SuperContainer - data migration script creates images of documents in FM container

[Jesse Wright]

Hello all,

I just set up SuperContainer and plug-in, and followed the data migration video on the 360 Works website; using the external functions to pull the existing data in the FM Container into SuperContainer.

At first glance it looked the it copied the data to the SuperContainer server. So I looped the script and had it migrate the 1400+ records.

After being pretty geeked about how easy that just was, I see that it didn't copy the data, but made images of the content.

To explain, this is an applicant database where the container field is holding a copy of the applicants resume.

So the resulting file types being stored in the FM container have been .doc, PDF, .txt, .jpg, .tiff.

If the resume was emailed, then the director was just copying the original attachments into the container. If it was mailed to her, then she scanned in a .tiff file.

The result of the data migration into SuperContainer has been a .jpg of the content; and only of the first page. So if it was a Word.doc, it strips the formatting and the result is a text only .jpg of the first page.

At face value I thought "cool, everything just got standardized". When it actually just got thumbnailed - technically.

But you see the problem...when they want to review the full resume; its not there unless I retrieve it from the FM container, or go back and save the contents of all the FM containers, then upload the original files into SuperContainer.

So my question is:

Where did I go wrong. Or, can I change the output parameters of the function?

Obviously the SetVariable calculation doesn't control how the plug-in functions

[color:blue]SCSetBaseURL("http://myserver.com/SuperContainer/Files" )

and

SCSetContainer( "Applicants/" & Applicant Data Main Form::Name ; Applicant Data Main Form::Resume )

How do I get it to copy and paste the original file into SuperContainer?

Many thanks!

Jesse

[Smef]

Are you using FileMaker on Windows? I have a suspicion that your data was stored in your Container Fields using OLE rather than importing the actual file into the container. When you drag-and-drop or copy-paste a file or clipboard content into a container field in Windows it is stored through OLE rather than importing the file. A way you can check this is to right-click on the container and try to export the file. If the "Export" option is grayed out, your files are linked through OLE rather than being imported and stored in your container fields like a traditional file.

SuperContainer does not support OLE-embedded files (and neither do macs, unfortunately). The quick summary of what is happening is that when you OLE link a file, FileMaker stores an image (which i believe is generated by your OS) of a part of the file (what you are seeing, and what is being uploaded to SuperContainer), along with some data which the operating system can figure out what sort of application the data belongs to. The reason SuperContainer isn't working with this, and why you can't export the file using the export command, is because there isn't actually a file stored in your container. There is some application-interpretable data, but there isn't a real file stored in your container in the traditional sense.

If your data is exportable using the right-click -> export option then it is not stored using OLE, and something very strange is going on and I would like to help you find out what it is.

[Jesse Wright]

Hey David, thanks!

Michael Gaslowitz had helped me earlier via email as well. It is in fact an OLE issue, and that makes perfect sense.

The HR Directer liked the "preview" of documents put into the container, so she could read the first page of the resume while scrolling through the records.

Well as they say...hindsight's 20-20 and had I known about SuperContainer back then. The main DB bloat was caused by these MASSIVE scanned images she dropped into the containers.

So an office rule is now in place for container fields. To little to late for the FM containers but now that I am implementing SuperContainer in other areas of the database, it will at least save space on the server.

I will have to migrate the data manually. I don't think I am going to mess with a VBScript. Not that big a deal. It could have been worse. Lesson learned.

Thank you both for the quick reply's and help on the matter.

Cheers!

Jesse

EDIT: Yes, it is FileMaker on Windows.

Edited January 14, 2010 by Guest
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