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Introduction
One common use for MySQL is the storage of binary data in
BLOB
columns. MySQL supports four
different BLOB datatypes: TINYBLOB
,
BLOB
,
MEDIUMBLOB
, and
LONGBLOB
.
Data stored in a BLOB column can be accessed using Connector/NET and manipulated using client-side code. There are no special requirements for using Connector/NET with BLOB data.
Simple code examples will be presented within this section, and a
full sample application can be found in the
Samples
directory of the Connector/NET
installation.
The first step is using MySQL with BLOB data is to configure the server. Let's start by creating a table to be accessed. In my file tables, I usually have four columns: an AUTO_INCREMENT column of appropriate size (UNSIGNED SMALLINT) to serve as a primary key to identify the file, a VARCHAR column that stores the file name, an UNSIGNED MEDIUMINT column that stores the size of the file, and a MEDIUMBLOB column that stores the file itself. For this example, I will use the following table definition:
CREATE TABLE file( file_id SMALLINT UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY, file_name VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL, file_size MEDIUMINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL, file MEDIUMBLOB NOT NULL);
After creating a table, you may need to modify the max_allowed_packet system variable. This variable determines how large of a packet (that is, a single row) can be sent to the MySQL server. By default, the server will only accept a maximum size of 1MB from our client application. If you do not intend to exceed 1MB, this should be fine. If you do intend to exceed 1MB in your file transfers, this number has to be increased.
The max_allowed_packet option can be modified using MySQL
Administrator's Startup Variables screen. Adjust the Maximum
allowed option in the Memory section of the Networking tab to an
appropriate setting. After adjusting the value, click the
Apply Changes button and restart the
server using the Service Control
screen of
MySQL Administrator. You can also adjust this value directly in
the my.cnf file (add a line that reads max_allowed_packet=xxM),
or use the SET max_allowed_packet=xxM; syntax from within MySQL.
Try to be conservative when setting max_allowed_packet, as transfers of BLOB data can take some time to complete. Try to set a value that will be adequate for your intended use and increase the value if necessary.
To write a file to a database we need to convert the file to a
byte array, then use the byte array as a parameter to an
INSERT
query.
The following code opens a file using a FileStream object, reads
it into a byte array, and inserts it into the
file
table:
Visual Basic Example
Dim conn As New MySqlConnection Dim cmd As New MySqlCommand Dim SQL As String Dim FileSize As UInt32 Dim rawData() As Byte Dim fs As FileStream conn.ConnectionString = "server=127.0.0.1;" _ & "uid=root;" _ & "pwd=12345;" _ & "database=test" Try fs = New FileStream("c:\image.png", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read) FileSize = fs.Length rawData = New Byte(FileSize) {} fs.Read(rawData, 0, FileSize) fs.Close() conn.Open() SQL = "INSERT INTO file VALUES(NULL, @FileName, @FileSize, @File)" cmd.Connection = conn cmd.CommandText = SQL cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@FileName", strFileName) cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@FileSize", FileSize) cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@File", rawData) cmd.ExecuteNonQuery() MessageBox.Show("File Inserted into database successfully!", _ "Success!", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Asterisk) conn.Close() Catch ex As Exception MessageBox.Show("There was an error: " & ex.Message, "Error", _ MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error) End Try
C# Example
MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection conn; MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlCommand cmd; conn = new MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection(); cmd = new MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlCommand(); string SQL; UInt32 FileSize; byte[] rawData; FileStream fs; conn.ConnectionString = "server=127.0.0.1;uid=root;" + "pwd=12345;database=test;"; try { fs = new FileStream(@"c:\image.png", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read); FileSize = fs.Length; rawData = new byte[FileSize]; fs.Read(rawData, 0, FileSize); fs.Close(); conn.Open(); SQL = "INSERT INTO file VALUES(NULL, @FileName, @FileSize, @File)"; cmd.Connection = conn; cmd.CommandText = SQL; cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@FileName", strFileName); cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@FileSize", FileSize); cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@File", rawData); cmd.ExecuteNonQuery(); MessageBox.Show("File Inserted into database successfully!", "Success!", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Asterisk); conn.Close(); } catch (MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlException ex) { MessageBox.Show("Error " + ex.Number + " has occurred: " + ex.Message, "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error); }
The Read
method of the
FileStream
object is used to load the file
into a byte array which is sized according to the
Length
property of the FileStream object.
After assigning the byte array as a parameter of the
MySqlCommand
object, the
ExecuteNonQuery
method is called and the BLOB
is inserted into the file
table.
Once a file is loaded into the file
table, we
can use the MySqlDataReader
class to retrieve
it.
The following code retrieves a row from the
file
table, then loads the data into a
FileStream
object to be written to disk:
Visual Basic Example
Dim conn As New MySqlConnection Dim cmd As New MySqlCommand Dim myData As MySqlDataReader Dim SQL As String Dim rawData() As Byte Dim FileSize As UInt32 Dim fs As FileStream conn.ConnectionString = "server=127.0.0.1;" _ & "uid=root;" _ & "pwd=12345;" _ & "database=test" SQL = "SELECT file_name, file_size, file FROM file" Try conn.Open() cmd.Connection = conn cmd.CommandText = SQL myData = cmd.ExecuteReader If Not myData.HasRows Then Throw New Exception("There are no BLOBs to save") myData.Read() FileSize = myData.GetUInt32(myData.GetOrdinal("file_size")) rawData = New Byte(FileSize) {} myData.GetBytes(myData.GetOrdinal("file"), 0, rawData, 0, FileSize) fs = New FileStream("C:\newfile.png", FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write) fs.Write(rawData, 0, FileSize) fs.Close() MessageBox.Show("File successfully written to disk!", "Success!", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Asterisk) myData.Close() conn.Close() Catch ex As Exception MessageBox.Show("There was an error: " & ex.Message, "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error) End Try
C# Example
MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection conn; MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlCommand cmd; MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlDataReader myData; conn = new MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection(); cmd = new MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlCommand(); string SQL; UInt32 FileSize; byte[] rawData; FileStream fs; conn.ConnectionString = "server=127.0.0.1;uid=root;" + "pwd=12345;database=test;"; SQL = "SELECT file_name, file_size, file FROM file"; try { conn.Open(); cmd.Connection = conn; cmd.CommandText = SQL; myData = cmd.ExecuteReader(); if (! myData.HasRows) throw new Exception("There are no BLOBs to save"); myData.Read(); FileSize = myData.GetUInt32(myData.GetOrdinal("file_size")); rawData = new byte[FileSize]; myData.GetBytes(myData.GetOrdinal("file"), 0, rawData, 0, FileSize); fs = new FileStream(@"C:\newfile.png", FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write); fs.Write(rawData, 0, FileSize); fs.Close(); MessageBox.Show("File successfully written to disk!", "Success!", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Asterisk); myData.Close(); conn.Close(); } catch (MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlException ex) { MessageBox.Show("Error " + ex.Number + " has occurred: " + ex.Message, "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error); }
After connecting, the contents of the file
table are loaded into a MySqlDataReader
object. The GetBytes
method of the
MySqlDataReader is used to load the BLOB into a byte array,
which is then written to disk using a FileStream object.
The GetOrdinal
method of the MySqlDataReader
can be used to determine the integer index of a named column.
Use of the GetOrdinal method prevents errors if the column order
of the SELECT
query is changed.
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