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MySQL Connector/NET Developer Guide  /  ...  /  Reading a BLOB from the Database to a File on Disk

5.6.3 Reading a BLOB from the Database to a File on Disk

After a file is loaded into the file table, we can use the MySqlDataReader class to retrieve it.

The following code retrieves a row from the file table, then loads the data into a FileStream object to be written to disk:

C# Code Example

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MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection conn; MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlCommand cmd; MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlDataReader myData; conn = new MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection(); cmd = new MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlCommand(); string SQL; UInt32 FileSize; byte[] rawData; FileStream fs; conn.ConnectionString = "server=127.0.0.1;uid=root;" + "pwd=12345;database=test"; SQL = "SELECT file_name, file_size, file FROM file"; try { conn.Open(); cmd.Connection = conn; cmd.CommandText = SQL; myData = cmd.ExecuteReader(); if (! myData.HasRows) throw new Exception("There are no BLOBs to save"); myData.Read(); FileSize = myData.GetUInt32(myData.GetOrdinal("file_size")); rawData = new byte[FileSize]; myData.GetBytes(myData.GetOrdinal("file"), 0, rawData, 0, (int)FileSize); fs = new FileStream(@"C:\newfile.png", FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write); fs.Write(rawData, 0, (int)FileSize); fs.Close(); MessageBox.Show("File successfully written to disk!", "Success!", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Asterisk); myData.Close(); conn.Close(); } catch (MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlException ex) { MessageBox.Show("Error " + ex.Number + " has occurred: " + ex.Message, "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error); }

Visual Basic Code Example

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Dim conn As New MySqlConnection Dim cmd As New MySqlCommand Dim myData As MySqlDataReader Dim SQL As String Dim rawData() As Byte Dim FileSize As UInt32 Dim fs As FileStream conn.ConnectionString = "server=127.0.0.1;" _ & "uid=root;" _ & "pwd=12345;" _ & "database=test" SQL = "SELECT file_name, file_size, file FROM file" Try conn.Open() cmd.Connection = conn cmd.CommandText = SQL myData = cmd.ExecuteReader If Not myData.HasRows Then Throw New Exception("There are no BLOBs to save") myData.Read() FileSize = myData.GetUInt32(myData.GetOrdinal("file_size")) rawData = New Byte(FileSize) {} myData.GetBytes(myData.GetOrdinal("file"), 0, rawData, 0, FileSize) fs = New FileStream("C:\newfile.png", FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write) fs.Write(rawData, 0, FileSize) fs.Close() MessageBox.Show("File successfully written to disk!", "Success!", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Asterisk) myData.Close() conn.Close() Catch ex As Exception MessageBox.Show("There was an error: " & ex.Message, "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error) End Try

After connecting, the contents of the file table are loaded into a MySqlDataReader object. The GetBytes method of the MySqlDataReader is used to load the BLOB into a byte array, which is then written to disk using a FileStream object.

The GetOrdinal method of the MySqlDataReader can be used to determine the integer index of a named column. Use of the GetOrdinal method prevents errors if the column order of the SELECT query is changed.