OLE vs Attachment field

[JGPatrick]

Is there ever any reason to use an OLE field rather than an attachment field,
if you
are not worried about backward compatibility?

 

[Allen Browne]

Attachment is a multi-valued field (MVF), so it does impose some additional
restrictions on your database (e.g. some queries won't work, some code that
doesn't test for fields that contains fields won't work, won't upsize, ...)

However, OLE fields prior to 2007 were incredibly inefficient in storage, so
not really useful anyway.

A third alternative is to use a text field to store the fully qualified file
name (including path and extension). This avoids the MVF issues, and the
bloat issues. You can then FollowHyperlink to view the file. Or, if these
are images, you can display it by setting the Control Source of an Image
control to this text field (new in A2007.)

 

[JGPatrick]

Thanks, Allen.

These are splendid ideas. I will probably use these methods as much as
possible rather than OLE or attachment fields.

 

[Jet Ledgard]

In your post, you give the third option:
A third alternative is to use a text field to store the fully qualified file name (including path and extension). This avoids the MVF issues, and the
bloat issues. You can then FollowHyperlink to view the file. Or, if these are images, you can display it by setting the Control Source of an Image control to this text field (new in A2007.)

How do I go about this (the last part)? do I put the path/file name "c:documents/images/myimage.htm" into a new text field tImagePathFile in the table tblCustDocs and then enter this fieldname as the record source on an image control imgViewDoc in my form??

I tried adding a new TEXT field to my table, then added the full path to my image into the field for one customer's record. Finally, I added an image control into my form, and in the row source I added the field name... It doesn't work? Should it be a hyperlink field in the table? or what do I do?

My goal is to have access to the image in form view, but not bloat the database as there will be many images... which can just as well be saved in a folder in the network instead... If there's a best way, please let me know...

Thx for ur help~


jet