Pupil (Picture) Database

[Peter Jago]

I have not used FM yet but am considering a purchase. Can anyone enlighten or persuade me to do so? I am a teacher and need to hold IT records for a few hundred pupils. I typically collect a class of 30 digital photos at a time and rename them using Thumbs Plus. I would like to combine the pictures of the pupils with test data and IT records which are currently kept in Excel spreadsheets. Is FileMaker an easy product to set a DB of this type? I have struggled with linking photos and DB files before. I suppose that I'm looking for a DB that is extremely easy to setup to import Excel data and Jpegs. Does this exist and,if so, is FileMaker the product?

[LiveOak]

The answer is a qualified "Yes". It's like asking if a Ford Escort is an easy car to drive, the answer is "yes" IF YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE. Buying an easy to drive car does not teach you to drive, if you don't already know how to.

It is easy for a novice user to create a FM database and store photos in it. For someone who knows a little about relational databases (or is willing to spend time learning), FM is the easiest product on the market to use to do what you wish. It will require several related files (Students, Test Scores, etc.) and setting up the relatioships to connect these files.

If you open an Excel spreadsheet with FM, it will automatically create a database file for you from the spreadsheet. How readily this will happen depends upon how complex your Excel workbook is. FileMaker will translate most simple lists in Excel into database files automatically. If won't, however, translated a complex series of connected spreadsheets in a workbook into a corresponding database system of multiple connected files automatically.

Perhaps the easiest way to do what you wish is to purchase a FM template (we call it a solution) already setup for classroom management (buy a house). Take a look at www.filemaker.com for both demos of FileMaker and available solutions. If you decide to create your own solutions (build a house), FileMaker is the easiest to use product on the market.

-bd

[jwmickelson]

LiveOak is correct.

In fact, for image storage and display, especially in cross-platform environs, FileMaker is the easiest database on the market. As an alternative to buying, try down-loading a trial version of File Maker Pro 5.5 at www.filemaker.com and create a sample database. It will be limited to 50 records, but it should give you a good idea of it's ease of use. INMHO, FileMaker ease of use Vs. Access is like 3-1.

Hope that helps.

[Peter Jago]

Thanks for the encouragement! I am on the way to being converted.I have downloaded a template (ID personnel card) from this website and this looks good .(The trial version of FM wouldnt install on this School NT network). I substituted my photo for one of the records in the template DB and this worked well.When I saw a photo in an image field under table view, I started to feel very positive about this. I worry a little about storing a lot of photos in a DB. I could eventually have around 600 (900 max). Will this be a problem regarding record recovery times? Is it better (easy?) to run the DB with photos stored elsewhere? My next problem is to try and find an image management tool that beats Cerious Thumbs + when it comes down to renaming jpegs and exporting them into a db such as FM pro 5. This software, good as it is with images,just doesn'do the job it claims to when you want to combine dbs. I presume that once I have renamed photos according to a field name in the FM db, that I can run a batch program to copy them in instead of inserting them one at a time ?

P.S. The de facto standard books about ACCESS dbs in the shops are not helpful. They hardly ever show you how to do projects like this which must be fairly popular. I have yet to find a FM textbook.

Thanks again.

[LiveOak]

There are two options for importing pictures into FM. If imported and stored, the pictures are converted to pict format. Another option is to only import a reference to the photo. In this option, you must maintain a consistent path to the photo, but the database remains small in size, as only a reference to the photo is stored. On the Mac side, there are AppleScripts to automatically import references for all pictures in a directory, I'm sure there are similar tools available on the Windows side. Take a look for plug-ins in the support area at www.filemaker.com.

-bd

[Peter Jago]

Thanks again for the advice. I have ordered FileMaker Pro 5.5 . I can get a good educational price in this country (all in about 75 pounds). Looking forward to using it. I can see the way forward. Carry a PDA around during classes for data entry with either Pocket Excel or the PDA version of Filemaker. Download at the end of the day. Take pupil photos, rename and incorporate into pupil DB. Display pupil records with picture for parents (so I know who I'm talking about!)on a small laptop at parent's evening. If anyone has any experience of similar projects, I would be grateful of any advice.

What is the best way of inputting large numbers of photos or links to them as easily as possible without having to do it individually?

I am most impressed with the web site and enthusiasm shown for the product on the forums.

[B-Man]

Peter,

I use Troi's File-Plugin to import thousand's of pictures at a time. It does it in a batch and is fairly quick. When you buy the plugin they provide you with a sample file that you could modify to use with your database. I am developing on a Mac but I do believe they have a windows version also. The plugin does much more than just import images. Troi's Web page

LOL

Brian

[Peter Jago]

Thanks Brian for your suggestion of a plug-in. I have recieved my copy of FM pro 5.5 and have started the learning curve. I downloaded the trial version of the plugin that you suggested. It took me a while to work out that there was a FM file to import pictures in a batch (I initially thought that I had to hard code it all by hand). This worked a treat!

My next problem was how to combine this FM file full of photos with my Pupil DB? I set up a relationship between the two files and managed in bring in the photos.....great!

I ought to be grateful for the progress made, I've been down or up this learning curve many times before. I am now trying to work out how to change the photo names in order to omit the file extension ".JPG" from each one. I suspect that it is either done via a script or a calculation field. Probably the former as I think that a calculation field will not work on data already brought in ? I'm having problems trying to get a script to do this. My push has been around using the SUBSTITUTE function but to no avail at the moment. Any ideas gratefully received!

[Peter Jago]

Victory !

After a day or two of playing around with scripts and functions, and learning a lot along the way, I've come up with a one line script that removes the filename extensions of the imported pupil photos:

REPLACE("destinationfieldname","SUBSTITUTE(sourcefieldname,".JPG","")")

So "Lyons C.JPG" becomes "Lyons C"

[Vaughan]

The Substitute() function is case sensitive, so any files with lowercase characters in the extention won't work.

Instead, try...

SUBSTITUTE(Lower(sourcefieldname),".jpg","")

...which won't break with capitalisation.