Web Image embeded in Access Report

I want to embed web images into an access report.

I have an access report that currently works perfectly pulling images in and displaying them from a local drive for each record.

I want to keep this and add functionality to include images from a web site but it doesn't work when i put in http://www.blablabla.com/bla/bla.jpg into the image file location field. This works with no problems when w:/Bla/Bla/Supplierimages/Bla/bla.jpg is used.

I would have thought that there would have been no problems as its just a link to an image location. The link location is stored as a text field and i can display the image location in the report but not the image itself.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

MarcusMaximus said:

I want to embed web images into an access report.

I have an access report that currently works perfectly pulling images in and displaying them from a local drive for each record.

I want to keep this and add functionality to include images from a web site but it doesn't work when i put in http://www.blablabla.com/bla/bla.jpg into the image file location field. This works with no problems when w:/Bla/Bla/Supplierimages/Bla/bla.jpg is used.

I would have thought that there would have been no problems as its just a link to an image location. The link location is stored as a text field and i can display the image location in the report but not the image itself.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Click to expand...

If you first download the image from the web, then you will be able to link to the file.

See:

Download a file from a URL

Hope this helps ...

HiTechCoach said:

If you first download the image from the web, then you will be able to link to the file.

See:

Download a file from a URL

Hope this helps ...

Click to expand...

Thanks but I don't think the solution will work as the are lots of images on our website that we want to possibly link to. Downloading the images defeats the purpose of what I am trying to achieve.

MarcusMaximus said:

Thanks but I don't think the solution will work as the are lots of images on our website that we want to possibly link to. Downloading the images defeats the purpose of what I am trying to achieve.

Click to expand...

It may not seam like the perfect solution, but it really is the best way. It really does not defeat the purpose.

Why would I say that?

Let me explain ....

My recommendation works exactly like how a web browser does it when you view a page. When you view a web page with images, all the images for a page are first downloaded to the browser's temporary cache on the hard drive. The browser displays the images from the your hard drive, not directly from the web site.

When you view web pages, you are really viewing files that were first downloaded onto your hard drive.

What I am proposing is doing exactly the same thing your web browser does with your access report.

For Access or even a web browser to display images from a web site, they must first be downloaded. So Access will need a internet temp cache folder just like a web browser uses.

Overview of how to make a report work similar to web browser:

1) When the report opens, I download all the images to a folder. (I create a temp cache folder)

2) Within the report, link to the images on the local hard drive (temp cache).

3) When the report closes I delete all the images

Hope this helps ...

Apologies if I sounded a little ungrateful in the reply. I misinterpreted your recommendation.

I tried to implement the the following in my report http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;285820 with a few changes to suite the report as the solution is for forms. I got the image to display in a form as a test but couldn't get it to work in the report.

I will give your recommendation a try. Seems very straight forward but i imagine there's a lot of work involved. I'll leave you know how it goes.
Thanks.

MarcusMaximus said:

Apologies if I sounded a little ungrateful in the reply. I misinterpreted your recommendation.

I tried to implement the the following in my report http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;285820 with a few changes to suite the report as the solution is for forms. I got the image to display in a form as a test but couldn't get it to work in the report.

I will give your recommendation a try. Seems very straight forward but i imagine there's a lot of work involved. I'll leave you know how it goes.
Thanks.

Click to expand...

It really is not that much work to code.

See if this example helps:

Picture in a Report

Demonstrates a method of displaying a picture/image file in a report without storing the image in a table.

Click to expand...