ACC2000: How to Display Image in Form Without Storing It in Table

• Microsoft Access 2000

SUMMARY

This article shows you how you can display images on a form with only the path and file name stored in the Microsoft Access table.

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MORE INFORMATION

Sometimes it is not practical to store images in a Microsoft Access table. If you have a large number of images, or if each of your image files is large, the size of the Microsoft Access database file can rapidly increase.

The following example show you how to display Windows bitmap images on an Access form without storing the images in an Access table. Although this example use bitmap images (.bmp), other image types will also work, for example, .jpg, .pcx, and .gif.

1. Open the sample Access database file Northwind.mdb or the sample Access Project file NorthwindCS.adp.



2. Create the following table in either Northwind.mdb or NorthwindCS.adp.
   
   In Northwind.mdb:

   
      Table: ImageTable
      ----------------------------
      Field Name: ImageID
      Data Type: Auto
      Indexed: Yes (No Duplicates)
   
      Field Name: ImagePath
      Data Type: Text
   
      Table Properties: ImageTable
      ----------------------------
      PrimaryKey: ImageID 

   In NorthwindCS.adp:




   Table: ImageTable
   ----------------------
   Column Name: ImageID
   Datatype: int
   Allow Nulls: Unchecked
   Identity: Checked

   Column Name: ImagePath
   Datatype: varchar

   Table Properties: ImageTable
   -------------------------------
   Primary Key Constraint: ImageID 

3. Open the Imagetable table in Datasheet view and add the path and name of a bitmap file to each record. The following examples show how the records might look:

   
      C:\Windows\Circles.bmp
      C:\Windows\Waves.bmp
      C:\Windows\Tiles.bmp
      C:\Windows\Bubbles.bmp 

4. Create the following new form based on the ImageTable table:




   Form: Test1
   -------------------------
   Caption: TestForm
   ControlSource: ImageTable

   Image Control
   ---------------------------------
   Name: ImageFrame
   Caption: My Image
   Picture: "C:\Windows\Circles.bmp"

   Text box
   ----------------------
   Name: txtImageID
   ControlSource: ImageID 

Note that the Picture property of the Image control has been set to the pathname for the first image; the Image control must have a valid Picture property in Design view.


5. Set the Imageform form's OnCurrent property to the following event procedure:




Private Sub Form_Current()
   On Error Resume Next
   Me![ImageFrame].Picture = Me![ImagePath]
End Sub 

6. Set the AfterUpdate property of the ImagePath text box to the following event procedure:




Private Sub Form_AfterUpdate()
   On Error Resume Next
   Me![ImageFrame].Picture = Me![ImagePath]
End Sub 

7. Open the Imageform form in Form view. Note that the form displays the corresponding bitmap for each record.

REFERENCES

For more information about setting event properties, click Microsoft Access Help on the Help menu, type "event" in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view "Events: Making your database objects work together."

For more information about the OleTypeAllowed, click Microsoft Access Help on the Help menu, type OleTypeAllowed in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

For more information about the SourceDoc property, click Microsoft Access Help on the Help menu, type SourceDoc in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbinterop kbole kbdta AccCon FmsHowto KbVBA
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto