Storing pictures in a MySQL database?

[JProg]

Hi Everyone,

I am wondering if it is possible to store pictures in a MySQL database? If so how does one go about this (particularly what SQL datatype would a picture be stored as?). Assuming that it is possible to store pictures in a MySQL database, are there any disadvantages to doing so? For example would storing a picture in MySQL take up lots more storage space than simply keeping pictures in directories?

Thanks for your help.

Regards

David

 

[TonyGroves]

You can certainly store pictures in a MySQL table. You would use a Blob field for storage. The Blob type you use depends on the maximum expected size of your picture data. TINYBLOB allows up to 255 bytes (not very useful for a picture); BLOB allows up to 64kB; MEDIUMBLOB allows up to 16.7MB; and LONGBLOB allows up to 4.2GB. You would normally load the data by means of the LOAD_FILE function, for example:[tt]
INSERT photos (datetaken,description,image)
VALUES
(
'2003-12-25',
'Me opening my present from Mary',
LOAD_FILE('c:/pics/000124.jpg')
)[/tt]
where the file path is located on the MySQL server.

The amount of storage used would be the same as storing the pictures as separate files, give or take a few bytes.

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