referencing url via mysql

[buzzby]

i want to be able to have pictures load via mysql/php. i know that storing pictures in a databse is not good but storing the url is much better. can some1 tell me how to do this? or at least point me to a tutorial that will be able to go thru this in somne depth so i may understand it fully. i dont want to upload images to the database. just store the url of the image in a database. the load data infile just displays text

[bubblenut]

You save the image somewhere, let's say /home/httpd/pics/pic1.jpg and then you insert the string /home/httpd/pics/pic1.jpg into the database. I'm guessing that's not quite what you're looking for so could you be a little more specific. I'm not going to write you an entire script for uploading images from the user, checking they're images, inserting them into the database and retrieving them without you having at tried to make something first.

Think of the part's you're going to need.

1. A form to upload the file from the user with

2. Something to get the file info and check that it is of an acceptable format

3. Something to insert the url into the database

4. Something to extract the url from the database so you can view the image
   [/list=1]
   Prehapse also something to make deleting images from the database easier.

   Build up a framework skiping what you can't do and then post it back to get some help with it.

   Good Luck 🙂
   Bubble

[buzzby]

ok, i hear you. what i want to do is just display images. no one is going to upload images. the site is for an architectural comany that want to display their portfolio of work. so the site is really a springboard for displaying plans, refurbishments and upcoming work. there is no uploading by the user at all.

[mrhappiness]

i don't type fast enough... 🙁

[buzzby]

You save the image somewhere, let's say /home/httpd/pics/pic1.jpg and then you insert the string /home/httpd/pics/pic1.jpg into the database.

i had this in a text file and used the load data infile parameter into the database. all that showed was the text and no image. so in reply to BUBBLE, points 3 & 4 are all that i need

[bubblenut]

In order to view the image you must have some kind of image viewer, the most obvious would be a web browser and that is the example I'm going to show you.
Let's say you have your images in a table called images in a field called url.

<?php
include('db_stuff.php');
$sql="SELECT url FROM images";
$res=mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());
while($row=mysql_fetch_array($res,MYSQL_NUM)) {
  echo('<img src="http://www.thissite.com/'.$url.'" /><br />');
}
?>

From this it should be obvious that the images have to saved somewhere in your webserver's document root.
Also, this is a massively simplified scenario and I expect you'll want a lot more data in the table.

HTH
Bubble

[buzzby]

well the images are static images that will be viewed as is. i would like to place links on them so they can be viewed at a higher resolution. the images are going to be of a thumbnail effect. 10075 or 12095, something of that nature. since i will be using templates i would like the images to load just like the text does. ie each row sybolises a page in the browser so i want the images to be the same. can i have a template calling info from 2 different tables?

the id='$id' will be in there somewhere since the images are record dependant. so its like this. record 1 which has the textual info for the site either must contain the image link so the image can be displayed aswell as the text or the image table must habe image_id which is the secondary key of the main textual table. i am not sure how to go about this.

[bubblenut]

What is the text relating to specificly?
Is there going to be more than one image per piece of text?
Do you not want seperate thumbnail images (would make loading the page much quicker)?
What do you mean by templates? Code structure templates, html templates, little plastic templates?

It's not going to be possible to help you untill you've really understood the specifics of what your pages are going to do, and explain it here.

[buzzby]

i have about 50 pages of text and pics that will be dynamically created via 3 - 5 html templates. there is a template for the homepage which will serve the about us page and the contact us page, one for the kits page, one for the services page. the main table will house the php code. (i am trying to see whether the whole site could be done with one template and let php/mysql do the rest - textually and with images) the template itself isnt that elaborate.

the site is basically a profile of the company split into different sections: individual kits, services, kit packages etc. text would really governt the site with 1 image. i could combine some images to make a whole image so the programing would be a lil less cluttered.

[buzzby]

so if i store the image in a database can i use a code like this?

