Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!quanta.eng.ohio-state.edu!segel From: segel@quanta.eng.ohio-state.edu (Gargoyle) Newsgroups: comp.databases Subject: Re: PC/UNIX/Mac databases that support images? Message-ID: <3952@quanta.eng.ohio-state.edu> Date: 17 Jan 90 15:44:46 GMT References: <598@shodha.dec.com> <26017@cup.portal.com> Reply-To: segel@quanta.eng.ohio-state.edu (Gargoyle) Organization: The Ohio State University Dept of Electrical Engineering Lines: 58 In article <26017@cup.portal.com> Andre_Louis_Marquis@cup.portal.com writes: > >The most important property is that the database can display the image on the >screen. An ideal database would accept multiple image formats as input and >display the images as precisely as the hardware allows. Is 4th Dimension this >flexible? I'm stuck dealing with everything from 16x16 monochrome bitmaps to >1152x900x24 bit images. 512x480x8 bits is about the minimum (~256K/image). > >Since you mentioned uninterpreded byte strings, what databases support even >that? Product literature rarely mentions such things. Thanks. > >Andre Marquis >andre_marquis@cup.portal.com Try calling Informix. Our new product Online does support BLOBS (up to 2 Meg I think). The way that it is handled is that the image is stored in the database vs just storing a file descriptor. What is actually contained in the BLOB can be anything you want (voice , binary data, post-script, rasters, ect...) Now if you were smart, I would recommend stripping off the header of the image and storing the data in fields of the database and then compressing the image. You may want to mail aland@informix.com for more information. I'm not sure as to what I can say or not say. Besides I don't really want to push products over the net :-) To be fair, I don't know of any other database engines that allow for the BLOB to be stored in the engine. Silicon Graphics announced a product called PDL which is based on our standard engine. They claim that they can store images. (I am quoting from a newspaper product announcement not from actually seeing the product so there may be misinformation presented. ie std.disclaimer) Now, our standard engine could not store the image in the database only a file descriptor pointing to the image file. Maybe this is how other database products work? (I don't know, I am seriously asking.) I hope this helps. Mike Segel segel@quanta.eng.ohio-state.edu or segel@informix.com (Yes I do work for informix) -- -Mike Segel segel@icarus.eng.ohio-state.edu (614) 294-3350 "These opinions are my own and in no way reflect those of the University or the E E Dept.(Although there are those who probably share them!)