Image Containter FilePath Calculations on Server

[bdam]

I'm having problems with a calculated container field that holds our employee images. In particular the problem occurs when hosted on our server. We've been developing the file offline in single user mode. Now that we've taken the file and put it on the server (7_3) none of the paths/images work. The calculation for the container:

"image:photos/employees/" & First Name & Last Name & ".jpg"

 and here's an example path as returned from GetAsText including Get ( FilePath ) for reference:  

image:photos/employees/employee.jpg

fmnet:/##.##.###.##/EmployeeDirectory

Any suggestions for what is needed to get the path to work on our server? I've tried imagewin: and // after the colon as well as both slashes. Also attempted full paths as well.

Thanks,

Bryan

[bdam]

Ok,

So I 'did' search the forums for things like path, filepath, images:, +path+server but still managed to miss the "Viewing Container Fields over a Network " thread that is like 4 down at the moment.

The advice given there by Fenton is that we need to have the pictures available on a shared folder in order for this to work. That discussion revolved around containers that were being done by reference. Does this apply to calculation fields that result in containers as well?

I guess the whole thing gets down to where the path starts. Does it start at the directory where the database is being served from or from the client's machine?

Bryan

Edited April 17, 2006 by Guest

[Zero Tolerence]

those image paths are referring to the local machine. You need to have the calculated paths point to a valid directory that you can navigate to through your server. A shared folder would do this, but you would still have to change your calculation.

[bdam]

Thanks ZT; I was able to figure that out actually and get it working. You say through the server but that isn't entirely accurate. The client isn't going through the FM server but going directly to the file via the local operating system. This is shown clearly by the necessity to have different paths for different operating systems. In the end then this is the same behavior as with containers filled by reference.

I consider this unfortunate because now my solution is dependant upon the local clients having access to specific drives. I could just have the containers be stored with the DB but I wish to use the images (employees, authors, covers) in many different places.

Thanks again,

Bryan

[comment]

Yes, a calculated container is pretty much the same as a container with reference only.

Now, I know practically nothing about networks, so I am puzzled: surely, there must be a way to specify a uniform path to a served/shared file, that would be valid for any computer on a network? (Note that I am NOT talking about FM own's networking.)

[bdam]

Comment,

There is no common path between OSX and Windows (XP) that I am aware of. I could be wrong here but nothing on the forums has shown it. IMO: It has to do with the way each operating system loads a given shared folder. This isn't the worst thing in the world since FileMaker has the Get ( SystemPlatform ) function that we can use to determine a path based on the client OS.

What is more difficult is to make sure all 200+ people/machines in my company have the image directory mapped/mounted on their machines. When 50 of those employees are in another office 500 miles away it's even more of a pain.

Also, since we like to run secure servers we require users to enter usernames/passwords when connecting to our file server. That means that our users would have to make sure they are connected and possibly enter in their username password before they can use the database. Experience has shown me how difficult it is for some users to understand that they need to authenticate to server X before something will work.

For those interested I've opened a thread in the Wants/Wishes forum and made an official request to FMI ( http://filemaker.com/company/product/feature_request.html )