SQL Server, how to save images and attachments in the database. Is better to store images into the database or into the filesystem?

Hi Guys,

This is the first post of the year and i want to do my very best wishes for a great 2022! I hope it's a year of joy, peace and happiness for everyone!

Well, this year we will start with a question! 

Where is it better to save images and attachments? ...within the database or on the file system?

yes but, some might ask. 

How can I save images and attachments in the database? ..easy.

Enjoy the read mates!


Read and save images and attachments into the database

Suppose we have a table that contains data relating to our products.
One possibility is to store the image of our product in a column.

In our example the table will have this structure:


CREATE TABLE Products (
   Id int identity(1,1) PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL,
   Code Varchar(20), 
   ImageProduct VarBinary (MAX)
)
Our image will be stored into the ImageProduct field of type VarBinary.

Obviously in that same field we can store everything we want, a binary file, an application, an attachment and so on ..

The first things to remember is to enable the OLE Automation Procedures using the following command:


Use master
Go
EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1; 
GO 
RECONFIGURE; 
GO 
EXEC sp_configure 'Ole Automation Procedures', 1; 
GO 
RECONFIGURE; 
GO
ALTER SERVER ROLE [bulkadmin] ADD MEMBER sa 
GO

Now, if everything is alright, you should be able to execute an Openrowset command.

You should put a valid file name instead of the file indicated by me!


SELECT * FROM Openrowset( Bulk 'c:\scambio\pistone-cagiva-alettaelefant-125cc-2-tempi.jpg', Single_Blob) as img

This is the result. Data are inside the BulkColumn VarBinary field.

Select * from Openrowset bulk

And now the final step.

we insert the data in our table:


INSERT INTO Products (code,ImageProduct)
SELECT 
  '0001',BulkColumn 
FROM Openrowset( Bulk 'c:\scambio\pistone-cagiva-alettaelefant-125cc-2-tempi.jpg', Single_Blob) as img

 

Wasn't it easy?

We have just read a file (an image) from the filesystem and stored inside the database.
 
Now we need to read our file from the database, so we could directly view it (via a program) or save it back to the file system.

To read the file from our table it is sufficient to extract the data


SELECT ImageProduct FROM Products

Saving our file (or image) to a file system is just a bit more complicated because we have to use OLE Automation.

This technology provides some methods to read and save files (open, write, savetofile)

After reading the data and storing it in the variable @ImageProduct we open an ADODB stream.
The two highlighted lines write to the stream and save it to file 

DECLARE @ImageProduct VarBinary(MAX);
DECLARE @OleObj INT;

SELECT @ImageProduct = ImageProduct FROM Products

EXEC sp_OACreate 'ADODB.Stream' ,@OleObj OUTPUT;
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @OleObj ,'Type',1;
EXEC sp_OAMethod @OleObj,'Open';
EXEC sp_OAMethod @OleObj,'Write', NULL, @ImageProduct;
EXEC sp_OAMethod @OleObj,'SaveToFile', NULL, 'c:\scambio\newfile.jpg', 2;
EXEC sp_OAMethod @OleObj,'Close';
EXEC sp_OADestroy @OleObj;
 
 
Here it is! now you can read and write binary data such as images or other into the database!


Filesystem Vs. Database, small considerations..

So, where is better store images, attachments or other binary files? 

There are of course pros and cons.

If you store files on a database you won't have to worry about path anymore, so if you move the database your files will follow it. 

While you do one backup of your data you will also automatically have a copy of your files and this is also very nice.

The database however will growth quicky!

On the other side the file system was born to manage files, so if the files to be managed are very large, perhaps it is more practical to use the file system.

In any case after this post, if you want to store them in your database ... you know how!

 

That's all for this first post of the year!
Keep following me here on the blog and on linkedin.

►Luke!


 













Help me to share knowledge on my blog  

Next post:

Comments

Post a Comment

I Post più popolari

SQL Server, execution plan and the lazy spool (clearly explained)

Image
Hi Guys, Welcome back! In one of the last posts we talked about Table Spool . We had explained what Spool are for by telling the somewhat curious story of the halloween problem . Here we specifically talked about a type of spool called Eager Spool   You can look to the execution plan below where the eager Spool is used to avoid the halloween problem in classic query of the "salary increase".. i suggest Well, if the story of the eager spool intrigued you, today instead we will speak about another type of Spool, the Lazy Spool . The Lazy spool Let's take a small step back. So, what is a Spool operation?  As we have already understood a spool operation is simply a temporary storage of data . Data are read from a source table and stored inside a worktable in the Tempdb database . While an Eager Spool is used to prevent the Halloween problem, the Lazy Spool is instead used to store data that will later be needed again when running a query . So, when a Lazy spool is used?  ...
Read more

SQL Server, datetime vs. datetime2

Image
Hi guys, This time, in this post we will speak about datetime and datetime2 datatypes. We will talk about the pros and cons. We will talk about all the differences between the two types of data. Write me in the comments which type of data do you prefer between the two. Enjoy the reading!     Datetime Vs. Datetime2 First of all, it must be said that the datatype datetime is certainly the best known native format for storing a date in SQL Server. However, Microsoft has also been introducing a new type of data for many years now, also used to manage dates. It is in fact from SQL server 2008 that it is present in datetime2 data type. This "new" type of data was born primarily to have higher accuracy . Let's in fact talk about ... precision ! Datetime Certainly the datetime data type is not very precise and certainly there are many cases in which its precision is simply not sufficient. Let's see it with an example. Open the SQL Management studio (SSMS) and write the fo...
Read more

La clausola NOLOCK. Approfondiamo e facciamo chiarezza!

Image
Ehi ragazzi! La domanda è di quelle importanti! Siete pronti per scoprire tutto ma proprio tutto sulla clausola NOLOCK?   Se la riposta è si, allora seguitemi! Oggi ne spiegheremo il funzionamento in maniera approfondita. Faremo una introduzione al concetto di tipi di LOCK Ed infine vedremo come mai una SELECT ne può bloccare un'altra. Non vi nascondo che il motivo di questo articolo è fare chiarezza. Su questo argomento si sentono spesso affermazioni “curiose” ma tra le tante questa è la prima: “ uso la SELECT con l’opzione WITH(LOCK) così non blocco le altre tabelle ”.   Ma, è proprio vero quanto affermato? Beh oggi facciamo il punto!   Buona lettura!     La clausola NOLOCK Diciamo subito per iniziare che cos’è la NOLOCK. NOLOCK è il nome di una clausola che è possibile specificare all’interno di uno statement di tipo SELECT utilizzando la seguente sintassi: SELECT * FROM TABELLA WITH (NOLOCK) Si noti che non possiamo ...
Read more