Saving photos

[TimStone]

A common practice in newer window programs is to save a picture with data. For example, if I have an inventory system, for each part I want to save a picture to the data record ( using DBF ). This is faster access when browsing than having links to photos.

How might I do this ? Should the picture be stored in a memo field ?

Thanks.

[Rick Lipkin]

Tim

With .dbf you ll have to save it in the memo field ... .fpt .. I kinda gave up on dbf\cdx .. but here is how you do it in Sql and Ado .. don't know if it would help you ..

I will say this .. it is easier to save the file to a location on the hard drive and store that location in a field .. then just point to the file to view it .. .fpt are large enough as it is .. and will get huge if you store binary file information in them...

Here is the way I manage it with Sql and take note .. I do not allow files to be stored that are just too big. in Sql you have to use the VarBinaryMax field ..

Note the key here is the AppendChunk method ..

oRsCh:Fields("notes"):AppendChunk( VTArrayWrapper():New( 17, cBUFFER ) )

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//------------------------------
Static Func _Doit( oRsProj, oRsCh, cPROJECTEID, cPath )

LOCAL cFILENAME, nSTRING, nLEN, nSTART, SAYING, nDATETIME
LOCAL nHANDLE, nBYTES, cEID, cFILE, dDATE

LOCAL cBUFFER   //cBinaryData        // <------- This is the actual data to be stored
LOCAL nBytesRead

cFILE := upper(ALLTRIM( cPATH ))     // C:\DBTMP\CHARTER.DOC
nLEN  := LEN( cFILE )

nSTART := RAT( "\", cFILE )

IF nSTART > 0
ELSE
   SAYING := "INVALID File name or Location .. Aborting"
   MsgInfo( SAYING )
   oDLG:END()
   RETURN(.F.)
ENDIF

// get file name //
cFILENAME := SUBSTR( cPATH, nSTART+1, nLEN-nSTART )    // CHARTER.PDF

IF LEN(cFILENAME) > 35
   SAYING := "Sorry .. the maximum length of your file"+chr(10)
   SAYING += cFILENAME+CHR(10)
   SAYING += "is longer than 35 characters. Please re-name"+chr(10)
   SAYING += "your file to meet the 35 max length"+chr(10)
   MsgInfo( saying )
   oDlg:end()
   RETURN(.F.)
ENDIF

// open file //
nHANDLE := FOpen( cFILE )
IF FERROR() <> 0
   SAYING := "Error reading file "+cFILE+CHR(10)
   SAYING += " "+STR(FERROR())+CHR(10)
   MsgInfo( SAYING )
   oDLG:END()
   RETURN(.F.)
ENDIF

// get number of bytes in file
nBYTES := FSEEK( nHANDLE, 0,2 )

// pad the buffer nBytes+1
cBUFFER := SPACE(nBYTES+1)

FSeek( nHANDLE, 0, 0 )
nBytesRead   := FRead( nHANDLE, @cBuffer, nBytes )

FClose( nHANDLE )

if nBytesRead != nBytes
   SAYING := "nBytesRead = "+str(nBYTESREAD)+CHR(10)
   SAYING += "nBytes     = "+str(nBYTES)+CHR(10)
   SAYING += "Error Reading Data"+chr(10)
   MsgInfo( saying )
   oDLG:END()
   RETURN ( .F. )
endif

cEID := _GenEid()
IF cEID = "BOGUS"
   oDlg:End()
   RETURN(.F.)
ENDIF

nDateTime := dtoc(date())+" "+time()

oRsCh:AddNew()

oRsCh:Fields("documenteid"):Value   := cEID
oRsCH:Fields("projecteid"):Value    := cPROJECTEID
oRsCh:Fields("date_imported"):Value := nDateTime
oRsCh:Fields("imported_by"):Value   := xLOGIN
oRsCh:Fields("datalen"):Value       := nBYTES
oRsCh:Fields("filename"):Value      := cFILENAME
oRsCh:Fields("notes"):AppendChunk( VTArrayWrapper():New( 17, cBUFFER ) )  // stores the binary data in the field Notes

oRsCh:Update()

SysReFresh()

SAYING := "Bytes Read   = "+str(nBYTESREAD)+CHR(10)
SAYING += "Bytes Stored = "+str(nBYTES)+CHR(10)
SAYING += "  "+CHR(10)
SAYING += "Upload Complete for file name "+cFILENAME+chr(10)
MsgInfo( saying )

oRsCh:Sort("date_imported")
oRsCh:MoveFirst()
oRsCh:Find( "documenteid = '"+cEID+"'" )

oDLG:END()
RETURN(.T.)

If it were me using dbf\cdx .. store the file in a separate folder and save the name of the file in a field within the .dbf. .. the only downside to that is that if your \image folder somehow gets deleted .. there go your images.

Rick Lipkin

[TimStone]

Rick,

Thanks ... and that is what I do currently. However, I was thinking of essentially thumbnails that instantly display on the screen of data displayed when scrolling an xBrowse. As the record changes, all the data is displayed for editing in the upper half of the Dialog.

Tim.

[nageswaragunupudi]

Simple.

With DBF


Save images to Memo Field.

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FIELD->FILENAME  := cFile
FIELD->PHOTO     := MEMOREAD( cFile )
 

With TDatabase for DBF
or FWH MariaDB rowset for MySql
or FWH TRecSet for ADO
(identical syntax)


Save Images to BLOB field

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oTable:FileName   := cFile
oTable:photo      := MEMOREAD( cFile )
oTable:Save()
 

OR

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oTable:Append( "FILENAME,PHOTO", { cFile, MEMOREAD( cFile ) } )
//OR
oTable:Update( "FILENAME,PHOTO", { cFile, MEMOREAD( cFile ) } )
 

With ADO RecordSet

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oTable:FileName   := cFile
oTable:photo      := FW_ValToSQL( MEMOREAD( cFile ) )
oTable:Update()
 

OR

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oTable:AddNew( { "FILENAME" ,"PHOTO" }, { cFile, FW_ValToSQL( MEMOREAD( cFile ) ) } )
//OR
oTable:Update( { "FILENAME", "PHOTO" }, { cFile, FW_ValToSQL( MEMOREAD( cFile ) ) } )
 

[TimStone]

Can we use more than 1 memo field in a DBF file ? If so, do we create more than one .FPT file ?

[nageswaragunupudi]

We can have more than 1 memo field per DBF. Single FPT file will contain all the memos.

[Marc Venken]

At a given moment I had a massive dbf with foto's into a memo field. The file became very big and slow down over network.

I changed to a Char. field into de dbf with a link to the picture.

I have 2 sub dirs with foto's

1. Very small tumbs
2. Printable 300 dpi versions.

For the thumbs and correct sizes, I call

nconvert -out jpeg -ratio -overwrite -resize 900 0 c:\upload\pic\*.jpg

The free program... (Now a days FW has also a conversion function)

Xbrowse is very fast in showing the tumbs, and for printing I call the 300 dpi versions.

Never problems with size or what happens when the memo file is corrupted? Rebuilding is no option ))

[nageswaragunupudi]

XBrowse on its own reduces the large images to a smaller size to fit into the cell. There is no need to create and maintain separate thumb size images.

You can try:

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XBROWSER "wwonders.dbf"