Tag Archive for: bulk load

Bulk Loading Images in SQL Server

Loading images and any binary files (like Adobe PDF documents) to a database is not always the best option but sometimes needed. In SQL Server 2005 this process is simplified a lot with the BULK option of OPENROWSET. Here is an example of inserting image data into a VARBINARY(MAX) column (the same applies to loading an Adobe PDF file or any other binary file):

CREATE TABLE Foobar (

  image_data VARBINARY(MAX));

 

INSERT INTO Foobar (image_data)

SELECT image_data

FROM OPENROWSET(

        BULK N'C:image.jpg',

        SINGLE_BLOB) AS ImageSource(image_data);

Note the use of the SINGLE_BLOB option.