desktop photo catalog: where to store images?

I'm putting together a desktop photo catalog / journal system. I'm going to manage the metadata about the image with a jet database. Do I want to (or can I?) put the images within the database? I've built a couple web based photo portfolio systems, and the teams I was on always decided to keep the metadata in oracle, then we just had a pointer to where the images were stored in the file system.  .

g.
Monday, October 6, 2003

I used to be that way, but since I've started putting images in the database I've been a LOT happier. From a technical/implementation standpoint it's definitely a winner.

HOWEVER, since it's a desktop photo catalog, would it make more sense to keep the files separate so the user has outside access to them? (this has pluses and minuses)

Philo

Philo
Monday, October 6, 2003

If you manage to implement drag and drop into a web folder pointing to the files in your database you could do without real folders. Just select everything and drag it out.
Kinda like what Winzip does. However, this requires magic.

Li-fan Chen
Monday, October 6, 2003

If your images are mainly jpeg and tiff use the IPTC section. By putting meta data right into your images you can never loose the meta data anymore.  Plus every IPTC enabled application can use it.

You still need to replicate the meta data in a database of course if you need quick lookups.

jan Derk
Monday, October 6, 2003

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