How to save binary files into MongoDB using java driver?

MongoDB GridFS is a specification for storing large files. (16 MB or more) All MongoDB drivers support GridFS. GridFS split the file into many chunks and store each chunk in each document.

GridFS stores documents in two collections.

Chunk Collection.
File Collection.

The first collection stores the binary chunk and the second collection store the meta data of the binary file.

Steps to save to Binary file like image or PDF into MongoDB.

Create connection to MongoDB.
Get the Database from Connection.
Create GridFS object.
Create GridFSInputFile and save.

Code snippet for saving binary file into MongoDB.

private void saveFile(final DB db, final File file) throws IOException{
final GridFS gridFs = new GridFS(db);
final GridFSInputFile gridFSInputFile = gridFs.createFile(file);
gridFSInputFile.setFilename(file.getName());
gridFSInputFile.save();
}

private void saveFile(final DB db, final File file) throws IOException{

final GridFS gridFs = new GridFS(db);

final GridFSInputFile gridFSInputFile = gridFs.createFile(file);

gridFSInputFile.setFilename(file.getName());

gridFSInputFile.save();

}

The above given code can be written in one line.

private void saveFile(final DB db, final File file) throws IOException{
new GridFS(db).createFile(new FileInputStream(file), file.getName()).save();
}

private void saveFile(final DB db, final File file) throws IOException{

new GridFS(db).createFile(new FileInputStream(file), file.getName()).save();

}

Both code snippets given above write the file into default bucket called ‘fs’.

We can write the binary file into a specific bucket also. For that we need to give the bucket name as the second argument to create GridFS object.

Write binary file into specific bucket.

private void saveFile(final DB db, final String bucketName, final File file)
throws FileNotFoundException{
new GridFS(db, bucketName).createFile(new FileInputStream(file), file.getName()).save();
}

private void saveFile(final DB db, final String bucketName, final File file)

throws FileNotFoundException{

new GridFS(db, bucketName).createFile(new FileInputStream(file), file.getName()).save();

}

Complete Sample Code

package com.ourownjava.mongo;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.UnknownHostException;
import com.mongodb.DB;
import com.mongodb.Mongo;
import com.mongodb.gridfs.GridFS;
import com.mongodb.gridfs.GridFSInputFile;
/**
* @author ourownjava.com
*/
public class MongoDBSaveBinaryFile {
private static final String HOST = "localhost";
private static final int PORT = 27017;
private static final String DB_NAME = "reports";
private static final String BUCKET_NAME = "pdfFiles";
/**
* Create a mongodb connection
*
* @return Mongo Connection
* @throws UnknownHostException
*/
public Mongo getConnection() throws UnknownHostException {
return new Mongo(HOST, PORT);
}
/**
* save a binary file into mongodb
* @throws IOException
*/
private void saveFile(final DB db, final File file) throws IOException{
final GridFS gridFs = new GridFS(db);
final GridFSInputFile gridFSInputFile = gridFs.createFile(file);
gridFSInputFile.setFilename(file.getName());
gridFSInputFile.save();
}
/**
* save a binary file into a specific bucket in mongdb
* @throws FileNotFoundException
*/
private void saveFile(final DB db, final String bucketName, final File file) throws FileNotFoundException{
new GridFS(db, bucketName).createFile(new FileInputStream(file), file.getName()).save();
}
/**
*
* @param args
* @throws IOException
*/
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
final MongoDBSaveBinaryFile dbSaveBinaryFile = new MongoDBSaveBinaryFile();
//get a mongodb connection
final Mongo mongoConnection = dbSaveBinaryFile.getConnection();
//get the database from the connection
final DB database = mongoConnection.getDB(DB_NAME);
//save the file into default bucket called fs
final File binaryFile = new File("/home/thosan/java/testfiles/test.pdf");
dbSaveBinaryFile.saveFile(database, binaryFile);
//save the binary file into pdfFiles bucket
dbSaveBinaryFile.saveFile(database, BUCKET_NAME, binaryFile);
}
}

package com.ourownjava.mongo;

import java.io.File;

import java.io.FileInputStream;

import java.io.FileNotFoundException;

import java.io.IOException;

import java.net.UnknownHostException;

import com.mongodb.DB;

import com.mongodb.Mongo;

import com.mongodb.gridfs.GridFS;

import com.mongodb.gridfs.GridFSInputFile;

