OLE Object Linking

[Guest]

Have OLE Objects to show pictures in numerous forms and reports, just
recently we maxed out the database size. These objects have been changed to
"imageframes" and linked to the picture file but editting now is a chore, use
to double click on the OLE frame & the picture would come up in Microsoft
Word picture editor, now it comes up in Paint! On all OLE Object properties
there is an "OLE Type Allowed", that was set to "Either." Would simply
changing this defalt to "Linked" do the same as performing all the coding &
shrink up the database file size?

 

[Larry Linson]

Have OLE Objects to show pictures in
numerous forms and reports, just
recently we maxed out the database size.
These objects have been changed to
"imageframes" and linked to the picture
file but editting now is a chore, use
to double click on the OLE frame & the
picture would come up in Microsoft
Word picture editor, now it comes up in Paint!
On all OLE Object properties there is an "OLE
Type Allowed", that was set to "Either." Would
simply changing this defalt to "Linked" do the
same as performing all the coding &
shrink up the database file size?

I think you'll find that even if you define your OLE Objects as "linked" to
the image, you'll still suffer severe database bloat, because Access and the
COM-automation-enabled imaging software on your computer will create a
bitmap thumnail picture which is almost invariably larger than the original
image file.

From an event on your Image Control, you might try executing code that
SHELLs to the image processing software of your choice.

The sample imaging databases at http://accdevel.tripod.com illustrate three
approaches to handling images in Access, and the download includes an
article discussing considerations in choosing an approach. Two of the
approaches do not use OLE Objects and, thus, avoid the database bloat, and
some other problems, associated with images in OLE Objects.

If you are printing the images in reports, to avoid memory leakage, you
should also see MVP Stephen Lebans' http://www.lebans.com/printfailures.htm.
PrintFailure.zip is an Access97 MDB containing a report that fails during
the Access formatting process prior to being spooled to the Printer Driver.
This MDB also contains code showing how to convert the contents of the Image
control to a Bitmap file prior to printing. This helps alleviate the "Out of
Memory" error that can popup when printing image intensive reports.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP