Hi Darren, > Specifically: 1) use base to store photo metadata such as image size, > when taken, > where taken, species recorded, plus location where photo is stored on > the server (reality my laptop so nothing clever needed here but would > like to leave door open for future developments online access etc) - > from some fairly hasty google searches it seems best to not store the > image but rather the file location for the image (I use windows vista > please don't hold it against me). Q1 - is storing the file location > possible in Base? > > 2) Create forms to make entering the data "easy" - Q2 = how do I tell > a Base form field is a file location for an image? > I will want to be able to use this field to produce a report with the > pretty pictures (I have OO 3.0.0, with sun report builder 1.0.5 - so > think I can handle this from Drews' earlier postings - see below)
In general, all you described so far is possible with creating the database structure you need, and an OpenOffice.org database document referring to this DB, plus containing forms to present the data to the user, and allow to edit it. Storing a file location is merely a matter of having a text field in your database table, the interpretation of being a link to some picture is done outside the table. That said, up to OOo 3.0 there is macro logic required to load a picture referenced in a table field, and display it to the user. Should not be overly complicated, though. In 3.1, the normal image control in forms is capable of being bound to a text table field, and then interprets the content of this field as link (relative or absolute) to the image. However, your question about reports reminds me that in fact we did not care for reports here - i.e., if in a SRB-report, you bind an image control to the database field containing the image URL, then this won't work. Hmm, need to submit a follow-up issue for this. Sadly, the reports offer as many scripting facilities as forms do, so I think it would currently not be possible to just add some macro logic to get this functionality. > 3) Be able to compare photos side by side and update the Base > metadata. E.g. I want to be able to compare photos of different > jaguars to see if they are the same or not. So I would need to be > able to see 2 photos side by side and have some sort of form entry > capability so I update the Base field with a code which identifies > the individuals. Q3 - how simple is it to combine functionality of > Base and draw /impress (not really sure which is best suited or might > need parts of both)? As I would like to be able to zoom into the > photos, scroll up and down, scroll to the next field (windows should > be independent) , adjust contrast, update fields without switching > between applications etc There's no built-in support for connecting Base forms to Impress. Again, this would require macros, of medium complexity, I suppose. Something like when you click a button near an image control, copy this image to a temporary file, load it in Draw, and when the document closes, copy the image back. > 4) Q4 - How do I wrap all this in a user friendly frontend / GUI? > This is last on my list as if you can help me to manage the first 3 points > I can then worry about this. Decide for a DB backend (MySQL comes to my mind, *embedded* HSQLDB will certainly not scale up to that many binary data). Build the DB structure, build some forms, write some macros, done :) Some getting-started documents can be found here: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Base#Manuals. Others here usually have more recommendations for entry literature. In general, if you need a helping hand, you're welcome to describe your problems here in the list, and we'll try our best to help. Ciao Frank -- - Frank Schönheit, Software Engineer [EMAIL PROTECTED] - - Sun Microsystems http://www.sun.com/staroffice - - OpenOffice.org Base http://dba.openoffice.org - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