/**

* @author ourownjava.com

public class MongoDBSaveBinaryFile {

private static final String HOST = "localhost";

private static final int PORT = 27017;

private static final String DB_NAME = "reports";

private static final String BUCKET_NAME = "pdfFiles";

/**

* Create a mongodb connection

* @return Mongo Connection

* @throws UnknownHostException

public Mongo getConnection() throws UnknownHostException {

return new Mongo(HOST, PORT);

}

/**

* save a binary file into mongodb

* @throws IOException

private void saveFile(final DB db, final File file) throws IOException{

final GridFS gridFs = new GridFS(db);

final GridFSInputFile gridFSInputFile = gridFs.createFile(file);

gridFSInputFile.setFilename(file.getName());

gridFSInputFile.save();

}

/**

* save a binary file into a specific bucket in mongdb

* @throws FileNotFoundException

private void saveFile(final DB db, final String bucketName, final File file) throws FileNotFoundException{

new GridFS(db, bucketName).createFile(new FileInputStream(file), file.getName()).save();

}

/**

* @param args

* @throws IOException

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

final MongoDBSaveBinaryFile dbSaveBinaryFile = new MongoDBSaveBinaryFile();

//get a mongodb connection

final Mongo mongoConnection = dbSaveBinaryFile.getConnection();

//get the database from the connection

final DB database = mongoConnection.getDB(DB_NAME);

//save the file into default bucket called fs

final File binaryFile = new File("/home/thosan/java/testfiles/test.pdf");

dbSaveBinaryFile.saveFile(database, binaryFile);

//save the binary file into pdfFiles bucket

dbSaveBinaryFile.saveFile(database, BUCKET_NAME, binaryFile);

}

You can verify the binary file save operation using mongo or mongofiles command line tools.

List files using mongofiles utility

./mongofiles --port 27017 -d reports list
connected to: 127.0.0.1:27017
test.pdf 42495

./mongofiles --port 27017 -d reports list

connected to: 127.0.0.1:27017

test.pdf 42495

mongofiles utility connected to MongoDB instance installed in the localhost and listed all files in the reports DB.

Query files collection using mongo utility

> use reports
switched to db reports
> db.fs.files.find().pretty()
{
"_id" : ObjectId("51e0f48444ae8ad8d2202306"),
"chunkSize" : NumberLong(262144),
"length" : NumberLong(42495),
"md5" : "9cb636fa9e46f09992690731d6d17424",
"filename" : "test.pdf",
"contentType" : null,
"uploadDate" : ISODate("2013-07-13T06:32:36.124Z"),
"aliases" : null
}
> db.fs.chunks.find().pretty()
{
"_id" : ObjectId("51e0f48444ae8ad8d2202307"),
"files_id" : ObjectId("51e0f48444ae8ad8d2202306"),
"n" : 0,
"data" : BinData(0,"JVBERi0xLjEKJeLjz....."
}

> use reports

switched to db reports

> db.fs.files.find().pretty()

{

"_id" : ObjectId("51e0f48444ae8ad8d2202306"),

"chunkSize" : NumberLong(262144),

"length" : NumberLong(42495),

"md5" : "9cb636fa9e46f09992690731d6d17424",

"filename" : "test.pdf",

"contentType" : null,

"uploadDate" : ISODate("2013-07-13T06:32:36.124Z"),

"aliases" : null

}

> db.fs.chunks.find().pretty()

{

"_id" : ObjectId("51e0f48444ae8ad8d2202307"),

"files_id" : ObjectId("51e0f48444ae8ad8d2202306"),

"n" : 0,

"data" : BinData(0,"JVBERi0xLjEKJeLjz....."

}

MongoDB Java Driver API
MongoDB GridFS Documentation

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