Question

I have some columns with image data type and I want to preview (or browse) the data in those tables. When I use Select top 1000 rows in SQL Server Management Studio, the value of image columns is displayed in hexadecimal. What’s the easiest way to preview those images since the hex-value is not useful to me?

PS.: database is not under my control, so changing data type is not an option.

Answer 1

I would write a proc (or query; see below) to export the binary out to the file system and then use any old off the shelf photo management utility (i.e. Windows Photo Viewer) to take a look at what’s inside.

If your clever in your file naming you could give yourself enough information about each image in the name to quickly find it in the database again once you’ve visually located what your looking for.

Here is a proc that will export binary to the file system. I modified from this sample code. It’s untested but should be extremely close for concept. It’s using BCP to export your binary. Check here for the full docs on the BCP utility.

The proc also gives you the ability to export everything in the table, or only a single row based on a the passed primarykey. It uses a cursor (yuck), as well as some dynamic sql (yuck, yuck) but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

 CREATE PROCEDURE ExportMyImageFiles
 (   
   @PriKey INT,
   @OutputFilePath VARCHAR(500)
 ) 
 AS 
 BEGIN 
     DECLARE @sql VARCHAR(8000) 

     IF @PriKey IS NULL /* export all images */
     BEGIN
        DECLARE curExportBinaryImgs CURSOR FAST_FORWARD FOR

        SELECT 'BCP "SELECT MyImage FROM [dbo].[MyTable] 
           WHERE PrimaryKey =' + CAST(PrimaryKey AS VARCHAR(25)) + 
           '" queryout ' + @OutputFilePath + MyImageName + '.' + 
           MyImageType + ' -S MyServer\MyInstance -T -fC:\Documents.fmt'
        FROM [dbo].[MyTable]

        OPEN curExportBinaryImgs
        FETCH NEXT FROM curExportBinaryImgs INTO @sql

        WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
        BEGIN            
            EXEC xp_cmdshell @sql, NO_OUTPUT
            FETCH NEXT FROM curExportBinaryImgs INTO @sql
        END

        CLOSE curExportBinaryImgs
        DEALLOCATE curExportBinaryImgs
     END
     ELSE       /* Export only the primary key provided */     
     BEGIN
        SELECT @sql = 'BCP "SELECT MyImage FROM [dbo].[MyTable] 
        WHERE PrimaryKey =' + CAST(PrimaryKey AS VARCHAR(25)) + 
            '" queryout ' + @OutputFilePath
            + MyImageName + '.' + MyImageType + 
            ' -S MyServer\MyInstance -T -fC:\Documents.fmt'
        FROM [dbo].[MyTable]
        WHERE PrimaryKey = @PriKey

        EXEC xp_cmdshell @sql,NO_OUTPUT
     END 
 END

This is all assuming of course that what is stored in your Image column is actually an image and not some other file type. Hopefully if it is an image you also know the type, bmp, jpg, png, gif, etc.

If you don’t want the hassle or reusability of a full blown proc try single query like this:

---

    DECLARE @OutputFilePath VarChar(500) = /* put output dir here */

    DECLARE @sql VARCHAR(8000)
    DECLARE curExportBinaryImgs CURSOR FAST_FORWARD FOR
    SELECT 'BCP "SELECT MyImage FROM [dbo].[MyTable] 
       WHERE PrimaryKey =' + CAST(PrimaryKey AS VARCHAR(25)) + 
       '" queryout ' + @OutputFilePath + MyImageName + '.' + 
       MyImageType + ' -S MyServer\MyInstance -T -fC:\Documents.fmt'
    FROM [dbo].[MyTable]

    OPEN curExportBinaryImgs
    FETCH NEXT FROM curExportBinaryImgs INTO @sql

    WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
    BEGIN            
        EXEC xp_cmdshell @sql, NO_OUTPUT
        FETCH NEXT FROM curExportBinaryImgs INTO @sql
    END

    CLOSE curExportBinaryImgs
    DEALLOCATE curExportBinaryImgs