I can give another reason for storing files in Blobs (if they are not
big). For instance, many branches use the same desktop application but
they cannot have access directly to a common folder. Also, if the
number of images are big storing in a single folder is not feasible.
You will need to start find ways to manage them. We have a customer
with 250.000 images in a single database. Managing they in the disk is
troublesome.

Best regards,
Eduardo Mauro
Acabit Tecnologia

On 11/22/06, Alexandre Benson Smith <iblist@...> wrote:
> Nigel Weeks wrote:
> > I'd love to know why you disagree! I've probably been doing things wrongly
> > for the last 5 years...
> > I feel another learning curve coming on...:-)
> >
> > It's true I was assuming that only files were to be stored, and with PHP, it
> > takes two database operations to pull data from a blob(one to get blob
> > reference, the second to visit that reference and pull the data)
> > Sure, it's all done automatically with
> > `ibase_fetch_object($recordset,IBASE_FETCH_BLOBS)`, but behind the scenes,
> > there's still extra traffic.
> >
> > Keen to learn, so bring it on...
> >
> > Nige.
> >
> >
>
> Hi Nige !
>
> I think this is the kind of discussion like "use Surrogate Keys x
> Natural Keys for PK's", let's see what Martjin has in mind.
>
> I have used both aproachs.
>
> Keep the files out of database is good for keeping it small and if the
> docs will be updated frequently (no need to update the new file to
> replace the old one on the DB), but is not transportable, and could have
> "broken links" if the user has mapped drives, or the like, of course
> this could be worked out, but are things to consider.
>
> as everything in the live, always there is a trade off
>
> :-)
>
> see you !
>
>
> --
> Alexandre Benson Smith
> Development
> THOR Software e Comercial Ltda
> Santo Andre - Sao Paulo - Brazil
> www.thorsoftware.com.br
>
>
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> Visit http://www.firebirdsql.org and click the Resources item
> on the main (top) menu. Try Knowledgebase and FAQ links !
>
> Also search the knowledgebases at http://www.ibphoenix.com
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>