RE: Images stored in a db - how to get them?

"John T. Beresford" <john-nic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> · Mon, 26 Jan 2004 15:52:48 -0600

Thanks Ryan and Paul.

I agree, making references to the files is a more robust way of doing 
things. In fact, that's the way I normally work.

I'm in the process of learning more about 'BLOBS' and exploring the 
reality of storing images in a db/table versus the filesystem.

Anyway, thanks for the pointers. :)

John

At 3:44 PM -0600 on 1/26/04, Paul Miller wrote:
While I totally agree with Ryan, there are instances where I have found
that people do not follow best practices, namely Oracle (Oracle File
Storage) and many MySQL/PHP programs out there (OPT and Help Center
Live).  So here is some code addressing both.

You would probably need an interpreter file.  Something like image.php
and call images like image.php?ID=house.

Then in your code, you grab the blob or file info and print it out after
you set the headers like this:

=================================================
THE DB OPTION (local file system storage):
=================================================
<?php

$sql = "select image_blob_column, mime_type
		  from images
		 where image_ext_id = '$ID'";

$results = sql_query($sql, $db_id);
if ($row_file = sql_fetch_array($results)){
	// Set the headers
	Header("Content-Type: ".$row_file["mime_type"]); // Gif or Jpeg
	Header("Content-Disposition: inline"); // Tells the browser to
display it
							   //	in the
browser if it is opened up by itself
	Header("Content-Length:
".count($row_file["image_blob_column"]));
	echo $row_file["image_blob_column"];
}

?>
=================================================
THE FILE OPTION (local file system storage):
=================================================
<?php

$sql = "select file_path, mime_type
		  from images
		 where image_ext_id = '$ID'";

$results = sql_query($sql, $db_id);
if ($row_file = sql_fetch_array($results)){
	// Set the headers
	Header("Content-Type: ".$row_file["mime_type"]); // Gif or Jpeg
	Header("Content-Disposition: inline"); // Tells the browser to
display it
							   //	in the
browser if it is opened up by itself
	Header("Content-Length: ".filesize($row_file["file_path"]));
	$fp=fopen($row_file["file_path"], "rb");
	fpassthru($fp);
}
?>

The GD library is for creating new images using specified parameters or
editing an image.

HTH

- Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: Ryan Jameson (USA) [mailto:RJameson@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2004 3:28 PM
To: php-db@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE:  Images stored in a db - how to get them?

 about once a quarter this question comes up and the answer is always
the same. Don't store them in the database, just store filenames and
store the files in the filesystem. That way you just generate a link and
treat it like any other image. Then when you query the database you
would create img tags with src property set to the image. You probably
don't want to store FULL path info, just enough to find the image.

<>< Ryan

-----Original Message-----
From: John T. Beresford [mailto:john-nic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2004 2:23 PM
To: php-db@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject:  Images stored in a db - how to get them?

Hello All,

I am interested in storing images in a table. My question is - What is
the proper way of retrieving the images and displaying them on a web
page?

Will I need to go through the GD library and create an image from the
information stored in the table?

While PHP is not new to me, images in db's is. Specifically, when info
is returned, it's usually in the form of:

$var=$row['FieldName'];

What would I then do with the 'BLOB' information? Is that where the GD
image tools come in play?

Any URL's or small hints to point in the right direction would be
very much appreciated.

Thanks,
John
--

--
===========================
John T. Beresford
Apple Certified Technical Coordinator
http://www.deewi.com/
405.760.0794

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