Access 2003 with Windows 7

[Bill]

I am attempting to run Access 2003 with XP on a desktop and Windows 7 on my
laptop (the database is on a portable external drive and the same version of
Access 2003 on both computers. The forms were created on the XP equipped
desktop and contain among other items, labels and image boxes.

All works according to plan on the XP Desktop.

My problem is that on the Windows 7 laptop, the labels are too large in
relation to form layout and to the specified font sizes of text boxes.

More importantly images are being displayed at approx 50% of their real size
(in relation to the form and also in relation to display using Windows Photo
Viewer - the image boxes were sized around the standardized size images -
ie:- the image boxes are the correct size). So, the labels are too large and
the images are too small!

Obviously I don't wish to maintain two sets (10s of thousands) of different
sized images - is there a solution to this one?

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

Check the DPI (Dot Per Inch setting) of your display to see if they are
different. Because of various DPI between different machines; any attempt
to make a close relationship between the size of images and of the font size
and text boxes is usually very difficult.

--
Sylvain Lafontaine, ing.
MVP - Windows Live Platform
Blog/web site: http://coding-paparazzi.sylvainlafontaine.com
Independent consultant and remote programming for Access and SQL-Server
(French)

 

[Bill]

Thanks Sylvain,

Both displays are set at 96 dpi.

I would also stress that Access and Windows Photo Viewer are displaying
different sizes for the same image on the laptop (ie:- shrunken in Access
relative to WPV and the Access image box dimensions), but the same size on
the desktop.

So it definitely seems to be some interaction between Access 2003 and
Windows 7 rather than being a general problem with the laptop's display.

 

[david]

What kind of image? BMP, JPEG?

(david)

 

[jean felix]

I am attempting to run Access 2003 with XP on a desktop and Windows 7 on
my
laptop (the database is on a portable external drive and the same version
of
Access 2003 on both computers. The forms were created on the XP equipped
desktop and contain among other items, labels and image boxes.

All works according to plan on the XP Desktop.

My problem is that on the Windows 7 laptop, the labels are too large in
relation to form layout and to the specified font sizes of text boxes.

More importantly images are being displayed at approx 50% of their real
size
(in relation to the form and also in relation to display using Windows
Photo
Viewer - the image boxes were sized around the standardized size images -
ie:- the image boxes are the correct size). So, the labels are too large
and
the images are too small!

Obviously I don't wish to maintain two sets (10s of thousands) of
different
sized images - is there a solution to this one?

 

[Bill]

Hi David,

The images are jpegs.

 

[david]

Access 2003 did not, by its self, have a way to display
JPEGs, nor a way to store them in tables.

To store JPEGS in tables you need to have an OLE
image program, so that you can store the image as
an OLE object.

To display JPEGs in the image control you need to have
an Office component called a 'graphics filter'. Office 2003
did not include a 'graphics filter' for JPEGs, but it was
included in the "Office File Converter Pack". The filter
converts JPEG's to DIB's for display (so you can
avoid the whole process by just using BMP instead of
JPEG).


Office 2007 handles JPEG without the JPEG filter, it only
uses the JPEG filter for some import/export stuff.

Do you have the Office 2003 "Office File Converter Pack"
installed, or is there a different version of Office installed
on the laptop?

Other work-arounds are to use an OLE object instead
of the image control, or to use the Intel filter:
http://www.lebans.com/loadsavejpeg.htm
or the Lebans filter:
http://www.lebans.com/loadjpeggif.htm

Also, sometimes just cutting-and-pasting on the target
system will fix up problems like this.

(david)

 

[Bill]

David,

I honestly don't know.

However, the db has been running quite successfully on the XP desktop for
more than six years, quite successfully displaying jpegs (which jpegs
dependent upon file names included in db records).

The installation is from the same original disc (which includes Office SP3).
Note that the jpegs are being displayed quite successfully on the Laptop,
but at approx 50% of real size (in comparison to WPV and the Access Image Box
size)

I may be wrong, but I seem to recall that I wrote this database, and
designed the forms as they are because Access 2003 DID support jpegs.

 

[Bill]

David,

I may have misunderstood what you meant.

The jpegs themselves are not stored within the records of the db. Only the
filenames (without the .jpg extension - just to save record space) are stored
in db records. Extensive macro/VB scripting calls up the filenames within
the records to determine the names of the files to be displayed in the image
boxes.

