How To Store Any File into SQL Database

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Introduction

This is just a simple article to store any file format into a SQL server database.

Background

Recently I completed a project where I need to store various files, i.e. Microsoft Office file formats, PDF, Images, etc.). When I started writing code, I wrote a function to store binary, after that I thought why not use direct bulk insert from a StoredProcedure.

Using the Code

I am going to discuss the ways in which you can directly store binary data into a SQL table by using a simple stored procedure as given below:

set ANSI_NULLS ON
set QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

-- =============================================
-- Author:		Author,,Md. Marufuzzaman
-- Create date: 
-- Description:	Description,, Insert the Binary data 
-- =============================================
-- EXEC dbo.spStoreBinaryFiles 'C:\eFaxFiles\eFaxPromo.pdf;D:\eFaxFiles\eFaxPromo.pdf;'
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[spStoreBinaryFiles]
 @FILE_PATH	VARCHAR(MAX)
AS
BEGIN
	SET NOCOUNT ON;
	DECLARE @FILE_LENGTH  BIGINT
	DECLARE @FILE_DATA    VARBINARY(MAX)
	DECLARE @FILE_NAME	  VARCHAR(100)
	DECLARE @DOCUMENT_NAME VARCHAR(100) 
	DECLARE @DOCUMENT_NATURE VARCHAR(5)  

	DECLARE @VAL1 VARCHAR(100)
	DECLARE @VAL2 VARCHAR(100)

DECLARE curDOCUMENTS CURSOR FOR SELECT *  FROM dbo.SPLIT ( ';', @FILE_PATH )
OPEN curDOCUMENTS
FETCH NEXT FROM curDOCUMENTS 
INTO @VAL1,@VAL2

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN

	IF OBJECT_ID('#ORStable') IS NULL 
		BEGIN
			CREATE TABLE #ORStable _
				(Length BIGINT, vDocument VARBINARY(MAX))
			
			DECLARE @SQL_QUERY	  NVARCHAR(1000)

			SET @SQL_QUERY= '
			INSERT INTO #ORStable
			SELECT len(bulkcolumn), *
			FROM OPENROWSET(BULK '''+@VAL2+''', _
					SINGLE_BLOB) AS BinaryData'
			exec SP_executesql @SQL_QUERY
 
		END
	
		EXEC dbo.spGetDocumentNature @VAL2, @DOCUMENT_NATURE  OUTPUT
		EXEC dbo.spGetDocumentName @VAL2, @DOCUMENT_NAME  OUTPUT
        
      SELECT TOP 1 @FILE_LENGTH = Length, @FILE_DATA = vDocument FROM #ORStable
	  INSERT INTO dbo.tblBinaryFiles
			(
				 [File]
				,[Path]	
				,[Ext]
				,[Size]
				,[Binary]
			)

	  VALUES(
				 @DOCUMENT_NAME
				,@VAL2
				,@DOCUMENT_NATURE
				,@FILE_LENGTH
				,@FILE_DATA
			)
     
     DROP TABLE dbo.#ORStable

    FETCH NEXT FROM curDOCUMENTS 
    INTO @VAL1,@VAL2

END

CLOSE curDOCUMENTS
DEALLOCATE curDOCUMENTS 

END

OPENROWSET: Includes all connection information necessary to access remote data from an OLE DB data source. This method is an alternative to accessing tables in a linked server and is a one-time, ad hoc method of connecting and accessing remote data using OLE DB. The OPENROWSET function can be referenced in the FROM clause of a query as though it is a table name. The OPENROWSET function can also be referenced as the target table of an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement, subject to the capabilities of the OLE DB provider. Although the query may return multiple result sets, OPENROWSET returns only the first one.

Binary Large Objects (BLOBs): BLOB data type to store any data that a program can generate: graphic images, satellite images, video clips, audio clips, ...

BulkColumn: The BulkColumn referenced in the query represents the varbinary value to be inserted.

Sample Bulk Insert SQL Statement

			DECLARE @SQL_QUERY	  NVARCHAR(1000)

			SET @SQL_QUERY= '
			INSERT INTO #ORStable
			SELECT len(bulkcolumn), *
			FROM OPENROWSET(BULK '''+@VAL2+''', _
					SINGLE_BLOB) AS BinaryData'
			exec SP_executesql @SQL_QUERY

--Here variable VAL2 contains the single file path information.
--Example VAL2 = "\\192.168.1.1\myFiles\myFile.pdf"
--        VAL2 = "C:\myFiles\myFile.pdf" 

I wrote some other storedProcedure to get file name, file nature and a function for splitting the files path. I did not include this code because I do not want to lose focus on the main objective of this article. I hope that it will be helpful to you. Enjoy.

Points of Interest

If you use any network path, please confirm that your SQL login user is permitted to perform bulk load on the Operating System.