BLOB Images in and out of Oracle

[Glowball]

Hi all, I'm using CF8 and storing images in Oracle as BLOB datatypes.  I am not able to use CF to write files to the file server.  I have about 50 large images already stored that need to have thumbnails made of them and stored in another field in each record.  So, I need to do this:

1. Pull the BLOB out of the database.
2. Make it a CF image.
3. Resize the image.
4. Make the new image a BLOB.
5. Put the new BLOB in the database.

The issue I'm having is that when an image starts out as a BLOB it doesn't seem to know the file type, so when I try to do step 5, above, I get "Verify your inputs. The source file should contain an extension,so that ColdFusion can determine the image format."  It seems that if I start with an actual file in step 1 it works, but not if it's binary to start.  This is my basic code edited for clarity.

<cfset thisImage = ImageNew(get.file_binary)>

<cfset ImageResize(thisImage, "500", "", "mediumQuality")>

<cfquery name="update" datasource="#dsn#">

        UPDATE images

        SET file_binary_thumbnail = #ImageGetBlob(thisImage)#

        WHERE image_id = #get.image_id#

</cfquery>

Any idea how to get this to work?  Thanks, everyone!

[Owainnorth]

Definitely use cfqueryparams in your update statement, solves so many issues with datatypes.

[Glowball]

I edited the code for clarity, it actually looks quite different than that.  I cut out all of the excess so it would be easier to focus on what I was trying to do.

[-__cfSearching__-]

It seems that if I start with an actual file in step 1 it works, but not if it's binary to start.

Looks like that is a known issue. There is an undocumented work-around suggested in the comments here

       ie Using  imageObject.getImageBytes("jpg")

Though you should definitely use cfqueryparam in the actual query.

[Glowball]

Thanks, cfSearching, that was a helpful link.  It's always good to see I'm not the only one running into an issue.  FYI, I've been a CF developer for eleven years and I wouldn't dare to use a query like I posted.  But I wanted to get everyone's opinion on the image issue instead of having people focus on the mechanics of putting data into a database.  I'm using cfqueryparam along with a ColdBox framework and it all works well, but it's not relative to this particular discussion.  I wanted to simplify things by showing what I was doing in the most basic manner.

[-__cfSearching__-]

.. I wanted to simplify things by showing what I was doing in the most basic manner.

Yep, that makes complete sense. I always mention cfqueryparam when I do not know the background of the person asking the question. Feel free to note it was omitted for clarity next time, to stave off future "helpful" hints 😉 

-Leigh

[BKBK]

Glowball wrote:

<cfset thisImage = ImageNew(get.file_binary)>

It could be that imageNew() expects an image as parameter, and not on a binary. What happens when you first convert from binary to image, like this?

<cfset imageAsBase64String   = binaryEncode(get.file_binary, "base64")>

<cfset thisImage                       = imageReadBase64(imageAsBase64String)>

<cfset ImageResize(thisImage, "500", "", "mediumQuality")>

...

etc.

[-__cfSearching__-]

It could be that imageNew() expects an image as parameter, and not on a binary.

Actually it accepts several parameters, including "A BLOB from a database that contains image data."

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/ColdFusion/9.0/CFMLRef/WSc3ff6d0ea77859461172e0811cbec22c24-796f.html

[BKBK]

BKBK wrote:

... and not on a binary...

Please read "and not a binary".

[Glowball]

I'll try that the next time I'm working on it, thanks!

[-__cfSearching__-]

I just tried it and no change.  Creating the image does not seem to be the problem. But rather how CF determines the image format when returning the bytes. From what I observed, it mistakenly uses file extension to determine the image type. Obviously that does not apply if the image was created from a byte array or bufferedImage. Sounds like a bug.

-Leigh

Message was edited by: -==cfSearching==-

[Glowball]

Hey, thanks for checking that out for me, I appreciate it.  It's always good to hear when someone else is seeing the same weirdness.

[-__cfSearching__-]

It's always good to hear when someone else is seeing the same weirdness.

No problem.  A second (or third) set of eyes makes a great sanity check.

Message was edited by: -==cfSearching==-