Frank,Many thanks. And thanks to all who have provided suggestions and comments.
Thanks for the link to Wiki references - big help (again big thanks to Drew for
all his efforts). >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.How can I follow this issue as I think this
will be the main limiting factor to the scalability of what I want to do? Just
quick update and one last question - I connected Base to MySQL with JDBC, and
am now happily messing around making forms etc, Sun Report Builder also
presenting images stored in MySQL (yes I know this approach only goes so far -
but is good for me for now). Basically with the existing Base capabilites (and
no macro building) I am able to do (for me) the most important bits of what I
need. The missing piece is being able to work with photos and update the
picture metadata (my question 3).Base forms / Sun Report Builder seem to
provide 90% of the functionality I would need. I "Just" need to change front
end e.g. stick bits of a Base form, plus draw / impress (don't know enough
about either yet to know what I want!!). I know this is a gross simplification
and I in no way mean to take from the effort (years) and expertise (which I
don't have) needed to produce such things. I simply think it much better to
stand on shoulders of giants, not reinvent the wheel etc....something like
Drews report runner which can work with different Open office applications
(Report Builder and the Base wizard)..... Q5 - How do I look at / poach bits of
code used in Report Builder / Runner etc? Or is that just a stupid idea? Many
thanks,Darren> Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:31:45 +0100> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]> Subject: Re: [dba-users] creating an apication to
handle images......> > 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 -> - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -> >
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