How to Display Image From MySQL Database in Node.js

If you really want to learn how to display an image from MySQL database in Node.js then you are reading the right tutorial. Here, you will learn it with Model, View & controller that will be very easy to understand.

If you are a web developer then you definitely need to show images on the web page dynamically. Once you learn it, you will easily display dynamic images in the gallery, profile, cover & other sections where you need them.

display image from mysql database in node.js

Table of Contents

Fetch/Retrieve image from database in node.js & Express

Before displaying images from the database using Node.js & MySQL, you will have to configure the following steps

1. Create New Folders & Files

First of all, Install Express Application and Create the following new folders & files

nodeapp/
  |__controllers/
  |     |__image-controller.js
  |__models/
  |     |__image-model.js
  |__public/
  |     |__images/
  |__routes/
  |     |__image-route.js
  |__views/
  |     |__display-image.ejs
  |__app.js
  |__database.js

2. Create MySQL Database & Table

You must create a Database with the name nodeapp

Create a table with the name images into the MySQL database nodeapp

Table Name – images

CREATE TABLE `images` ( 
 `id` int(10) UNSIGNED PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, 
 `image_name` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL 
)

3. Connect Node.js App to MySQL Database

First, make sure the MySQL module must be installed
Create database.js in the nodeapp and write the Node.js MySQL database connection script

File Name – database.js

var mysql = require('mysql'); 
var conn = mysql.createConnection({ 
          host: 'localhost', 
          user: 'root', 
          password: '', 
          database: 'nodeapp' 
}); 
conn.connect(function(err) { 
if (err) throw err; 
console.log('Database is connected successfully !'); 
});
 module.exports = conn;

4. Save Image in MySQL Table

Before displaying images on the web page, you must upload images to the folder. Even you must store the image path in the database.

If you don’t have any idea to upload & store images then you should open the following URL to learn it with some simple steps

How to store images in MySQL database using Node.js

Now, Let’s go to the next steps –

How to Display Uploaded Image in Node.js

1. Fetch Image Path From Database

You have to fetch the path from the database through the Model. So, Implement it according to the following steps –

Include a database connection using require('../database')
Create displayImage method within the module.exports object.
After that, write the SQL query to fetch the image path from the database.
Pass the fetched image path to the callback method then return it.

File Name – image-model

var db=require('../database');
module.exports={ 
  displayImage:function(callback){
   // check unique email address
   var sql='SELECT image_name FROM images';
   db.query(sql,function (err, data, fields) {
   if(err) throw err
   return callback(data);
  })
  }

}

2. Pass Image Path to the page

You have to pass the image path to the view page through the Controller. So, Implement it according to the following steps –

Include Multer module using require('multer')
Also, Include the Model using require('../models/image-model')
Create a custom method to display an image within the module.exports object
Access the displayImage the method from the model.
Pass image path with imagePath to the display-image.ejs

File Name – image-controller.js

var multer  = require('multer');
var imageModel= require('../models/image-model');

module.exports={
    displayImage:function(req,res){
    imageModel.displayImage(function(data){
     res.render('display-image',{imagePath:data})
    })
        
     }
     
}

3. Display Image on the Page

You have to display an image on the view page. So, Implement it according to the following steps –

The image path comes with imagePath from the controller file. Now, use the forEach loop and print path within the img tag. In this way, All the images will be successfully shown on the view page.

If No Image path saves in the database then you will get a message like “No Image in the Database”

File Name – display-image.ejs

!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
</head>
<body>
    
    <%
    if(imagePath.length!=0){
    imagePath.forEach(function(data){
    %>
    <img src="/images/<%=data.image_name; %>" width="200px">
    
    <%  }) %>
    <% } else{ %>
       
            <p>No Image in the Database</p>
        
    <% } %>


</body>
</html>

4. Create a Route to display Image

You must create a route to display images. To implement it through the following steps –

Include express module
Acess Router() method from the express
Include controller file using require('../controllers/display-image')
Create a route /display-image with GET method to display an image on the web page
At last, the export router module

File Name – image-route.js

const express = require('express');
const router = express.Router();
const imageController= require('../controllers/image-controller');

router.get('/display-image',imageController.displayImage);

module.exports = router;

5. Include a Route in the app.js

By default, many lines of code are written in the app.js file that is not shown here. You have also to include the route in the main root file app.js.

File Name – app.js

var imageRouter = require('./routes/image-route');
app.use('/', imageRouter);

6. Run Node.js app to display Image

Just Enter the following URL to display images on the web page

http://localhost:3000/display-image