PHP + MySQL Question

jaz_dp

Please help!

I need to know if I can place a jpg picture into a MySQL database and then display that picture on a webpage using PHP to access the database.

Also whether it is possible to update that picture stored in the database using PHP from a webpage. ie So that I can place a new picture in the place of the old one.

Any help would be gratefull.

Cheers

P.S If you know of any Free PHP and MySQL hosting companies I would like to know.

the_Igel

Sure you can (smth like using blob fields and fread() to get file content). But usually it's done another way.

You'd better store not the images themselves, but rather links to them. Say, you have "/img/" folder on your server, and only store filenames in db. This way it's much more reliable, much faster (no need to retrieve rather big graphic data from db), and easier to maintain (you may just replace a picture with another via FTP, no need for complicated administrative interfaces).
By the way, you can store additional data in db like picture size, alt text, and other.

Rodders

I know you can store images in MySQL databases, but I have read that it can be a problem with big image files and/or large numbers of images.

It maybe worth considering having your images stored in a directory on your server. You can use a MySQL database table to store an image ID and it's path, e.g. /images/image1.jpg

That way your database only stores text which should be more stable.

You can write a script which uploads the images to your directory or deletes them. You could make the whole process really swish by having one form which takes the image from your client, puts it in the directory (confirm overwrite if it already exists) and adds the details to the database. Using this method you could also include in the database fields for the ALT attribute if required.

Rodders

We (myself & the_Igel) posted together, honest!

jaz_dp

You said that I could write a script to take the image from a client, place that on the FTP server folder and then update the database as required. That all sounds perfect, unfortunately I am a beginner at this, so could you give me some prompts or some suggestions of where to find out how to do this.

Cheers, thankyou for your help again

the_Igel

There are two easy ways I can assume.

You may write an admin script that allows you to put values in the "image_url" field of the table (or maybe you have phpMyAdmin installed). Then you upload images with your preferred ftp client, and in the "image_url" field you type their filenames.
Another solution is to write an administrative script, that incorporates fileupload ability. It's a little bit more complicated, but then you can be sure you didn't make a typo while inputting filename.
You say you're novice, so I'd recommend you to get one of upload classes that are available on the Net, to make it easier to write the script in question.

But don't ask me (or anybody) to code the whole script for you! :-)