Insert BLOB image file in oracle database table

Here we will discuss how to insert BLOB file in the database. For this we will create a table and then a procedure that will be used to insert records in the table.

Use following script to create an employee table

CREATE TABLE SV_EMP_PHOTO
(
  ID          NUMBER(3) NOT NULL,
  PHOTO_NAME  VARCHAR2(40),
  PHOTO_RAW   BLOB,
  EMP_NAME    VARCHAR2(80)
)

Create a directory where the photos will be stored. I am creating a directory in UNIX as our database is created in UNIX.

Create directory SV_PHOTO_DIR as '/u002/app/applmgr/empphoto'

Script to create a procedure SV_LOAD_IMAGE that will insert records in the table.

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE sv_load_image (
   p_id                NUMBER
 , p_emp_name     IN   VARCHAR2
 , p_photo_name   IN   VARCHAR2
)
IS
   l_source   BFILE;
   l_dest     BLOB;
   l_length   BINARY_INTEGER;
BEGIN
   l_source := BFILENAME ('SV_PHOTO_DIR', p_photo_name);

   INSERT INTO sv_emp_photo
               (ID
              , photo_name
              , emp_name
              , photo_raw
               )
   VALUES      (p_id
              , p_photo_name
              , p_emp_name
              , EMPTY_BLOB ()
               )
   RETURNING   photo_raw
   INTO        l_dest;

   -- lock record
   SELECT     photo_raw
   INTO       l_dest
   FROM       sv_emp_photo
   WHERE      ID = p_id AND photo_name = p_photo_name
   FOR UPDATE;

   -- open the file
   DBMS_LOB.fileopen (l_source, DBMS_LOB.file_readonly);
   -- get length
   l_length := DBMS_LOB.getlength (l_source);
   -- read the file and store in the destination
   DBMS_LOB.loadfromfile (l_dest, l_source, l_length);

   -- update the blob field with destination
   UPDATE sv_emp_photo
   SET photo_raw = l_dest
   WHERE  ID = p_id AND photo_name = p_photo_name;

   -- close file
   DBMS_LOB.fileclose (l_source);
END --sv_load_image;
/

I have copied few .jpg images in /u002/app/applmgr/empphoto in UNIX.
Execute the procedure as follows to create record in database

exec sv_load_image(1,'Pavki','one.jpg')
exec sv_load_image(2,'Suresh','two.jpg')
exec sv_load_image(3,'Rachna','three.jpg')

Following is how data is stored in the database