[Zope] images in access database

[Rik Hoekstra]

>
>I would like to be able to have gifs/jpgs stored in an MS access
>database and then pull the out using zope and display them in rendered
>documents.  I am completely new to access.  I have successfully
>installed the ODBCDA into zope, and are able to connect to an access
>database and pull ordinary text data out of tables.
>
>I have created a table in access with a column of type 'OLE object' and
>put a gif image in as data.  This is the only way I know how to get an
>image into the table.  The problem I think with this is that it is a
>link to the gif on the HDD, and doesn't actually have the data in the
>table?  Anyway, when I pull the data out of the table from zope, access
>puts a header and footer around the gif binary data, and hence a simple
><dtml-var blah> wont work to display the image.  Has anyone else every
>pulled images from an access database.  Will I have to write a method to
>strip the header and footer from the returned data before displaying the
>gif?
>


Um, in general you'd have to have very strong reasons to put large objects
like images in a database (especially in Access). This has a negative effect
on the performance of your application as it adds to the overhead (putting
another layer between your webserver and your image retrieval). I don't see
what the gains would be.

If you consider putting image descriptions in your database, do so and no
more. Put the images on a filesystem somewhere and make your database
records point to them. This is much easier and much faster.

If the number of images is large you may have to do some thinking about the
directory structure.

hth

Rik