Uploads without Records?

Hello, All -

This is one of those "thinking out loud" queries which may or may not sound silly depending on your point of view!

As we know, items are uploaded with CMSB via a parent record in the editor. The uploaded file maintains a link to that record in the database.

What I want to know is, would be plausible to create an image uploader that completely bypasses record creation? In other words, can I upload a file without assigning it to a record?

The only really important detail that the record holds is the user number of the person who created it. If this were instead added to the upload (perhaps using one of the 5 info boxes), there would be no need to maintain a link to a parent record.

I see a number of advantages to this approach. If I were creating a gallery, for example, there is really no need to create a record every time someone uploads a photo. It's the picture that's important, not the record.

Each upload has the following table fields which determine it's lineage: tableName, fieldName and recordNum. These values could be assigned during the upload.

In the case of recordNum would it be possible to assign a value of 0 without breaking it? That way an image could be added directly to the cms_uploads table without the need for a parent record.

:0/

Perchpole