Image File associations

[Thomas An]

Hi all,

A couple of question here;

1. If a database has images linked (not embedded)... and then we decided to change the original directory structure to something more convenient. Is it possible to tell filemaker how to refresh all image links (without us having to go in and re-assign just about 1000 records) ?

2. When we drag and drop an image (say) from our desktop into a container field ... that image becomes embedded. Is there a way to have it always link; by default ?

3. When we embed an image it seems to always be stored as a BMP occupying the largest amount of space in the database (is this who Filemaker works by design) ?

[Tissot]

1. Make a Script

2. Not to my knowledge

3. You can use png, gif... you name it. Never heard of FM saving it as another format?

Regard

Ron

[Genx]

1. Yes as Tissot says make a script... or use calculations based on something in your record or use a global field to store your basic directory path prefix or any particular combination. There has to be some sort of pattern however...

2. No

3. What gives you the idea it's being stored as a bmp?

[RodSierra]

I would highly recommend you not embed the image in FM, as the size of your file will become huge, and the ability later to extract it is very limited. I would recommend that you have two seperate folders for your images, one that contains your already imported image files, and one that contains new images that have not been imported. This way you can avoid having to use the update and add new records import opions, which is so slow in FM. You can use the Troi file plugin to manipulate the folders/files once import is accomplished.

[Genx]

Well regarding the not recommending embedding the file... While i agree with Rod here in principle, if you keep the data in a dedicated file and the photo's in a dedicated fp7 file, there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing it that way (not that i choose to).