remote/datasette
1
0
Fork 0
mirror of https://github.com/simonw/datasette.git synced 2026-07-09 09:04:42 +02:00
Code Issues Projects Releases Packages Wiki Activity

Support editing BLOBs through JSON APIs

Browse source
This commit is contained in:
Simon Willison 2026-07-03 14:05:45 -07:00
commit 3b24c88e93
7 changed files with 240 additions and 2 deletions
Download patch file Download diff file Expand all files Collapse all files

47
docs/binary_data.rst
View file

@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ Datasette includes special handling for these binary values. The Datasette inter
:width: 311px
:alt: Screenshot showing download links next to binary data in the table view
.. _binary_json_format:
Binary values in JSON
---------------------
Binary data is represented in ``.json`` exports using Base64 encoding.
https://latest.datasette.io/fixtures/binary_data.json?_shape=array
@ -39,6 +44,48 @@ https://latest.datasette.io/fixtures/binary_data.json?_shape=array
}
]
The same format can be used with the :ref:`JSON write API <json_api_write>`.
If a column value in a ``row``, ``rows`` or ``update`` object is a JSON object with exactly ``"$base64"`` set to ``true`` and an ``"encoded"`` string, Datasette will decode that Base64 string and store the resulting bytes:
.. code-block:: json
{
"data": {
"$base64": true,
"encoded": "FRwCx60F/g=="
}
}
This works for inserts, upserts and updates. It also works when creating a table from example ``row`` or ``rows`` data: Datasette decodes the value before inferring the schema, allowing that column to be created as a ``BLOB`` column.
To store a JSON object with that exact shape literally, wrap it in a ``"$raw"`` object:
.. code-block:: json
{
"data": {
"$raw": {
"$base64": true,
"encoded": "FRwCx60F/g=="
}
}
}
``"$raw"`` unwraps exactly one layer. To store a literal ``"$raw"`` object containing a Base64 object, wrap it again:
.. code-block:: json
{
"data": {
"$raw": {
"$raw": {
"$base64": true,
"encoded": "FRwCx60F/g=="
}
}
}
}
.. _binary_linking:
Linking to binary downloads