Hi Kenneth, You've gotten a lot of good feedback already. I deal with a lower volume of documents but high access rates. Last year I moved the actual document storage to AWS using Bruno LeGay's component. Storing large numbers of actual documents in 4D isn't really feasible. Even if you use the 'store outside of datafile' option the backups still include the physical files. And you start to run into the OS limitations on numbers of files in folders at some point. I decided to store an index of the documents in 4D, including the AWS file paths. Within 4D you can access the documents most easily with a web browser - either the user's system browser or in a web area. Or you can embed the link in a web page. I do this with images, for example. And I recommend storing two versions of images as well: a thumbnail and the actual doc.
In my workflow this is great. Referencing the documents is a snap and doesn't consume tons of my bandwidth. If the user wants to keep a copy they just download it. It would be just as easy for you to download the file as well if you actually need to. And AWS is very cost effective for this sort of task. This was a good solution for us. AWS can handle terabytes of documents in a flash and you can create sophisticated levels of security if you need it. Regardless of how much storage space you need your 4D datafile remains manageable. Kirk Brooks San Francisco, CA ======================= *We go vote - they go home* On Thu, Jan 25, 2018 at 9:39 AM, Kenneth Geiger via 4D_Tech < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > I’m beginning to work on a new project (4D v16 on Windows) for a client > that handles a LOT of physical documents for their clients. They’ve got a > huge storage issue and when they need to refer to a document, they spend > huge amounts of time searching the physical files. > > I’ve not started prototyping anything yet but I think I’ve got a viable > approach. The server will have a shared directory with a sub-directory for > each of their clients. There will be a dialog where the user enters > information about the document, including a text box where they can enter a > brief description of the document. The user would then drag-and-drop a scan > of the document onto the description text box and an “on drop” event would > trigger a document capture method. This method will have to rename the > document (the file-name will be created automatically within 4D without > changing the extension), check that the relevant sub-directory exists on > the server (and create it if it does not), and then save the renamed file > to the server. > > If any of you have done something similar, I would really appreciate any > feedback on my approach and would welcome any suggestions, pseudo-code, or > code that you would be willing to share. > > Thanks much, > > Ken Geiger > Dolores, CO > [email protected] > > ********************************************************************** > 4D Internet Users Group (4D iNUG) > FAQ: http://lists.4d.com/faqnug.html > Archive: http://lists.4d.com/archives.html > Options: http://lists.4d.com/mailman/options/4d_tech > Unsub: mailto:[email protected] > ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** 4D Internet Users Group (4D iNUG) FAQ: http://lists.4d.com/faqnug.html Archive: http://lists.4d.com/archives.html Options: http://lists.4d.com/mailman/options/4d_tech Unsub: mailto:[email protected] **********************************************************************
