Android Question Saving Images Online/ to Database

[Trinity Programming]

I am making an app where users can sign in to an account and also set their own profile picture. I have the usernames and passwords saved in an online database, but I don't know how to go about saving the profile pictures. I have heard saving images (or blobs) to databases is not advisory, so I've been trying to come up with an alternative means, but I am struggling. Any help with this and some sample code would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[Erel]

It depends on the image size. If the images are not too large then saving the images in the database may be the best option.

The other option is to save the image as a file and store the file name in the database.

 

[Trinity Programming]

Since my images aren't too large, I am trying to save them on the database. However, I am still struggling to do this. This is my code so far.

Sub Globals
    Dim bmp As Bitmap
    Dim out As OutputStream
    Dim inp As InputStream
End Sub


Sub Cam_PictureTaken (Data() As Byte)
   
    out = File.OpenOutput(File.DirRootExternal, teamNumber.Text & ".jpg", False)
    out.WriteBytes(Data, 0, Data.Length)
    out.Close
   
    inp.InitializeFromBytesArray(Data, 0, Data.Length)
    bmp.Initialize2(inp)
End Sub

I then save bmp to the database (in a column that is type: blob). Then this is my code to retrieve the picture. (It is inside a Select Case statement that gets the information back from the database)

    Case "GetInfo"
                Dim ListOfInfo As List
                Dim TeamNumber As String
                Dim TeamName As String
                Dim Teampic As Bitmap
      
                ListOfInfo = parser.NextArray
               
                For i = 0 To ListOfInfo.Size - 1
                        Dim T As Map
                        T = ListOfInfo.Get(i)
                       
                        TeamNumber = T.Get("ScoutedTeam")
                       

                        If TeamNumber = ScoutedTeam Then
                               TeamName = T.Get("TeamName")
                               TeamNumber = T.Get("ScoutedTeam")
                               Teampic = T.Get("TeamPic")     'this is the code that should get the bitmap out of the database
                               InfoLabelNum.Text = TeamNumber
                              InfoLabelName.Text = TeamName
                              ImgViewTeamPic.SetBackgroundImage(Teampic)
                        End If
                       
                       
                    Next

When I run this code, I get this error message.

java.lang.RuntimeException: Object should first be initialized (Bitmap).

So, I'm assuming the bitmap Teampic needs to be initialized, but I don't know how I should initialize it. I tried doing this

Teampic.Initialize2(inp)

But then I got this error message.

java.lang.RuntimeException: Object should first be initialized (InputStream).

So I am confused as to what I should I do.

Am I doing this the right way by just saving the bitmap into the database or should I be saving the input/output streams into the database?

Thanks for your help

 

[Erel]

A JSON string cannot hold a bitmap. You should use RDC if you want to work with remote blobs.

 

[DonManfred]

EDIT: Oh, i didnt see that you are using JSON. My answer will not help then :-(

What is the type of the object when returning a blob? It is is an byte-array?
If yes you can try something like this

Dim bmp As Bitmap
            Dim In1 As InputStream
          Dim buffer() As Byte          
            buffer = cur.Get("Picture")
            In1.InitializeFromBytesArray(buffer,0,buffer.Length)
            bmp.Initialize2(In1)          
            ImgViewTeamPic.SetBackgroundImage(bmp)