How to store images using Entity Framework Code First CTP 5?

.NetEntity FrameworkSql Server-2008Ef Code-First

.Net Problem Overview


I'm just trying to figure out if there is a simple way to store and retrieve binary (file) data using EF Code First CTP 5? I would really like it to use the FILESTREAM type, but I'm really just looking for some way to make it work.

.Net Solutions


Solution 1 - .Net

I always create another class like ProductImage with a one-to-one association in order to manage lazy loading and also to normalize the table:

public class ProductImage
{
    public int ProductId { get; private set; }
    public byte[] Image { get; set; }
}

Solution 2 - .Net

Just declare your property as byte[] as Ladislav mentioned.

public class Product
{
    public int Id { get; private set; }

    public string Name { get; set; }

    public byte[] ProductImage { get; set; }
}

That is pretty much it. If you don't map the property the convention is it maps to a varbinary(max). If you have an image column in the database already just add [Column(TypeName = "image")] on the ProductImage property or if you prefer code mapping add this to your OnModelCreating override in the context class:

modelBuilder.Entity<Product>().Property(p => p.ProductImage).HasColumnType("image");

The problem I have with it is that I have not found a way to make the property lazy as I don't necessarily want to load binary data every time I fetch a product. I not sure I recall correctly but NHibernate can do it out of the box.

Solution 3 - .Net

You can't use SQL FILESTREAM in EF. EF is supposed to work on top of different database servers but filestream feature is specific feature of SQL 2008 and newer. You can try to do it old way - use varbinary(max) in your database table and use byte array in your mapped class.

Edit:

Little clarification - you can use FILESTREAM in the database but EF will not take advantage of streaming. It will load it as standard varbinary(max).

Attributions

All content for this solution is sourced from the original question on Stackoverflow.

The content on this page is licensed under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.

Content TypeOriginal AuthorOriginal Content on Stackoverflow
QuestionMax SchmelingView Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - .NetnimaView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - .NetCosmin OneaView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - .NetLadislav MrnkaView Answer on Stackoverflow