QuickLabel Designer Pro - Manual (Page 114)

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4. Select the appropriate variable from the list of available variables.
5. Click on the label where you want to create the variable image object.
Hint! If all images are of the same file format and you store all images in the same folder you can
define a prefix and suffix to the variable. When the variable will obtain the image name as its value,
prefix will provide the path to the image and suffix will provide the file extensions. This way the
whole path and extension of the graphics file will be added automatically, you just have to provide
the image name.
For example: If you set the variable prefix to "C:\GRAPHICS\" and suffix to ".JPG" while the var-
iable has the value "ROSE", the result will be "C:\GRAPHICS\ROSE.JPG". The labeling software
will try to locate this image and use it on the label.
When you define graphics as an variable object (some variable defines the path an filename of the
picture), the labeling software does not know the size of the picture in advance, because this infor-
mation is provided only at print or preview time. Until the picture name is known, the picture is pre-
viewed as a question mark.
Usually you will print the images from files that originate in some file system. However, you can
also use the images that are stored in the database BLOB fields. In this case there is no filename on
the disk; the whole image is in fact stored in the database.
Using Variable Pictures from Blob Fields
You can use the pictures stored in the database BLOB fields. These database fields do not contain
the reference to the image location in some file system (path and filename), but contain the image
itself. The labeling software will read the data from the BLOB field.
If the data from blob field is identified as the image it will display as the image on the label, when
you link such database variable with the picture object. You can connect such field to any label
object, not only picture object. But the field value will be as follows:
[IMAGE ext=XXX] ID
where:
XXX stands for the image extension that defines the image type
ID stands for the internal number that identifies each image from the database uniquely.
When you use the BLOB fields with MS SQL database server, you can embed different image types
into the fields (BMP, JPEG, GIF, PCX, TIFF, PNG, TGA, PXM, ICO, JP2, J2K). However, when
you use some other database type, not all types might be accessible. Bitmap (BMP) format is always
supported.
Handle Missing Images
The labeling software remembers the path and filename of the picture that you place on the label.
Each time you open the label, the labeling software checks if the pictures is accessible and then uses
it on the label. If the picture is missing, you will see a warning dialog box. You can:
l
Ignore the error and temporarily design the label without the needed picture.
l
Discard the missing picture and permanently remove it from the label.
l
Browse to the missing picture if you have changed the picture folder location or file-
name.