 

[david]

No No, you did understand what I meant, that was
in addition to the OLE stuff :~)

The native graphics of Windows 95-Windows XP
was "GDI", which is a Graphics API, not a file
format. Access can write DIB (device independent
bitmap) to the GDI API. Access can convert
BMP to DIB to GDI.

Office had an extra filter to convert JPEG to DIB. You
have this installed on your XP machine, however it got
there.

So, possible problems: (1), Windows 7 graphics is
not GDI based, although it has a GDI compatibility layer.
So maybe Windows 7 does not behave exactly like
Windows XP. (2) You don't really know what software
is displaying the JPEG on Windows 7. We know that
there must be a translation filter installed, otherwise
Access would not be able to display the JPEG in an
image control, but we don't know where the translation
filter came from.

In any case, we know that the display of the JPEGs in
the paint program is not relevant, because you are using
Access and the JPEG graphics filter. However, display
of JPEG in Word 2003 would be relevant, and probably
display of JPEG in Word 2007 would be relevant if you
import or export using the filter.

So, possible solutions:
(1) Fiddle with it.some of this stuff is buggy some of the
times - see the discussion on Lebans site about the effect
of upper-and-lower-case file names -. Re-installing and
effectively changing the installation order can change what
software is in use. Installing new software can change what
software is in use.
(1a) See if installing the Office 2003 filter pack changes the behaviour
(2) Use an OLE control to display the image, using a viewer
program
(3) Use an alternative filter from Lebans

It looks like you have a bug in the resizing. This would be
because the filter you are using is not working correctly with
Windows or Access. I don't think there are any configurable
parts to those filters, I think you are looking at a bug. My
guess would be a compatibility problem between Access and
the filter it has found.

You have been lucky so far -- this kind of thing has always
been a problem using the Image control or OLE graphics on
different PC's. We got around it by letting the Clients do their
own Graphics, so they could select a graphics format which
worked on their PC. Doesn't sound like you can do that, but
I don't think you will find an easy solution. Look to what is
installed on the laptop, and see if changing it helps.

(david)

 

[Bill]

OK, I've downloaded and installed Office 2003 File Converter Pack, but this
has had no apparent effect whatsoever on the problem.

 

[david]

OK, I've downloaded and installed Office 2003 File Converter Pack, but
this
has had no apparent effect whatsoever on the problem.

OK, label's too big, image too small. What kind of graphics card in the
laptop? Is there a different version of the graphics driver you can try?
When you say Label is too big, you mean that Font is correct in proportion
to the form, but the box is too big? And other controls (combo, textbox) are
the correct size?

(david)

 

[Bill]

David,

Just a thought.....

If this is a problem of the Graphics Filter, would the problem carry over
into Word ? (Word 2003 from the same Office installation).

If so, then we are barking up the wrong tree as Word docs with jpegs are
displaying just fine.

 

[Bill]

David,

I guess all things are relative.

Relative to form size, all controls are the correct size. Since the images
are sized to the width of the image boxes, I can compare the Windows Picture
Viewer display to the displayed image box size (in Design View) and they
agree, so I think I can safely say that the images as presented by Access are
undersize rather than other things being displayed enlarged.

The label boxes still indicate the correct size and font properties, but the
displayed size has grown to the point that the label text no longer fits
within the label box size (and is therefore cropped). I'm now a little unsure
about the font size within the text boxes, so I'll check on that and get back.

I'm unsure of the Graphics Card installed, however, would not such an issue
be system wide, or at least Microsoft Office wide, rather than being solely
confined to Access?

 

[Risse]

David,

I honestly don't know.

However, the db has been running quite successfully on the XP desktop for
more than six years, quite successfully displaying jpegs (which jpegs
dependent upon file names included in db records).

The installation is from the same original disc (which includes Office
SP3).
Note that the jpegs are being displayed quite successfully on the Laptop,
but at approx 50% of real size (in comparison to WPV and the Access Image
Box
size)

I may be wrong, but I seem to recall that I wrote this database, and
designed the forms as they are because Access 2003 DID support jpegs.

 

[david]

David,

Just a thought.....

If this is a problem of the Graphics Filter, would the problem carry over
into Word ? (Word 2003 from the same Office installation).

