EXTRACT FILES AND IMAGES FROM A SHAREPOINT CONTENT DATABASE

If you ever had the problem where you need to extract files from a SharePoint
Content Database or normal SQL Database stored as binary, this post will help
you.

The script I have included will export all the content from the SharePoint
Content Database to the file structure set by SharePoint. This script should
work as it is on your SharePoint Database. If you modify this script a little
you can use it to extract and binary data from SQL to files.

Problem: The SharePoint Content Database got corrupted
because of a third-party add-on. This caused all kinds of problems as the files
could not be found anymore. The Content Database was still accessible through
SQL Server.
Solution: To fix this problem
we had to extract all the current images and documents to a file system. The
first thing you will have to do is enable the Ole Automation Procedures. This
will allow SQL Server to write to the file system. You will also have to check
that you have the correct permissions and access to write to the file system
from SQL Server.
Enabling file writing: Run the
following script in SQL:

sp_configure ‘show advanced options‘, 1;

GO

RECONFIGURE;

GO

sp_configure ‘Ole Automation Procedures‘, 1;

GO

RECONFIGURE;

GO

Now that you have access to the file system you can run the following script.
Extracting files from database:

--DECLARING THE CURSOR, THIS IS THE ITEMS YOU WANT TO RUN THE EXTRACTING ON

DECLARE CURSOR_Images CURSOR FOR (SELECT Id	FROM [dbo].[AllDocs])   --DECLARE THE TYPE OF THE COLUMN YOU SELECTED ABOVE

DECLARE @ImageID uniqueidentifier;   --START THE CURSOR AND RUN THROUGH ALL THE ITEMS IN CURSOR_Images

OPEN CURSOR_Images

FETCH NEXT FROM CURSOR_Images INTO @ImageID

WHILE (@@FETCH_STATUS <> -1)

BEGIN

  --DECLARE THE VARIABLE THAT WILL KEEP THE BINARY DATA

  DECLARE @ImageData varbinary(MAX);

  --SELECT THE BINARY DATA AND SET IT TO @ImageData.  THE BINARY DATA FOR ALLDOCS ARE LOCATED IN ALLDOCSTREAMS

  --AND THE ID IS THE SAME AS IN ALLDOCS

  SELECT @ImageData = (SELECT TOP 1 CONVERT(varbinary(MAX), Content, 1) FROM [dbo].[AllDocStreams] WHERE Id = @ImageID ORDER BY InternalVersion ASC);   --GET THE LOCATION OF THE DIRECTORY THE FILES WAS SAVED IN AND CHANGE REPLACE THE / WITH \ TO BE USED IN FILESYSTEM

  DECLARE @DIRPATH NVARCHAR(MAX);

  SET @DIRPATH = REPLACE((SELECT  DirName FROM [dbo].[AllDocs]  WHERE Id = @ImageID),‘/‘,‘\‘);   --SET THE PATH

  DECLARE @Path nvarchar(1024);

  SELECT @Path = ‘C:\Export\‘ + @DIRPATH + ‘\‘;   --CREATE THE DIRECTORIES

  EXEC master.dbo.xp_create_subdir @Path;   --GET THE FILE NAME OF THE FILE FROM LEAFNAME

  DECLARE @Filename NVARCHAR(1024);

  SELECT @Filename = (SELECT LeafName FROM [dbo].[AllDocs] WHERE id = @ImageID);   --SET THE FULL PATH FOR WHERE THE FILES WILL BE STORED

  DECLARE @FullPathToOutputFile NVARCHAR(2048);

  SELECT @FullPathToOutputFile = @Path + ‘\‘ + @Filename;   --SAVE THE FILE TO THE FILE SYSTEM

  DECLARE @ObjectToken INT

  EXEC sp_OACreate ‘ADODB.Stream‘, @ObjectToken OUTPUT;

  EXEC sp_OASetProperty @ObjectToken, ‘TYPE‘, 1;

  EXEC sp_OAMethod @ObjectToken, ‘OPEN‘;

  EXEC sp_OAMethod @ObjectToken, ‘WRITE‘, NULL, @ImageData;

  EXEC sp_OAMethod @ObjectToken, ‘SaveToFile‘, NULL, @FullPathToOutputFile, 2;

  EXEC sp_OAMethod @ObjectToken, ‘Close‘;

  EXEC sp_OADestroy @ObjectToken;   --LOOP TO THE NEXT ENTRY IN THE CURSOR

  FETCH NEXT FROM CURSOR_Images INTO @ImageID

END

CLOSE CURSOR_Images

DEALLOCATE CURSOR_Images

After running this script it could take some time depending on the size of
the SharePoint Content Database. You will see some errors that you can ignore.
When done have a look in the folder you extracted the files and you will find
all your files in the directory. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to
ask. I will be glad to help where I can.  You can also find me on Skype:
Corvitech

EXTRACT FILES AND IMAGES FROM A SHAREPOINT CONTENT
DATABASE