I 2nd "real database". You can also use MS sql express, although it probably isn't as easy to use as mysql. And there is the ongoing debate about whether it is a best practice to store images in a database, or use the file system and just store a path in the db. In my mind it comes down to how many bytes are involved, and databases are getting better at being really big. I've used sql server to store rtf documents (I think the arguments are parallel) and it works very well. I don't have to manage folder size (windows folders don't like having billions of files, so you have to generate new subfolders when you get to whatever threshold you choose to observe).
Jeremy Barry, You might consider using a "real" database. ;-) Seriously though, Access is pretty bad and only suitable for very small, low performance apps. Interbase is only marginally better. MySQL, another DB engine, is free and there are some great Delphi components for it. Check out the ZeosLib components - they are free, open source and in active development. You can download the community version of MySQL from their web site. Installation is pretty easy, and there are lots of books about it at the bookstore. MySQL can support ~100 simultaneous users and can be used over the Internet. I use MySQL and Zeoslib components in all my DB applications that run at large companies. In answer to your original question, you probably want to use BLOB records to store the binary portion of the image, and save the image type in another field of the DB. As you load a record, you'll have to pass the BLOB to the appropriate image viewer, based on your image type field contents. DevExpress has a TcxDBImage component that supports BMP, ICO, JPG, and PNG, or you could do something clever with streams and some other cheaper image component. DevExpress is expensive, but worth it. There may be other components that will get the job done - maybe someone else can chime in here. HTH! Kevin G. McCoy > Hi > > I`m learning Delphi and have done a sample application with ADO > > and a Microsoft Access database. All was working well until I attempted > > to add a TDBImage control and save a image to the Access database. > > It seems for some strange reason that only bmp images are easily > > allowed. How would one deal with allowing the user to add these > > various image types: jpeg, tiff, pdf, etc. I`ve looked on the web but > > there does not seem to be a solution that deals with all these types. > > I`ve never worked with Interbase... does that database deal with this > > issue better then Access. > > > > Thanks and Regards, Barry >