If so, then we are barking up the wrong tree as Word docs with jpegs are
displaying just fine.

Hard to say, because the documentation is contradictory, and Lebans is
no longer working in Access. But most of Office only needs the JPEG
graphics filter (a .flt file) when doing some kinds of import/export, or
working
with some kinds of JPEG, or working with JPEG with the right/wrong file
extension (.jpg/JPG/jpeg/JPEG). Seeing the same problem would be definitive:
not seeing the same problem is only indicative.

We are probably looking at the failure or different behaviour of one
particular
API call, so no, a problem with your Graphics Driver would not be system-
-wide. It could be a problem only with applications that depend on that
particular API in one particular way (that is, unusual behaviour in Access
matching a bug in the graphics driver). Actually, this is the normal
behaviour
of graphics driver bugs: if it showed up everywhere, it would have been
fixed. But that's the normal behaviour of all bugs: If it's a bug in Access
and
showed up everywhere it would have been fixed.

Windows will sometimes substitute fonts if the correct font is not
available,
so for your font problem you need to check that the font displays correctly
in some other program.

I haven't come up with any new ideas for fixing this. You can try installing
the extra office filter pack, try using one of the Lebans filters, try using
an
OLE object, try changing your graphics driver, but it's all just 'trying'.
Apart
from the DPI, there is no obvious fix.

(david)

 

[ElaineJ]

Re: Access 2003 Windows 7 / Vista jpg size problem

David,

I am having exactly the same problem as Bill. However, I am working with approximately 50 XP-SP3 machines. I support a variety of desktops which include HP, Dell, Compaq, etc. They have a variety of graphics cards and monitors. All of these machines are running vanilla Office 2003 – all installed exactly the same. They do not have Office 2007 installed.

We have one MS Access application which reads and displays jpgs on a report via VBA. The jpgs are not part of the MS Access application, but are stored in their own libraries. When the report is loaded, it selects the appropriate jpg to use as a form. Data from the MS Access application is placed on the report in exactly the correct location on the jpg form. This application has been running in production for over 3 years without problems. Since these jpgs represent specific ‘parts’, there are hundreds of them, all sized exactly to serve this purpose.

At this time, I support 1 Vista machine and 3 Windows 7-64 machines. Again, they are a mix of machines – desktops and laptops with different graphics cards and monitors. They are also running Office 2003, installed exactly the same as the XP-SP3 machines (same network installation).

The MS Access application does not work correctly on Vista or Windows 7-64. The jpgs display at about ½ the size they should display. Since the forms and the data no longer line up, it makes the application unusable.

After reading this entire post, I decided to try a bmp file instead of a jpg file. The bmp file also did not display correctly on both XP and Vista/Windows 7. However, the problem was reversed. It displayed smaller on the XP machines. Also, the jpg file is 121 KB. The bmp file (exactly the same resolution and dimension) is 2 MB.

I am trying to resolve this problem without having to move my entire staff to Windows 7 at the same time and also re-create every part image. I would appreciate any advice you have on the subject.

 

[ElaineJ]

I am attempting to run Access 2003 with XP on a desktop and Windows 7 on my
laptop (the database is on a portable external drive and the same version of
Access 2003 on both computers. The forms were created on the XP equipped
desktop and contain among other items, labels and image boxes.

All works according to plan on the XP Desktop.

My problem is that on the Windows 7 laptop, the labels are too large in
relation to form layout and to the specified font sizes of text boxes.

More importantly images are being displayed at approx 50% of their real size
(in relation to the form and also in relation to display using Windows Photo
Viewer - the image boxes were sized around the standardized size images -
ie:- the image boxes are the correct size). So, the labels are too large and
the images are too small!

Obviously I don't wish to maintain two sets (10s of thousands) of different
sized images - is there a solution to this one?

Bill, I have a problem which sounds like to yours. (See my post below) However my problem resides on a multitude of machines and printers. I have been working with the folks at Windows Secrets. We have not discovered the source of the problem, but it appears to be the way the operating system interprets some of the jpg parameters. We did find that if your set your image control on your report or form to ZOOM, the size of the image is the same in both operating system. Zoom fills your control without losing the aspect ratio of your image. When you use ZOOM, you may have to re-arrange your text and label controls one time. Then it should be stable in both systems. I am still testing this on a variety of reports and machines, but it seems to work.