John Davidson

Message:

I am currently creating a program with the flutter framework, and I need to upload images to a hosted database in a blob datatype. Is it possible to do through flutter framework where image taken from camera can be uploaded as blob?. If yes can you show me how to do it.

PS: I am using PHP for accessing my database from the webhost.

I've been searching through the web, and only I can find is through directory, or maybe I did really not done enough searching

---

My Answer:
Yes, it is possible to upload an image as a blob to a MySQL database using Flutter and PHP. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to achieve this:

1. First, you need to capture an image using the camera in Flutter. You can use the `image_picker` package to achieve this. Here is an example code snippet to capture an image:

dart
import 'package:image_picker/image_picker.dart';

final picker = ImagePicker();

final pickedFile = await picker.getImage(source: ImageSource.camera);

if (pickedFile != null) {
// Upload the image to the database
} else {
print('No image selected.');
}


2. Next, you need to convert the image to a blob format. You can use the `dart:convert` library to achieve this. Here is an example code snippet to convert the image to a blob:

dart
import 'dart:convert';

List imageBytes = await pickedFile.readAsBytes();
String base64Image = base64Encode(imageBytes);


3. Now, you need to send the image data to your PHP server using an HTTP POST request. You can use the `http` package in Flutter to achieve this. Here is an example code snippet to send the image data to your PHP server:

dart
import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;

var url = 'http://your-php-server/upload_image.php';
var response = await http.post(url, body: {'image': base64Image});

print('Response status: ${response.statusCode}');
print('Response body: ${response.body}');


4. Finally, on your PHP server, you need to receive the image data, decode it from base64, and insert it into the MySQL database as a blob. Here is an example PHP code snippet to achieve this:

php

$image = $_POST['image'];
$image = base64_decode($image);

$servername = "your_servername";
$username = "your_username";
$password = "your_password";
$dbname = "your_dbname";

$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

$stmt = $conn->prepare("INSERT INTO images (image) VALUES (?)");
$stmt->bind_param("b", $image);
$stmt->execute();

$conn->close();

?>


Make sure to replace `your_servername`, `your_username`, `your_password`, and `your_dbname` with your actual database credentials.

That's it! You have successfully uploaded an image as a blob to a MySQL database using Flutter and PHP.