title: java.sql.SQLException: Before start of result set
body: <p>I have tried the following code for retrieving an image stored in a database. I have created a database called <code>image_db</code> that contains an table called <code>image_details</code>. The table has two fields, <code>id</code> and <code>image_path</code> and both are of type <code>mediumblob</code>.I have stored a few images in the <code>image_path</code> field as binary. Now I want to retrieve &amp; display it.</p>
  
  <pre><code>package cbir.imageAddition;
  import java.awt.Image;
  import java.awt.Toolkit;
  import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
  import java.io.IOException;
  import java.io.InputStream;
  import java.sql.ResultSet;
  import java.sql.SQLException;
  import java.sql.*;
  
  enter code here
  
  public class ImageRetrieve {
  
      public ImageRetrieve() throws SQLException, IOException, ClassNotFoundException
      {
  
          Connection con = null;
          Statement st = null;
          ResultSet rs = null;
          String url = "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/";
          String db = "image_db";
          String driver = "com.mysql.jdbc.Driver";
          String user = "root";
          String pass = "root";
  
              Class.forName(driver);
              con = DriverManager.getConnection(url + db, user, pass);
              //System.out.println("Connection url : "+url + db);
  
              st = con.createStatement();
              String sql = "select image_path from image_details where id=1";
              rs = st.executeQuery(sql);
  
      InputStream stream = rs.getBinaryStream(2);
      ByteArrayOutputStream output = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
      int a1 = stream.read();
      while (a1 &gt;= 0) {
        output.write((char) a1);
        a1 = stream.read();
      }
      Image myImage = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().createImage(output.toByteArray());
      output.close();
  
      }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I get the following exception when running the code above:</p>
  
  <pre><code>awtJan 12, 2012 12:55:48 AM cbir.imageAddition.add_image_window jButton5ActionPerformed
  SEVERE: null
  java.sql.SQLException: Before start of result set
      at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:1073)
      at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:987)
      at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:982)
      at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:927)
      at com.mysql.jdbc.ResultSetImpl.checkRowPos(ResultSetImpl.java:841)
      at com.mysql.jdbc.ResultSetImpl.getStringInternal(ResultSetImpl.java:5650)
      at com.mysql.jdbc.ResultSetImpl.getString(ResultSetImpl.java:5570)
      at com.mysql.jdbc.ResultSetImpl.getString(ResultSetImpl.java:5610)
      at cbir.imageAddition.ImageRetrieve.&lt;init&gt;(ImageRetrieve.java:49)
      at cbir.imageAddition.add_image_window.jButton5ActionPerformed(add_image_window.java:280)
      at cbir.imageAddition.add_image_window.access$400(add_image_window.java:26)
      at cbir.imageAddition.add_image_window$5.actionPerformed(add_image_window.java:89)
      at javax.swing.AbstractButton.fireActionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:2018)
      at javax.swing.AbstractButton$Handler.actionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:2341)
      at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.fireActionPerformed(DefaultButtonModel.java:402)
      at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.setPressed(DefaultButtonModel.java:259)
      at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicButtonListener.mouseReleased(BasicButtonListener.java:252)
      at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Component.java:6504)
      at javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(JComponent.java:3321)
      at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Component.java:6269)
      at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Container.java:2229)
      at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Component.java:4860)
      at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2287)
      at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4686)
      at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent(Container.java:4832)
      at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(Container.java:4492)
      at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Container.java:4422)
      at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2273)
      at java.awt.Window.dispatchEventImpl(Window.java:2713)
      at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4686)
      at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:707)
      at java.awt.EventQueue.access$000(EventQueue.java:101)
      at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(EventQueue.java:666)
      at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(EventQueue.java:664)
      at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
      at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:76)
      at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:87)
      at java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(EventQueue.java:680)
      at java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(EventQueue.java:678)
      at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
      at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:76)
      at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:677)
      at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:211)
      at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:128)
      at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:117)
      at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:113)
      at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:105)
      at java..EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:90)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>How is this caused and how can I solve it?</p>