
  I want to perform a query, using this field. 
  Example, the application will make a new HashMap, and have some key-value pairs.
  I want to query the db to see if a HashMap with this data already exists in the db.
  I do not know how to do this, it seems strange if i have to go to every record in the db, deserialize it, then compare, Does SQL handle comparing BLOBs, so i could have...select * from PROCESSES where foo = ?....and foo is a BLOB type, and the ? is an instance of the new HashMap?
  Thanks</p>