jpg displays in A2002 but not A97

[edward]

I'm developing a database to store images and information about those
images. I have two computers, one with A97 installed and one with A2002
installed. (In both cases it's actually Office Pro, and both systems
are running XP Pro SP2.) The two databases are acting differently in
displaying linked database images in forms, and I can't figure out why.

I have a field imaginatively named "image", data type OLE Object. Then
I have a form with a Bound Object Frame, attributes including

Name: image
Control Source: image
Display Type: Content
Update Options: Automatic
OLE Type Allowed: Linked
Visible: Yes
Display When: Always
Enabled: Yes
Back Style: Transparent

I can right-click -> Insert object, locate the image, make sure
"linked" is checked and "icon" is not checked, and insert the image. On
the A97 machine, this results in an icon display. Access 97 knows where
the image is, since if I double-click the icon, the correct image opens
in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.

Now if I copy the database to the A2002 system, convert and open the
database, the icons still show. But if I then insert the images again
-- the very same images, not even copies but on a network drive -- then
Access 2002 displays the images rather than icons. This of course is
what I want.

Searching this newsgroup, I came across the issue of graphics filters
not being installed automatically and said ah-ha! Sounds like exactly
the issue! So I ran the installer, but the JPG filter (and PNG and GIF
even) were already installed. For good measure I uninstalled and
reinstalled all the graphics filters. No joy. Didn't help. Big
disappointment.

Now I hear you saying, well duh just use A2002. If I can't get A97 to
work, that's what I'll do. But there are reasons I'd rather be managing
this database on the A97 system (configuration, hardware, etc). And the
A2002 installation is an OEM bundle with the system it's on, so it
probably wouldn't install on the other and certainly isn't licensed to
do so.

Any ideas?

Edward

 

[Allen Browne]

The file types Access can handle depend on what filters you installed as
part of the Office installation. You may therefore be able to solve the
problem by running the A97 installation again, and adding the appropriate
graphic filter.

For an alternative approach, see what Stephen Lebans has at:
http://www.lebans.com/loadjpeggif.htm
There is a version for A97.

 

[edward]

Allen,

Thanks for the suggestions.

As I said in my original post, I already tried reinstalling the
graphics filters, but it didn't help.

As for Stephen Lebans' approach, I'll give up on the A97 system and
build the DB on the other machine before I do something that
roundabout. Yes, I realize it's not that hard, but my preference for
using the A97 system isn't that strong either. In any case, a brief
glance at the code leads me to believe that it loads the image into the
database rather than linking to it. As my images range from 1.5MB JPEGs
to 25MB PNGs, I'm not willing to load them; I need to link do than;

Edward

 

[Stephen Lebans]

Your issue is this:
The application you have installed on your A97 machine, that is currently
registered to display JPG and PNG images, cannot function as an OLE server.
See:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;258644

--

HTH
Stephen Lebans
http://www.lebans.com
Access Code, Tips and Tricks
Please respond only to the newsgroups so everyone can benefit.

 

[edward]

Thank you, Stephen! For reasons I haven't tried to identify, Microsoft
Photo Editor wasn't installed with Office originally. I installed it
and altered the associations to make it the default for JPEG and PNG
files, and now Access is working as I expected. (I did have to
re-insert the existing pictures, but I had expected this and had only
done a couple.)

I obviously was falling asleep as I was writing my previous post; the
last phrase should have been "I need to link to them.". Why can't my
fingers Do The Right Thing even when my mind isn't there to guide them
....

Thanks again,

Edward

 

[edward]

Well, I guess I spoke too soon. Now the images display, but the db size
has ballooned. I gather that Access stores a copy of the image in the
db even when I set it up as a link. So is the only way around this the
technique described in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/148463/ ? This
issue seems to apply equally to A97 and A2002.

Edward

 

[edward]

Update -- I switched to the method involved setting the picture
attribute of an image box each time the form changes. Not ideal, but
good enough. The database still acts like it has one copy of the image
stored -- it's 35MB, when 1MB should be plenty -- the actual data is
probably under 10KB. But it doesn't seem to be growing.

Edward