Picture2k OLE

J

Joe Leon

This is a question for Arvin regarding Picture2k.

In the filepath column, is there a limit to the number of characters in the
file path? Is there a way to make the limit greater? The filepath below is
what is generated from when finding the picture. I could map a drive to start
at TekScope_Captures but then someone else might not be able to see the image
when I place the database program in a different directory.

FilePat
\\Fl\hwdata\HWEng\QuickSilver\SCM\Doc\Verification\TekScope_Captures\P0_P27_RXCLK\Diskette 0011 0012 & 0013\Test21 P0-P9_RXCLK 25MHZ\
 
B

Brendan Reynolds

If I may be forgiven for jumping in ...

I took a look at the design view of the table, and FilePath is a 255
character text field. But the example you posted is only 133 characters
long, so that shouldn't be a problem.

What problem are you experiencing - what happens when you try to use this
path?
 
J

Joe Leon

Thanks for jumping in... I can use all the help available...

What happens is that the picture does not display. If I go to the last
record the picture of the last record displays but only because the path
length is shorter.
 
B

Brendan Reynolds

I haven't been able to reproduce this. I tested using the following path ...
C:\Documents and Settings\Brendan Reynolds\My Documents\My Pictures\My Very
Long Image Folder Name Level 1\My Very Long Image Folder Name Level 2

At 145 characters, this is even longer than your path, and the pictures are
displayed correctly for me. Is there any particular reason to believe that
the problem is related to the length of the path? Can you be completely sure
that there is no other difference between the pictures that will display and
those that won't?

You could shorten the path without mapping a drive, by mapping a network
share to a folder further down the path. I'm not sure that would solve the
problem, but it would at least help to determine whether the length of the
path really is the problem or not.
 
J

Joe Leon

I took and mapped the drive to make the path shorter and all the pictures
display.
I don't know why it does not work. I wonder if the dashes "-" and the
underscores "_" could be causing the problem. Or, maybe could it be the
number of levels? There are 10 levels in my path and 6 in yours. Also, I
noticed that you are keeping the path local to your disk drive. When I
created my path I was working locally in my PC but went to MyNetwork Places
to a different disk drive on our network. Maybe the best solution is to keep
all the pictures in a subdirectory below the database, but this takes the
flexibility away.
 
B

Brendan Reynolds

My guess is that you are probably on the right track in thinking that
perhaps there may be something else about the path, other than its length,
that is causing the problem. But I have been unable to pin it down. My most
recent test looks like this ...

\\MyComputer\Documents\My Pictures\Sample Pictures\A Folder with a & and a -
and a _ in its name\

.... and images in this folder display correctly for me.

I discovered, though, that the behaviour you described - no error message,
but the previous picture continues to be displayed - appears to happen
whenever Picture2k can not find the image. That's a very long, complex path
you have, it would be very easy for a typo to creep in, and that would cause
the behaviour you describe. For example, during testing I inadvertently left
out the final "\" in the path above, and that caused it.

Why not try the network share idea that I mentioned earlier? The advantage
of this over a mapped drive is that it doesn't depend on all users having
the same drive mappings.
 
J

Joe Leon

Thanks.... I'll try your recommendation of a network share.. but first, how
do I set it up? Can it
be made password protected?
 
B

Brendan Reynolds

Depending on your OS version and how it is configured, it can be as simple
as right-clicking the folder and choosing 'Sharing and Security ..' from the
menu. But talk to whoever looks after your network, they'll be best placed
to advice you on how to do it in your particular circumstances.
 
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