This tutorial shows you how to work with MySQL BLOB data in Python, with examples of updating and reading BLOB data.
The authors table has a column named photo whose data type is BLOB. We will read data from a picture file and update to the photo column.
Updating BLOB data in Python
First, we develop a function named read_file() that reads a file and returns the file’s content:
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defread_file(filename):
withopen(filename,'rb')asf:
photo=f.read()
returnphoto
Second, we create a new function named update_blob() that updates photo for an author specified by author_id .
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frommysql.connector importMySQLConnection,Error
frompython_mysql_dbconfig importread_db_config
defupdate_blob(author_id,filename):
# read file
data=read_file(filename)
# prepare update query and data
query="UPDATE authors "
"SET photo = %s "
"WHERE id = %s"
args=(data,author_id)
db_config=read_db_config()
try:
conn=MySQLConnection(**db_config)
cursor=conn.cursor()
cursor.execute(query,args)
conn.commit()
exceptError ase:
print(e)
finally:
cursor.close()
conn.close()
Let’s examine the code in detail:
First, we call the read_file() function to read data from a file and return it.
Second, we compose an UPDATE statement that updates photo column for an author specified by author_id . The args variable is a tuple that contains file data andauthor_id . We will pass this variable to the execute() method together with the query .
Third, inside the try except block, we connect to the database, instantiate a cursor, and execute the query with args . To make the change effective, we call commit() method of the MySQLConnection object.
Fourth, we close the cursor and database connection in the finally block.
Notice that we imported MySQLConnection and Error objects from the MySQL Connector/Python package and read_db_config() function from the python_mysql_dbconfig module that we developed in the previous tutorial.
Let’s test the update_blob() function.
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defmain():
update_blob(144,"picturesgarth_stein.jpg")
if__name__=='__main__':
main()
Notice that you can use the following photo and put it into the pictures folder for testing.
Inside the main function, we call the update_blob() function to update the photo column for the author with id 144. To verify the result, we select data from the authors table.
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SELECT*FROMauthors
WHERE id=144;
It works as expected.
Reading BLOB data in Python
In this example, we select BLOB data from the authors table and write it into a file.
First, we develop a write_file() function that write a binary data into a file as follows:
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defwrite_file(data,filename):
withopen(filename,'wb')asf:
f.write(data)
Second, we create a new function named read_blob() as below:
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defread_blob(author_id,filename):
# select photo column of a specific author
query="SELECT photo FROM authors WHERE id = %s"
# read database configuration
db_config=read_db_config()
try:
# query blob data form the authors table
conn=MySQLConnection(**db_config)
cursor=conn.cursor()
cursor.execute(query,(author_id,))
photo=cursor.fetchone()[0]
# write blob data into a file
write_file(photo,filename)
exceptError ase:
print(e)
finally:
cursor.close()
conn.close()
The read_blob() function reads BLOB data from the authors table and write it into a file specified by the filename parameter.
The code is straightforward:
First, we compose a SELECT statement that retrieves photo of a specific author.
Second, we get the database configuration by calling the read_db_config() function.
Third, inside the try except block, we connect to the database, instantiate cursor, and execute the query. Once we got the BLOB data, we use the write_file() function to write it into a file specified by the filename .
Fourth, in the finally block, we close the cursor and database connection.
Now, let’s test the read_blob() function.
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defmain():
read_blob(144,"outputgarth_stein.jpg")
if__name__=='__main__':
main()
If you open the output folder in the project and see a picture there, it means that you have successfully read the blob from the database.