Develop Reference

How to read blob data from SQL Server Image field using Dapper?

I need to read blob data into a memory stream from an Image type column from an SQL Server database. How can I do this using Dapper?
I was reading the Dapper manual but was unable to find information about this.
UPDATE: I need to read the data from the database (from a query). All the links suggested so far has information about how to store the blob in the database.

Figured it out. The result dynamic type is a byte[].
var row = con.QueryFirst("SELECT BLOBFIELD FROM TABLE WHERE ID = 1");
byte[] bytes = drawings.BLOBFIELD;
using (var stream = new System.IO.FileStream(#"C:\Temp\Test.dat", System.IO.FileMode.CreateNew))
stream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);

Grab image from web, save it in sql database

I'm trying to grab an image from the web, and add it to my database.
String lsResponse = string.Empty;
using (HttpWebResponse lxResponse = (HttpWebResponse)req1.GetResponse())
{
using (BinaryReader reader = new BinaryReader(lxResponse.GetResponseStream()))
{
Byte[] lnByte = reader.ReadBytes(1 * 1024 * 1024 * 10);
using (FileStream lxFS = new FileStream(id + ".png", FileMode.Create))
{
lxFS.Write(lnByte, 0, lnByte.Length);
My SQL Server datatype is Varbinary(MAX). Tried with different types (image,...) did not work.
Put it into database.
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("INSERT INTO PlayersDB (id) ) VALUES (#id);
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("#id", lnByte);
I keep getting an error:
Implicit conversion from data type nvarchar to varbinary(max) is not allowed. Use the CONVERT function to run this query.
So, my program sees my lnByte not as binary?

First be sure about the data type is correct.I don't know much about SQL server but i've encountered similar problem in MySql. I changed the data type to Blob and it worked

We use blobs for storing images within a sql db at my workplace. I'm not particularly experienced with it myself, but here are some Technet resources that can explain it better than I can.
Binary Large Object (Blob) Data (SQL Server)
FILESTREAM (SQL Server)

how to get a picture from a postgresql database

i want to select a picture that save as a large object in a postgresql database.
i know i use lo_export to do this.
but there is a problem: i want to save this picture directly to my computer because i cant access the files that save on Server using lo_export
(i think that is best for me if picture transfer to my computer by a select query)

I don't exactly know my way around C# but the Npgsql Manual has an example sort of like this of writing a bytea column to a file:
command = new NpgsqlCommand("select blob from t where id = 1);", conn);
Byte[] result = (Byte[])command.ExecuteScalar();
FileStream fs = new FileStream(args[0] + "database", FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
BinaryWriter bw = new BinaryWriter(new BufferedStream(fs));
bw.Write(result);
bw.Flush();
fs.Close();
bw.Close();
So you just read it out of the database pretty much like any other column and write it to a local file. The example is about half way down the page I linked to, just search for "bytea" and you'll find it.
UPDATE: For large objects, the process appears to be similar but less SQL-ish. The manual (as linked to above) includes a few large object examples:
NpgsqlTransaction t = Polacz.BeginTransaction();
LargeObjectManager lbm = new LargeObjectManager(Polacz);
LargeObject lo = lbm.Open(takeOID(idtowaru),LargeObjectManager.READWRITE); //take picture oid from metod takeOID
byte[] buf = new byte[lo.Size()];
buf = lo.Read(lo.Size());
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
ms.Write(buf,0,lo.Size());
// ...
Image zdjecie = Image.FromStream(ms);
Search the manual for "large object" and you'll find it.

Not familiar with C# but if you've contrib/dblink around and better access to a separate postgresql server, this might work:
select large object from bad db server.
copy large object into good db server using dblink.
lo_export on good db server.

If your pictures don't exceed 1GB (or if you don't access only parts of the bytes) then using bytea is the better choice to store them.
A lot of SQL GUI tools allow to directly download (even view) the content of bytea columns directly

Can't convert image to bytes[] C#

I'm very new to this stuff of saving images to the DB, and even when I thought it was very straight forward, it wasn't. What I'm trying to do is read and image file from the same computer in any format, display it in a picture box, and then convert the image to bytes to save it in the DB. Until now, I can display the image in the picture box, but I can't convert the image to bytes. Here's my code:
private void DisplayImage()
{
if (openFileDialog.ShowDialog(this) == DialogResult.OK)
{
try
{
Stream file;
if ((archivo = openFileDialog.OpenFile()) != null)
{
using (file)
{
pictureBox.Image = Image.FromStream(file);
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
...
}
}
}
That's a simple method that just displays the image in the picture box. The real problem is with the following method:
public static byte[] ConvertImageToBytes(Image image)
{
if (image != null)
{
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
using (ms)
{
image.Save(ms, ImageFormat.Bmp);
byte[] bytes = ms.ToArray();
return bytes;
}
}
else
{
return null;
}
}
When it tries to save the image to the memory stream, I get the error:
System.Runtime.InteropServices.ExternalException: A generic error occurred in GDI+.
Any ideas on what's happening?

You should use the RawFormat property of the original image as a parameter to the Save method, not default to a Bitmap. This will avoid image format type errors. eg:
image.Save(ms, image.RawFormat);
ms.Position = 0;
byte [] bytes=ms.ToArray();
I'd advise actually saving images to the file-system and simply storing the file path (preferably relative) in the database.
BLOBs (ie images etc) in a database cannot be indexed, are often stored in a secondary, slower access database area and will quickly blow out the size of the database (slower backups etc).

Cant you simply Read the file and load it to a byte[] using the File class:
byte[] imgData = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(#"C:\My Pic\Myfile.jpg");
You can pick the image path from your Open Dialog box.

That particular exception generally means that you are trying to save the image as the wrong format. In your code you specify ImageFormat.Bmp - is it actually a bitmap image, or did you perhaps load it from a JPEG or PNG? Attempting to save as a different format from the one you loaded will fail with ExternalException, as specified in the documentation.
Incidentally, I don't recommend storing images in a database and I believe most people here will agree. Databases may be able to handle this task but they are not optimized for it, and you end up hurting the performance of both your database and your application. Unless you are using SQL Server 2008 FILESTREAM columns, it is more efficient to store images on the file system.

It may be stupid to answer my own question, but I just found out that if I want to convert the Image object to bytes, I have to leave the original stream open. I saw this issue in another page I can't quite remember, and I tested it by leaving the stream open and it's true. So the format wasn't the problem. But I will take the advice of all of you and store the images in a separate directory. Thanks for your help guys!

The problem with this is that stream must be open during the lifetime of of the image otherwise will fail.
One solution that worked for me is just to create a copy of the image like this:
using (var ms = new MemoryStream(bytes))
{
_image = new Bitmap(Image.FromStream(ms));
}

c# - reading/writing blob from firebird

I'm trying to read image from firebird with c#, and save it to file system.
I can read from table and save. but image can not be viewed. I tried many piece of
code on net.but result is same :(
Can any one help me please?

How are you retrieving the code form Firebird? If you are getting the data and casting it to a byte[] try:
byte [] blob = row["image"];
// create a file FileStream to write the data
FileStream fs = new FileStream("image.jpg", FileMode.Create);
fs.Write(blob,0,blob.Length);
fs.Close();
The above code should do the trick.
PS: I have made lots of assumption in the code, but you can get the idea.