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node.jsmongodbgridfs

Storing a file in mongodb using node.js

Hi i need to store a file in mongodb using node.js, the file is placed in my desktop i will have to store it in my mongodb database.I came across something called gridfs but am not sure how to proceed further.Any help will be much appreciated

Solution

  • While I don't recommend storing big files in Mongo, though it's possible, smaller files would be better.

    Simply read the file's text (if it's a text file), or binary (if it's in a binary format i.e executable). You can use the fs library to read the file and encode it accordingly.

    Then insert the data, stored in a variable, inside the database.

    var fs = require('fs');

// Read file with proper encoding...
var data = //...

// Insert into Mongo
mongo.insert({file: data});

    When you want to retrieve the file from the database, you'd do the opposite. The process of encoding/decoding is different depending on the type of file.