Image Distortion (not maintaining proportions)

[Witz]

Hi,

I've got a db of inventory records with linked reference images. they show up in IWP, but, even though I have "maintain original proportions" checked, they distort to fill the container's shape.

The WEIRD thing I can't figure out is that SOME of the images are not distorted. about 3 out of 400 are not distorted. I've opened them in photoshop and compared. all are 72dpi rgb jpgs, all lo resolution, roughly 700 pixels max, all less than 200kb. I can't figure out if there is some problem with my images? or if there is some problem with my container settings. They show up perfectly with the FMP db access.

has anyone butted up against this and solved it?

I'd appreciate any help. This is a snafu very late in the game.

[Witz]

OK, tech support solved it with an inelegant protocol.

Hosting databases with FileMaker Server Advanced: an overview

Without planning, you might have to redefine links to other files or images. If your database is maintaining file path information for container field objects or file relationships, you should store the file paths as a relative link. It’s also best to store all files in the same folder.

Here are general steps for hosting Instant Web Publishing files with FileMaker Server Advanced:

1. Move the FileMaker Pro databases into the Databases folder in the FileMaker Server folder.

2. Move the contents of the Web folder to the root folder of the web server software. Make sure the relative path is preserved.

For IIS, move the files to: Inetpubwwwroot

For Apache, move the files to: /Library/WebServer/Documents

Note Verify the path with the server administrator.

3. Redirect your URLs to: http:///fmi/iwp or http:///fmi/iwp so web users can locate your database.

For information on enabling Instant Web Publishing in FileMaker Server Advanced, see FileMaker Server Help.

so what that means is DON'T START WITH YOUR IMAGES IN YOUR SERVER FOLDER. These instructions seem to assume that you read them AFTER you set up your db with filemaker.

so what you have to do is this:

1) Put the images in your FilemakerPro/Web folder (which is most likely in your Applications folder where you probably should be unaccustomed to storing data)

2) insert the images as a linked reference (I'm doing this on a remote machine, not the server)

3) Move or copy or preplace the same image files in your Server root (as in the instructions above)

then the will serve in IWP properly

4 optional) then if you want you can delete them from your local Filemaker/Web folder.

So, I read this manual before linking all the images and I assumed that you could just put them in the server root to begin with. that doesn't work. The file reference HAS to point to that FilemakerPro/Web folder, and it has to stay that way.

seems convoluted to me. Shouldn't Server Advanced be smart enough to bypass this ridiculous step?