Batch import of image hyperlinks

[Jojo]

Whew!, I have 45,000+ images in a folder all named by a code (i.e.,
4567.tiff), I have an access table with descriptions for each of the photos.
I need to create a may to many relatioship, which I beleive I can do (since
one description can go to many photos and many descritpions can go to one
photo). From reading the boardsa I know I want to link images, but how do I
link by batch so I odn't have to manually enter in each hypelrink?....I know
just enough to be dangerous I guess because my end result is to have a visual
basic GUI accessing the access tables and displaying the images....sort of a
many-to-many description photo database.

Am I way over my head here?...I think I can handle the visual basic...just
dont know how to get all the file links into access....

If I am over my head...how much am I looking to spend ...ballpark ...for
someone to do this real fast?...I am a dental school student trying to get a
patient history presetnation done that will blow the professors socks off!

Thanks in advance!

 

[John Nurick]

Hi Jojo,

I guess the filenames must be in your table already, because without
that there's no way of knowing which description goes with which photo.
The following links show ways of handling images stored in external
files:

http://www.mvps.org/access/forms/frm0030.htm
http://www.datastrat.com/DataStrat2.html
http://accdevel.tripod.com/imaging.htm

For the "descriptions", it's hard to make firm suggestions without
knowing what's in your existing table. The kind of structure one would
expect in an image database is something like this (* indicates a field
is, or is in, the primary key):

tblImages
ImageID*
Title
Description
FileName
Date
Author
CopyrightHolder
CopyrightInformation

tblKeywords
Keyword* - e.g. "Fish", "Flesh", "Red", "Herring"

tblImagesKeywords (this is what implements the M:M relationship)
ImageID*
Keyword*

Are you thinking of parsing each description into a set of keywords?

 

[Jojo]

thanks for the reply...the filename are not in my table ...that is my main
problem ...I have the descriptions but thqt is it....I need to populate the
table with 45,000+ links to photos within a file on my desktop...I can only
see how access lets you type in one hyperlink at a time.....

 

[John Nurick]

If the filenames are not in your table, how do *you* know which
descriptions apply to which photos?

To get the filenames into a table, do this:

1) Open a command prompt (MS-DOS window); usually this is in
Start|Programs|Accessories.

2) Use the CD command to navigate to the folder with the photos, e.g.
CD "C:\Documents\Dental photos"

3) Use the command
DIR *.jpg /B > "Photo names.txt"

This creates a textfile containing the names which you can import into
Access. Then you presumably face the happy task of creating potentially
hundreds of thousands of links between files and descriptions...

 

[Jojo]

That helps a ton..thanks

If the filenames are not in your table, how do *you* know which
descriptions apply to which photos?

To get the filenames into a table, do this:

1) Open a command prompt (MS-DOS window); usually this is in
Start|Programs|Accessories.

2) Use the CD command to navigate to the folder with the photos, e.g.
CD "C:\Documents\Dental photos"

3) Use the command
DIR *.jpg /B > "Photo names.txt"

This creates a textfile containing the names which you can import into
Access. Then you presumably face the happy task of creating potentially
hundreds of thousands of links between files and descriptions...