PHP / mySQL: Problem with Some Photos Not Displaying in the Browser

Young_Luke

I have been able to offer a online database to a property management company where they can list properties on a very simple database INCLUDING PHOTOS that they can update themselves.

So I have created the database and placed the content management in a subdomain and everything seems to be working fine: EXCEPT that some (not all) of the photos do not display on the "View Properties" page. The photos that don't display seem to do so randomly. Furthermore, if you right-click on where the photos are supposed to be and select "Show Photo," the photo will then display.

Below is the link to the properties page as well as an explanation of the code I used to get there. I'm VERY new to PHP development and in need of help.

http://www.recaproperties.com/prop_all.php

RELEVANT LINE OF CODE ON PROP_ALL.PHP:

RELEVANT CODE ON PHOTO_ENGINE.PHP:

<?
header("Content-type: image/gif");
$propID = $_GET['propID'];
@ $dbh = mysql_connect('localhost', 'recaprop_webUser', 'PASSWORD');
mysql_select_db ('recaprop_recadb1');
$sql = 'SELECT photo FROM properties WHERE propID = '.$propID.' AND LENGTH(photo) > 0';
$result = mysql_query($sql);
$nrows = mysql_num_rows($result);

if ($nrows < 1)
{

// this next line selects where I've stored the "no photo" image

	$sqlb = "SELECT photo FROM properties WHERE propID = 0000001";
	$resultb = mysql_query($sqlb);
	$nrowsb = mysql_num_rows($resultb);
	$rowb = mysql_fetch_array($resultb);
	echo $rowb['photo'];
}
else
{
	$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
	echo $row['photo'];
	echo $filesize;
}

WHAT I SUSPECT THE PROBLEM TO BE:

improper folder permissions - I occasionally get a 403 error. If so how do I change folder permissions on a virtual host?
although the BLOBs are all under their approriate size requirements, maybe I need to change the column type to Large BLOB?

Anyway, if anyone could offer help, I would most appreciative.

devinemke

my suggestion, as always, is don't store photos (or any other binary data) in the database. store the photos in a dedicated dir and name them the same as the primary key field in the table (an integer usually) and then simply create normal HTML <img src=""> tags to point to the images.

Young_Luke

devinemke,

The main reason I decided to store images in the db is so that the client could update the db himself from the web.

Is there a way to upload a binary stream (the photo) then save it in the dedicated dir under the "[key number name].gif" and then delete the temp file?

That way I wouldn't have to upload a photo for this guy everytime he gets a new property AND I wouldn't have to train somebody at his office to use an ftp client.

devinemke

it sounds like you have already designed some sort of web based admin page for your client to add records to the db. why not just add a simple file upload routine to the form to store the images on the server?

Young_Luke

devinemke,

By "routine," do you mean to put special "ftp-esque" instructions on the form? Or do you mean that there is a way in HTML etc to automate this?

By the way, do you have any ideas as to why some photos show and some don't on the site the way it stands now? I changed the permissions (chmod) for all the php files which seemed to do nothing (except for possibly eliminating 403 "Forbidden access" errors).

Or are there just way too many variables to have any real idea as to why the site behaves in this manner?

Thanks for your time.

devinemke

Originally posted by Young Luke
By "routine," do you mean to put special "ftp-esque" instructions on the form? Or do you mean that there is a way in HTML etc to automate this?

PHP fully supports file uploads via standard HTML forms. read all about it here.

AstroTeg

Originally posted by Young Luke
devinemke,

The main reason I decided to store images in the db is so that the client could update the db himself from the web.

What devinemke might be trying to say is use your code you have, but DO NOT store the images in the database. Just write them out to a directory.

If you're concerned about security, then put the images in a non-web accessible directory and setup a PHP script to read the file and output it to the browser once the user's credentials have been verified.

Why store the images in a directory?

Troubleshooting is a ton easier. If the image isn't loading, just point the browser directly to the image and test it. Or copy the image and load it into your favorite paint program and see if there's a problem.
Databases are great for storing data. Not files.
File systems are great for storing files. You get the added benefits of caching as well.

Young_Luke

Thank you gents.

I have gone back and reconfigured the "Add Property" page to write the photo files to a dedicated directory rather than the db and rewritten the rest of the pages (not too much work) to call as the image source the file written to the directory named according to the key number of row of the database. And what do you know, I can get all the photos to show!

Thanks again.