Storing images in database using active record

[eluser]techgnome[/eluser]
Generally speaking, I agree that images (or BLOBs in general) shouldn't be stored in the database... however, I have run into some instances where BLOBs are desireable - granted they weren't web-based apps, but desktop, so performance and demand is less of an issue - where the rules of HIPPA and Sarbanes\Oxley are involved. This is because it restricts access (and keeps the net admins happy as they don't need to maintain ACLs for folders) and even if you could select * on the table you're not going to get anything immediately useful.

That said, I would try to avoid that situation as much as possible, and if I can't, I might go for something beefier like SQL Server or Oracle.

Also, if you ever want to see a DBA cry, tell him you plan to store thousands of images in the database. I'm in the middle of an application changeover where we are removing the images from the DB and storing them on the file server instead. No one likes to see a DBA cry (often).

-tg