Scanned Multiple Documents Relating to One Record

[Filemakernewbie8]

I'm creating a patient database that will store scanned documents relating to a patient record. Heres what the tables will look like:

Patient Table

Patient Info

Patient ID# (Relationship)

Documents Table

Patient ID# (Relationship)

A Lot of Containers

The relationship will be the patient's id#. Now heres the problem, the scanned documents are 200 - 500 pages. Does that mean I have to create 500 container fields to accomodate the documents? I'm planning on creating a portal in the patient table so the enduser can see thumbnails of the documents and when the enduser clicks on that thumbnail, they'll be able to see a larger version of it and print the document. I'm still working on the portal but my main concern is their an easier way to bring in the scanned documents into the documents table?

[stefanshotton]

I have had a similar problem to overcome and would personnaly recommend a plug in called Launch It. This solution as it has been a life/time saver.

You can find it at

launch it

If you use in combination with troi file or file plugin fromfile manipulator then you can set up scripts to create the folder on a hard drive, save/transfer documents into it and then have them all listed with one script via launch it.

cant stress enough how well this works!

hope this helps

[dkemme]

I use a file/table called images, each record has one container field. I put each scanned page into one record and then assign the PatientID# to indicate it belongs to that patient. I further organize the images into Result. The Result table has it's own ID, thus if a report has 4 pages, four image Records would be created and assignd to the ResultID and PatientID. Allows for convenient viewing, either by patientID to see all images for that patient or by ResultID to see all four pages for that report. I would not limit yourself to have multiple container files in the Images table, because you never know how many pages a report might be.

[Shrubman]

I have had a similar problem to overcome and would personnaly recommend a plug in called Launch It. This solution as it has been a life/time saver.

You can find it at

launch it

If you use in combination with troi file or file plugin fromfile manipulator then you can set up scripts to create the folder on a hard drive, save/transfer documents into it and then have them all listed with one script via launch it.

cant stress enough how well this works!

hope this helps

Hi,

I'm trying to make this plugin work for our solution. I have tailored all the scripts and tables to work with our filenames. What I'm unclear on is how to integrate their product with our existing forms. Does one create a portal to the launchit table?

I'd like to know how you have integrated the product.

Thanks,

Evan

[stefanshotton]

Yes, esentially there is a seperate table that houses all the files found via the launch it script.

Set up a portal to view records in this table,

you will need to have a button or automated script that first deletes all records in the table and then run the launch it script, otherwise when you run the script to get any new files it will import all the files again!

Beware had stabilty issue when first set it up and it scrambled a database so badly filemaker wasnt able to recover. Make sure you back up.

[Shrubman]

Just to make sure I understand this correctly, are you able to have multiple different folders linked, one for each "project" in my case?

I would want to make sure that the "clear" script you mention would only clear record related to the project I was vierwing at the time.

Finally, is there two way communication? I'd love to have the iported document list change if the remote folder contents were changed.

Thanks,

Evan

[stefanshotton]

sorry to clarify:-

when you rune import script the plugin will reference all files in a folder into the launch it table.( or equivalenet named table)

each file is given a new record

ie folder has 300 files, 300 records will be created.

if you inport again it will import all again including any new files.

so if folder now contains 302 files total records would be 602, and files would be duplicated within the list.

hence when you import it is important to clear all records otheriwse it will simply add the next import to the old.

if you set this up to be done automatically on opening a layout only the curent contents of a folder will be shown.

if you want to reference different folders this can be done dynamically via scriping which folder you want the plugin to list.

[Shrubman]

I guess this issue kind of confirms my suspicions regarding a watched folder concept. Is there a solution that will update the conatents of a container field in real-time, to keeep the remote folder and the FM7 file synched?

I'd love to hear about such a solution...from anyone.

Evan