Thread: ODBC and BLOBs

I am looking for a way to import data from a Macintosh FileMaker Pro database
into PostgreSQL. If I just use the text mode export feature in FileMaker, I'll
lose all the multimedia data, i.e. images and Quicktime clips.

My thinking was that I might use the Win32 version of FileMaker and the Insight
Windows ODBC driver to get the BLOBs into PostgreSQL. This sounds a wee bit like
a long shot, since I don't know whether

a) FileMaker can export large objects even if both the ODBC driver and the DBMS
properly support it

b) the Insight driver will handle it (the FAQ on the Insight page mentions 
some support for large objects but also says that the support within
PostgreSQL is lacking in functionality)

c) this will be very useful, given the caveat on the Insight page as to the 
functionality of BLOBs in PostgreSQL

I cannot just try this because I don't have the Win32 version of FileMaker
(which is not exactly cheap).

I am wondering whether anyone has an opinion on and/or experience with this 
problem or a similar issue, or any ideas as to how to go about solving this
problem in a completely different way.

Any suggestions are welcome.

- Frank

On Sun, Jan 30, 2000 at 03:49:55PM +0100, Frank Joerdens wrote:
> 
> I cannot just try this because I don't have the Win32 version of FileMaker
> (which is not exactly cheap).

Last time I looked, (about a year ago...) there was a free trial download
of Win32 FileMakePro. The only limitation built in to it was it would only
view 50 records at a time. You could try with that.

Ross
-- 
Ross J. Reedstrom, Ph.D., <reedstrm@rice.edu> 
NSBRI Research Scientist/Programmer
Computer and Information Technology Institute
Rice University, 6100 S. Main St.,  Houston, TX 77005