I'm creating an image catalog using an image-by-reference container. Since I want to be able to move the catalog+images from folder to folder, computer to computer, and platform to platform, I'm storing the actual images in sub-folders of the FileMaker 8 catalog file's parent folder.

So I want to store the relative path to each image, not the full path.

While experimenting with calculating the relative image path on Mac OS X, I've discovered an apparent FileMaker bug.

Get ( FilePath ) reports this path to the FileMaker file:

"file:/volname/folder/catalog.fp7"

When I import an image into a container, FileMaker provides this "File Path" attribute:

"file://volname/folder/images/photo.jpg"

GetAsText ( container ) reports this path:

"image:/volname/folder/image/photo.jpg"

Note that only the "File Path" attribute has a double-slash before the volume name.

-- Ward

I believe that the "file://" prefix is correct for a local URL type path. You can open that filepath with a GetURL step. Importing a picture file with its path was pre-FileMaker7, so it made sense at the time to use the URL type syntax.

You're only thinking of using this on one computer, not a network? Because relative reference paths will not work on a network; which is not surprising, since the FileMaker file is only ON one computer. A relative path does not have the volume, and it does not include the path to the database file's folder; it only has the folders below.

But none of the paths you mentioned are relative paths, they are full paths, as they include the volume name and path.

So, is it a networked environment? If so, do you have another machine to put the pictures (the recommended practice)? Or is it just on your machine? In which case you just need the folder/file path below.

My solution is, indeed, on one computer (at a time) with the FileMaker catalog file and all container-ed files in the same folder (or a sub-folder). So locating the files by relative paths is just what I want.

I opened this topic because it seemed the File Path notation should be consistent with Get ( FilePath ) and GetAsText ( container ) notation.

-- Ward