related location for reference to photos

[Aussie John]

Hi I was wondering if version 9 allows for referenced photo links to be associated by relative location rather than absolute location as is with ≤v8.5.

If not does anyone have any good tips dealing with this (ie moving a Dbase solution to another drive breaks photo links.( I would not like to embed the photos as there are thousands.

Edited September 21, 2007 by Guest

[Fenton]

You could use a calculated path to the image; with the volume name as a separate part of the path than the rest of the relative path. A calculation with a container result will produce the referenced image just the same as an inserted path.

I should add: you can use the current path as a basis for the calculation. Because even if FileMaker says it can't find the image, it still has the path where it was. Try this calculation, result text, to see:

GetAsText ( container field )

The relative and absolute paths will be the 2nd and 3rd lines.

Edited September 21, 2007 by Guest

[Aussie John]

that's great thanks Fenton

Not sure what you meant by the 2nd and 3rd lines but I seem to have it working anyway.

Do you think there are likely to be any Mac/PC issues with this?

[Fenton]

Oh yeah, maybe you don't get the 2nd & 3rd lines if you're only calculating the file path, not Inserting the image. I can't check right now, 'cause my FileMaker's (very) busy.

As far as Macs and PCs, you will need to handle the path differences inside the calculation. Use:

Case ( Abs ( Get (SystemPlatform)) = 1; "imagemac:"; "imagewin:" ) & "/volume/folder path/file name.ext

You may also have trouble with the volume. If I insert an image from my iDisk on the Mac side, it uses my iDisk name as the volume name. If I insert it on the Windows side (running in Parallels Destop), then the volume is translated to "E:/" (which I guess is the default of the 1st mounted volume). So you need to put that in the calculation instead for PCs.

So yes, the paths are different. But it's pretty easy to figure out. Just insert an image on either platform, and see what it shows.

[Aussie John]

Hope I dont speak too soon but the translation to PC seemed to work without any adjustment.

I am just using image:/ no mac or PC appendix

Edited September 25, 2007 by Guest