Question

I am trying to get RTF data out of a image date field in MS SQL. Not so easy.

The issue is that when I do a straight binary dump of the data field it is not in RTF format.
Let me explain what is going on. When I create a RTF file with Wordpad, and write that data to a varbinary(max), and reconvert it, the result is jiberish.

Code to put RTF data into MS SQL:

exec master..sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1;
GO
RECONFIGURE;
GO
exec master..sp_configure 'Ole Automation Procedures', 1;
GO
RECONFIGURE;
GO
DECLARE @objStream INT
DECLARE @imageBinary VARBINARY(MAX)
DECLARE @filePath VARCHAR(8000)

select @imageBinary=Report from Mytable WHERE EncounterID=7
select @filePath='c:\temp\report.rtf'
EXEC sp_OACreate 'ADODB.Stream', @objStream OUTPUT
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @objStream, 'Type', 1
EXEC sp_OAMethod @objStream, 'Open'
EXEC sp_OAMethod @objStream, 'Write', NULL, @imageBinary
EXEC sp_OAMethod @objStream, 'SaveToFile', NULL,@filePath, 2
EXEC sp_OAMethod @objStream, 'Close'
EXEC sp_OADestroy @objStream

In binary, the first part of this file goes like this
0x7B 5C 72 74 66 31 5C 61 6E 73 69 5C 61 6E 73 69)
(ascii {\rtf1\ansi\ansi )
However, the varbinary field looks like this:
0xB0 04 01 00 0E 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 09 00

And when i take that data out of the database (by using the reverse of the procedure above), it is not a recognizable RTF file. So, somehow MS is converting it in a way i can’t recognize. If I can figure out how to convert it back to ascii text then I can continue with my application.

Answer 1

The following works for me. I suspect the issue must be how you are saving the file to the database.

CREATE TABLE #BlobTest
(
blob varbinary(max) 
)

INSERT INTO
    #BlobTest (blob)
SELECT  BulkColumn FROM Openrowset( 
      Bulk 'C:\testing.rtf', 
      SINGLE_BLOB) AS blob

GO

exec master..sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1;
GO
RECONFIGURE;
GO
exec master..sp_configure 'Ole Automation Procedures', 1;
GO
RECONFIGURE;
GO
DECLARE @objStream INT
DECLARE @imageBinary VARBINARY(MAX)
DECLARE @filePath VARCHAR(8000)

select @imageBinary=blob from #BlobTest
select @filePath='c:\report.rtf'
EXEC sp_OACreate 'ADODB.Stream', @objStream OUTPUT
EXEC sp_OASetProperty @objStream, 'Type', 1
EXEC sp_OAMethod @objStream, 'Open'
EXEC sp_OAMethod @objStream, 'Write', NULL, @imageBinary
EXEC sp_OAMethod @objStream, 'SaveToFile', NULL,@filePath, 2
EXEC sp_OAMethod @objStream, 'Close'
EXEC sp_OADestroy @objStream