MySQL BLOB jpeg question, kinda newbie

[chrismalmoe]

I'm making a photoalbum on a website, thought it might be fun to try
storing the files as blobs in the db. So, I put the files in the db, one field for the jpeg and one to describe the file with a small comment. I also have an id field so navigating through the images will be easier..

My problem is:
How do I retrieve the file from the database to display it on my site? I tried using the old SELECT * FROM photos WHERE id = '$id' thing, and then mysql_fetch_array() to get the stuff out. Of course that didn't work.
I'm stuck, and I can't find a proper answer for a newbie like me anywhere.

Please help out, I'm learning...

[devinemke]

short answer: don't store binary data (like JPEGs) in a database. just store the paths to the files in the file system.

[chrismalmoe]

Sure, I know it's not a good idea trying to put jpegs and stuff in dbs, let's say I stored the path instead... How would I go about to do that=?

[devinemke]

Originally posted by chrismalmoe
Sure, I know it's not a good idea trying to put jpegs and stuff in dbs, let's say I stored the path instead... How would I go about to do that=?

pull the path out and use it to construct a regular HTML img tag