Storing and accessing bitmaps in the database w/JDBC

Hi,

I'm having trouble converting bit maps to a form that I can store in the
database.  Here is part of a test app I've been messin' with.
   String binString = new String("101010100011001111100011");   int byteCount = 3;   byte[] byteArray = new
byte[byteCount];
   // build a byte array   int bitCount = 0;   for (int i = 0; i < byteCount, i++)   {      Integer val =
Integer.valueOf(bin.substring(bitCount,bitCount + 8,
 
2);      bitCount += 8;      byteArray[i] = val.byteValue();   }
   // store it in the database   PreparedStatemept p = conn.prepareStatement("Insert into table1 (mapval)
values (?)");   p.setBytes(1, byteArray);   p.executeUpdate()

I'm getting the following exception   Attribute 'mapval' is of type 'bytea' but expression is of type 'int4'   You will
needto rewrite or cast the expression
 


On a related note, I'm a little unclear about bytea.  Is bytea data always
stored as a large object ?

Thanks for the help.