Help with attachments

[Wilson1218]

Hello, I have multiple attachments (.png files) in each record of my database, and I was wondering if you could tie a button in a form to the attachments in such a way that pressing a button would display the corresponding image. Example: I have 4 .png attachments in each record. I want to have 4 buttons, where clicking button 1 displays picture 1 in the allocated place in the form (pre-defined in design view), button 2 does the same for picture 2 etc.



Can anyone help?

Thanks!

Wilson

[Micron]

Storing attachments in tables is ill advised. An image control with it's path property set to be the location of the image would be better. Then you wouldn't need a button to see it - it would just be there. If that slowed down the form too much (network traffic/speed, image file size, etc. are factors) then I suppose a button or something similar could be used, but how would I know which one to click if I can't see the image?
Alternatively, there is the OLE bound control (at least I think so - have never used it for images) but that requires the image to be an attachment in a table, which could work if you insist on that approach. As for buttons, I'm not a macro user so I can't say in that regard, but vba code could make the image visible if you're not using one of the other two methods.

[Wilson1218]

They have to be attachments for other reasons.

You would know which button because each 'picture 1' across all records has something in common, but I was asking HOW I might do something like that.

Thanks!

Wilson

[June7]

Is each image in its own field? An Attachment type field?

[Wilson1218]

No, 4 attachments (or sometimes more) in a single attachment field.

[June7]

But if you sometimes have more than 4 images, 4 buttons will not be enough.

An attachment field is a type of multi-value field. AFAIK, addressing the individual items stored in a multi-value field requires expanding the field in a query so each item is a record.

An Image control bound to an attachment field with multiple images knows how to deal with the multiple images - a navigation bar is associated with the Image control so users can navigate the images. Using code to navigate this control is not something I have explored.

[Wilson1218]

Ok, how would I use an image control? I've never heard of it. A navigation bar would work for my purposes.

[June7]

Drag the attachment field from the Field List onto form. Should automatically create Image control. Switch to form view. Click on the control and a little navigation bar should appear above the Image control.