[magusbuckley]

Hello:

At work, our security officers fill out reports on incidents that happen on property. From time to time, they take digital photos. For now, they key the data into a protected worksheet in Excel. They insert the pictures into a word document and print it all out. They have come to realize that it is too difficult to find old incident reports and match them with the photos. To solve the problem, I'm thinking of creating an Access Database to house all of the information, including the photos. So far, though, I'm thinking I'm out of luck. I can't find a way to put photos into a database.

Do any of you know if this is possible, and if so, how would I go about doing it?

Any and all information will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Magus

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Yes, it's possible. What version of Access do you use?

[piper]

Yes, it's possible. What version of Access do you use?

[piper]

Here's an article that deals specifically with Access 2003: http://office.micros...2802251033.aspx

Here's the short answer:
When adding the photo field to the database, the field is an OLE Object. Then when you insert the photo into that new field, you'll create from file, browse to the file, and either link it or not.

See that article and the additional links included for much more information.

[magusbuckley]

Thank you for the reply.

After my first post, more research tought me of the OLE Object you speak of. I used it, selected "Create From File" and selected the .jpg I needed for testing. When I pull up the report, I can't see the photo however. Instead, I see a small square with only the name of the file. I'm going to need those photos to print out on the reports.

My next fix was to choose, "New Microsoft Word Document" instead of "Create From File". When Word opened, I insterted the picture I needed into the blank document. When I close the document, it is stored in the table. In the report, the photo displays. That's the good news. The bad news is that most of the photos they take are at a high resolution and require 4 to 7 MB of file space. When I try try saving a word file with one of these large photos, Access screams that there isnt' enough system memory to perform the operation. It asked me to close unused programs and try the operation again. Access is the only program I have open. System resources looked fine in the task manager so I'm not sure why this is an issue. I'm now wondering if it will not hold these large files. I did not use the "link" feature. Instead, I am trying to embed the photo into the database. I am having no problems with .bmp files. Only the jpegs aren't showing up on the report.

So now I'm out with two questions. First, will Access allow me to store HUNDREDS of photos with such large file sizes? Second, is there another way to get a .jpg into the table so it prints on the report without having to first put the picture in a Word document?

This is version 2002 from Office XP Pro (all service packs installed).

Any and all information will be greatly appreciated.

I'm going to check the links you posted now.

Thanks for your help thus far.

Magus

Edited by magusbuckley, 30 December 2006 - 03:27 PM.

[piper]

I also have Access 2002. I am able to insert jpg files with no problem and they display as photos on the report I created.

However, I was able to recreate the square with the filename instead of the photo when I inserted the jpg with the options to "display as icon". As long as that option was unchecked, my jpg displayed properly in the report (my jpg is only 122 KB).

As to the number of image files Access may allow you to store, I don't think it's as much an Access limitation as a hard drive space limitation. The link I provided deals with the space issue - linking the image versus embedding the image - and what that does to the size of the database.

Good luck.

[piper]

I guess I hit Add Reply twice - sorry.

Edited by LindaGail, 30 December 2006 - 07:20 PM.

[magusbuckley]

LindaGail:

When I put a .jpg in a cell, I am still unable to see the photo. This is true weather I have "Show As Icon" checked or not. When it is checked, I see "HTML Document" instead of the file name; when it isn't checked, I see a small box with the file name inside.

The last .jpg I tried this with was only 73k. I was seeing if file size had anything to do with my problem.

Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Magus

[piper]

See this link, scroll down to "Solve Common Display Problems". There's a section on "What to do when you see filenames instead of images". The solution is to either use BMP files instead of JPG, or to install/reinstall Photo Editor from the Office XP CD.

That should fix you up.

[piper]

Is this solved?

[magusbuckley]

LindaGail:

No, this problem isn't solved. According to the instructions on the page you left a link for, I am to reinstall Microsoft Photo Editor so it will re-register itself as the OLE Server for .jpg files. Even after reinstalling the photo editor, the photos still only come up as a file name.

Any other ideas. I've exhausted all of my resources. If we can't get it to work, I'll probably wind up using Word to paste the photos in and then importing the word document into the table (I've done it and it works fine...just involves several steps). I was hoping to keep it simple because our security guards aren't that great with their computers. Using Microsoft Word like that will be way over their heads.

I've been busy with other projects and haven't had time to work on this much since my last post. Sorry for the late reply.

Magus

[magusbuckley]

LindaGail:

I just posted that we could use Microsoft Word, but that isn't the case at all. While reading over these posts, I am reminded that I was unable to get our large .jpgs to show correctly. Those large files generated a memory error message.

I wonder if there is a way to register explorer as the OLE Server for .jpg files in Access?

Magus

[piper]

Let me think on this some more. I'll get back to you later.

[piper]

From the link in post #8, review "Enable Graphics Filters" at the bottom of the article. Did you do that?

Please check this for me: open your table in datasheet view. Go to the photo field. What does it say? Mine says "Microsoft Photo Editor 3.0".

[magusbuckley]

LindaGail:

I'll check this out and reply as soon as I can. I'm off the next two days.

Please stand by.

Thanks,

Magus

[magusbuckley]

LindaGail:

I was able to set this up at home and had no problems with it. In my table, the Picture cell said "Microsoft Photo Editor" as yours does.

At work, however, the Picture field says "Package".

Now I guess we need to figure out how to change Package to Photo Editor.

Magus