how to use imagecopyresampled() w/ mysql

the_reverend

Can anyone provide a snippet (that at least would get me in the right direction) so I can have a user submit an image through a form, generate a thumbnail, then store the thumbnail and full-size image in a mysql db? And how do I then pull the image from the db to display it? I think I kinda know how to do the latter, but my current form for image submission only passes the path to the image on the user's drive, not the image itself. And I don't know how to make the thumbnail with imagecopyresampled.

Is imagecopyresampled comparable to imagemagick resampling? I have a script I use now that uses imagemagick and the quality is great, but I don't know how to use imagemagick to create a thumbnail without storing it to a file (I need it returned to a variable that I can put in the db, not written to a file). Also, I am working hard to make my script very portable, so I'd prefer to keep server requirements at a minimum... If I can do this without imagemagick and the quality will still be good, then that just makes it that much more portable.

I'm almost finished and I will soon be sharing. I think you will all really like my new gallery scripts... LOTS of room for growth, LOTS of options for user restrictions/administration, etc.

Anon

First off. Don't store the image or the thumbnail in the database unless you're really paranoid about giving the world permission to write to a particular directory. It's a huge performance hit, because you're using your database for a filesystem instead of your filesystem; like using the handle of a screwdriver to bang in nails, it works - but a hammer does a much better job.

It's easy enough to keep people from just browsing through such a directory unilaterally instead of via whatever site interface you give them (store the image files outside the document root, and reference a script in the src attribute that uses passthru() on them), and you can store path information in the database as well, so they don't all have to go the one directory.

As for quality; you'll have to experiment, but I kinda suspect imagemagick will be give the superior product (at the expense of a bit more work). If you're insisting on going ahead with storing the thumbnails in a database you'd then read each thumbnail file into a variable then and delete the file.

the_reverend

There are a few reasons I'd prefer to store the images in the db.

One is I do not always have full control over permissions on our servers and I have run into one server that will not allow me to create a directory from a php script. I have to create the directory manually and then 777 the directory for the script to be able to write files.

Second, I fear someone will go poking around on the server and decide to clear off some junk, including some of the data files. Then the fit will hit the shan when the script tries to access those deleted files.

Mostly, I think storing the files in the db will make the code tidier and make it more portable, since there wont be issues with write permissions.

Anon

If you're control of the server is limited, then that does put a crimp in using the filesystem.

But I think storing the files in the db would make things messier and significanly LESS portable (Which dbms? How (well) does it handle BLOBs? Migration?)