From: "diagnosysuk" <mail@...>

> Hi all,
>
> I want to store a large number of blobs in a firebird database but I
> really want to only store a filename rather than the data (to make the
> database file smaller). I want the actual data to be stored locally to
> the database. The problem is that I use a client/server setup and the
> server is on a remote (windows client) computer. What I want is to
> send the blob data to the database using the blob interface of
> firebird, have the database store it in a local file and save a
> reference to the local file (transparent to the client). Then when the
> client reads the blob, the server reads the file and returns the data
> as a blob. All transparent to the client. I guess I need to extend the
> server with a DLL or something.
>
> Has anyone got any ideas or has done something like this before?

You could write a set of UDF functions that accept/return blobs. The
functions can stream the files in/out to the disk. You would have to make
sure the FB service has full access to where you want to store them on the
server.

However, all that aside, if the users aren't accessing the files directly
anyway, why not just store them in the database? The size of the database
doesn't matter (much) anymore and it will take just as much disk space, in
some cases maybe even less, as storing them separately. Not to mention much
easier to maintain.

Woody (TMW)