I have a SQL Server database with images (binary). The images
were imported using .Net (Image saved to a MemoryStream and
read into a byte-array that was then stored in the DataRow).
Wow! I don't speak enough .NET jargon to know just what you have stored. It
almost sounds as if you have converted the image file, whatever it
originally was, to a single-record binary file -- and most image files are
multi-record binary files.
I know that MS Access stored extra information (Ole) for images. Is there a
way (without saving the image to temp file) to display the image on a form
in MS Access (as a front-end)?
Writing a temp file is sometimes the simplest, easiest, and least-cost way
to accomplish a purpose; it is not necessarily something to "be avoided at
all cost". What you have _may_ be displayable in the same way that an image
saved using the BLOB (Binary Large OBject) approach described in the samples
mentioned below. Give it a try. (It does write a temp file.)
On a project back in the '90s, I observed some people waste several thousand
dollars and lock themselves in to software with a per-user charge just to
avoid writing a temp file. And it was really an "emotional" decision,
because they had seen perfectly adequate performance demonstrated with an
inexpensive display control that did use a temp file.
The sample imaging databases at
http://accdevel.tripod.com illustrate three
approaches to handling images in Access, and the download includes an
article discussing considerations in choosing an approach. Two of the
approaches do not use OLE Objects and, thus, avoid the database bloat, and
some other problems, associated with images in OLE Objects.
If you are printing the images in reports, to avoid memory leakage, you
should also see MVP Stephen Lebans'
http://www.lebans.com/printfailures.htm.
PrintFailure.zip is an Access97 MDB containing a report that fails during
the Access formatting process prior to being spooled to the Printer Driver.
This MDB also contains code showing how to convert the contents of the Image
control to a Bitmap file prior to printing. This helps alleviate the "Out of
Memory" error that can popup when printing image intensive reports.
Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP
