This stored procedure serves as an interface to the TextCopy utility that exports and imports images and documnets to SQL Server.
Create Procedure sp_imp_exp_images
(@runpath varchar(100), -- textCopy Location
@srvr varchar(50), -- server to load
@db varchar(50), -- database to load
@usr varchar(50), -- login user
@pwd varchar(50), -- login password
@tbl varchar(50), -- table to load/unload
@col varchar(50), -- column to load/unload
@whr varchar(200), -- where clause
@fil varchar(100), -- filename including path
@mod char(1)) -- I for Load into Sql , O FOR output from SQL
AS
declare @cmd varchar(1000)
set @cmd = @runpath + ' /S ' + @srvr + ' /D ' + @db + ' /U ' + @usr +
' /P ' + @pwd + ' /T ' + @tbl + ' /C ' + @col + ' /W ' + @whr +
' /F ' + @fil + ' /' + @mod
exec Master..xp_cmdShell @cmd
GO
Here is how to use this procedure, assuming textcopy.exe is in c:mssqlbinn...
create table pic (pic_id int,picture image)
insert into pic values (1,null)
update pic set picture = 'xx'
Then, to insert an image:
EXEC sp_imp_exp_images 'c:mssqlbinntextCopy.exe',
'PCN1943',
'PUBS',
'sa',
'sa',
'pic',
'picture',
'"where pic_id = 1"',
'c:pic.jpg',
'I'
To extract an image:
EXEC sp_imp_exp_images 'c:textCopy.exe',
'PCN1943',
'PUBS',
'sa',
'sa',
'pic',
'picture',
'"where pic_id = 1"',
'D:pic.jpg',
'O'
Reader Feedback
Hal S. writes: Eli Leiba's tip was the first time that I have actually been
motivated to try out an image-oriented DBA tip. It finally worked.
I would have given it a full 5 rating but there were a couple of gotcha's that I
had to work around, as well as some security concerns:
1. C:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL ServerMSSQLBinntextCopy.exe is
the default location of the program on a default SQL Server 2000 install.
2. The extended stored procedure xp_cmdshell runs at default under the
SysAdmin fixed server role, or under the SQL Server Agent proxy account.
Security policies and hotfixes may interfere with the ability to use the
xp's, depending on the site.
3. It only updates one record at a time, an update query would be an
interesting and slow to run exercise.
4. There are text-in-data-row implications, as well as locking issues
for the particular row for long updates.
5. The file attribute data (e.g. created, modified, etc) is not copied.
6. Secondary data streams do not appear to be supported (from a cursory
examination of the underlying C++ code, but since I do C++ only under
duress, I could be wrong).
After working with all the information Eli presented and my work-arounds, I
was very pleased. The 257,490 byte JPEG that I used was byte wise identical
to the original, except for time/date stamps. Also, since we were dealing
with the whole file, I did not lose the camera information in the EXIF
portion of the JPEG (as may happen with many image storage & manipulation
utilities) which is a definite plus for me. All in all, it worked, and I can go on from here.
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