CREATE TABLE imageslinks (
imageID mediumint(8) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
imageLink varchar(250) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (imageID)
) TYPE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=1 ;

and then store the image link with a query like this one:
PHP:

$imageLink = 'the link of the image';

$sql = @(
"INSERT INTO imagesLinks (imageLink
)
VALUES ('$imageLink'
)");
echo mysql_error();

[bubblenut]

Yes that would insert them and then to retrieve it by a specific id

$imageid; //contains the unique_id of the required image
$sql="SELECT imageID, imageLink FROM imagelinks WHERE imageID='$imageid'";
$res=mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());
$row=mysql_fetch_array($res, MYSQL_ASSOC);
echo('<img src="http://www.thesite.com/'.$row['imageID'].'" />");

HTH
Bubble

[buzzby]

so if i store the image in a database can i use a code like this?

CREATE TABLE imageslinks (
imageID mediumint(8) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
imageLink varchar(250) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (imageID)
) TYPE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=1 ;

and then store the image link with a query like this one:
PHP:

$imageLink = 'the link of the image';

$sql = @(
"INSERT INTO imagesLinks (imageLink
)
VALUES ('$imageLink'
)");
echo mysql_error();

lookin around i saw this code:

in MySQL 3.23, you can use the LOAD_FILE() function to read a file from the file system, e.g.

mysql> INSERT INTO table (description,image)
-> VALUES ("my image",LOAD_FILE('image.jpg'));

how do i then use php to acces it? can i create a table that stores both images and text or do they need to be different? can i have an id for the image to correspond to the id of the other tables that hold certain subject text. ie can i have a table that holds kit information and a table that hold kit pics and somehow combine them?

[buzzby]

ok. i see that. is there then a way to combine the image table with the text table? can i put the text parameters in the image table? each piece of text has a unique identifier. i am sure that each image can be coupled with the explanitory text. do i reference reference diferent mysql tables in the same <table>.

[buzzby]

mysql code:

CREATE TABLE imageslinks (
imageID mediumint(8) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
imageLink varchar(250) NOT NULL,
name varchar(255) not null,
address varchar(255),
PRIMARY KEY (imageID),
) TYPE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=1;

insert into imageslinks values (1,'service_01.jpg','danny blancheflower','123 here street');
insert into imageslinks values (2,'service_02.jpg','david blaine','45 west 45 street');
insert into imageslinks values (3,'service_03.jpg','rolf harris','123 rue de la rue, la rochelle');

php code:

<body>
<?php
//$db = mysql_connect_db("localhost","","");
$db=mysql_connect('localhost','root');
mysql_select_db("danny",$db);
$imageid = isset( $GET['imageID'] ) ? $GET['imageID'] : '';
//$imageid; //contains the unique_id of the required image
$sql="SELECT * FROM imageslinks WHERE imageID='$imageid'";
$res=mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());
$row=mysql_fetch_array($res, MYSQL_ASSOC);
print('<img src="http://localhost/images/'.$row['imageID'].'" />');
?>
</body>

i am stumped as to why this didnt work. can you help please? what is wrong with this code?

does there need to be any coding towards IMAGEBLOB?

[bubblenut]

Do you get any errors?
Have you checked in the database manually to see if the data is there and that's of the expected form?

[buzzby]

i looked at the code, everything is fine. the error i got was a red cross (x) in a box meaning something is wrong with the image. didnt even get any text up either. the jpgs are there with the specific spelling but nothing is happening. y is that? is there anything wrong with the code at all? what is with the imageblob thing?

$sql="SELECT imageBLOB FROM imagelinks WHERE imageID=".$_GET['id'];
$res=mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());
$row=mysql_fetch_array($res, MYSQL_ASSOC);
header("Content-type: image/gif");
print $row['imageBLOB'];

i saw this code. what is the difference between what you had and this one?

[bubblenut]

print('<img src="http://localhost/images/'.$row['imageID'].'" />'); 

Can you see anything wrong with that line?

[buzzby]

i am not sure if there is anything wrong with that line. maybe it shoule be ECHO instead of PRINT or there is something wrong with the source code. does the code only work when live on the net? i am not sure. can you see anything wrong with that line?

i need some help with this please

[bubblenut]

<voice who="Rafiki" from="Lion King">Look Harder</voice>
<effect>ripple</effect>

$row['imageID']

Is there anything else this could be?

[buzzby]

$row=mysql_fetch_array($res, MYSQL_ASSOC);

i am not sure what this line does. i am going thru the code and it looks quite confusing. trying to figure out what is wrong. any other hints?