C# – Using DBNull.Value with SqlParameter without knowing sqlDbType

Use this to read the file into a byte array:

    // Old fashioned way
    public static byte[] ReadFile(string filePath)
    {
        byte[] buffer;
        FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(filePath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
        try
        {
            int length = (int)fileStream.Length;  // get file length
            buffer = new byte[length];            // create buffer
            int count;                            // actual number of bytes read
            int sum = 0;                          // total number of bytes read

            // read until Read method returns 0 (end of the stream has been reached)
            while ((count = fileStream.Read(buffer, sum, length - sum)) > 0)
                sum += count;  // sum is a buffer offset for next reading
        }
        finally
        {
            fileStream.Close();
        }
        return buffer;
    }

or

    // Thanks Magnus!
    byte[] data = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(filePath);

Then save the image data using this (I am using an image class "instance" that contains my image information and byte array in instance.Data):

   using(SqlCommand cm = new SqlCommand("SaveImage", connection, transaction)){
       cm.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
       cm.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("@Id", SqlDbType.Int,0, ParameterDirection.InputOutput, false, 10, 0, "Id", DataRowVersion.Current, (SqlInt32)instance.Id));
       cm.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("@Title", SqlDbType.NVarChar,50, ParameterDirection.Input, false, 0, 0, "Title", DataRowVersion.Current, (SqlString)instance.Title));
       if (instance.Data.Length > 0)
       {
           cm.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("@Data", SqlDbType.VarBinary,instance.Data.Length, ParameterDirection.Input, false, 0, 0, "Data", DataRowVersion.Current, (SqlBinary)instance.Data));
       }
       else
       {
           cm.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("@Data", SqlDbType.VarBinary,0, ParameterDirection.Input, false, 0, 0, "Data", DataRowVersion.Current, DBNull.Value));                    
       }

       cm.ExecuteNonQuery();
   )

And here is an example stored procedure:

CREATE PROCEDURE SaveImage
(
@Id int OUTPUT 
,@Title nvarchar(50)
,@Data varbinary(MAX)
)
AS
SET NOCOUNT ON
SET XACT_ABORT ON

IF @Id IS NULL OR @Id <= 0
BEGIN
SELECT @Id = ISNULL(MAX([Id]),0) + 1 FROM [dbo].[Images]
END

INSERT INTO [dbo].[Images] (
[Id]
,[Title]
,[Data]
) VALUES (
@Id
,@Title
,@Data
)

Annoying, isn't it.

You can use:

command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@application_ex_id",
       ((object)logSearch.LogID) ?? DBNull.Value);

Or alternatively, use a tool like "dapper", which will do all that messing for you.

For example:

var data = conn.Query<SomeType>(commandText,
      new { application_ex_id = logSearch.LogID }).ToList();

I'm tempted to add a method to dapper to get the IDataReader... not really sure yet whether it is a good idea.