How to use GridFS to store images using Node.js and Mongoose

Question

I am new to Node.js. Can anyone provide me an example of how to use GridFS for storing and retrieving binary data, such as images, using Node.js and Mongoose? Do I need to directly access GridFS?

Answer 1

I was not satisfied with the highest rated answer here and so I'm providing a new one: I ended up using the node module 'gridfs-stream' (great documentation there!) which can be installed via npm. With it, and in combination with mongoose, it could look like this:

var fs = require('fs');
var mongoose = require("mongoose");
var Grid = require('gridfs-stream');
var GridFS = Grid(mongoose.connection.db, mongoose.mongo);

function putFile(path, name, callback) {
    var writestream = GridFS.createWriteStream({
        filename: name
    });
    writestream.on('close', function (file) {
      callback(null, file);
    });
    fs.createReadStream(path).pipe(writestream);
}

Note that path is the path of the file on the local system.

As for my read function of the file, for my case I just need to stream the file to the browser (using express):

try {
    var readstream = GridFS.createReadStream({_id: id});
    readstream.pipe(res);
} catch (err) {
    log.error(err);
    return next(errors.create(404, "File not found."));
}