Photo Software

[JohnC]

Kurt,

Maybe I'll have to take another look at Filemaker. I had Filemaker 4.0 and did not think much of it.! But listening to you it may be time to try a later version. Is 7.0 the latest?

John C

Originally posted by kurt

If you want to do all that, just buy InspectExpress; it's got it all goin' on w/the photo insertion thingiemabob in a Word based program.

InspectExpress' most current release is the nicest Word based report/photo insertion option available, IMHO. And, I think most folks that know me would tell you I'm not a suckup; even though I love TIJ, if the program was a load, I'd say so.

OK, that said, I don't think the dentist wants what folks are proffering. He's looking for a way to database & archive images for customers. Word can be worked w/in various gymnastic gyrations to accomplish this, but a robust relational database will store the .jpeg images, not just display them in indexes and columns. With the right notations & descriptions, photos are "word searchable", so if one has several thousand images (like me), one can look them up w/a simple query.

And, if one is so inclined, these photo files can be "related" w/customer info/data files in all sorts of ways to allow reports that can be altered & collated in different ways so you can change w/what new times might bring.

IOW, it's a photo storage and archiving tool. Word is a photo display tool. If I got that wrong, I'm open to correction.

Folks are so hepped up on Word nowadays, they simply miss the options and benefits of a relational database. And, I'm not talking about 3D, or any of other proprietary models; I'm talking about a fully functioning standalone database.

Filemaker still has detractors, usually coming from ranks of folks that used the pre-5.0 version; it was sort of a "toy" DB at that time. We're not in Kansas anymore; v7.0 blew the doors open on capability.

For example, the State of Nebraska uses it for their Dept. of Motor Vehicle records. Several Fortune 500 companies (Genentech, Apple, Humana, and yes, even IBM, use it for special database applications.

Several cardiologists of my acquaintance are using it for specialized photo recording of surgical procedures, tying it to research projects all over the globe. It's really, really amazing what can be done w/this $279 piece of software. And, it's still got that wonderful sort of "Mac" intuitive-ness that allows non-computer morons like myself to play.

All that macro stuff can be shelved; Filemaker has a wonderful Scripting engine that pretty much allows all these various tasks to be "programmed" simply by making choices from pull down menus.

Here's another cool thing; the same container fields that are used for storing .jpeg's, can also store .pdf files, other image types, and Quicktime movies. I'm experimenting w/a new file that links Quicktime movie's w/customer's houses. If you want to review a file, you double click, on the "image", and it plays a movie in your report. Try that w/Word. Yes, it's unnecessary and sort of silly, but it's really foooking cool.

I'm working on my magnum opus image DB now; I've got the entire CodeCheck image collection, my photos, Quicktime movies, and several .pdf's, all in one file, all word searchable, all displayable (is that a word?), in any manner of report formats. Hoo Hah...

I'd love to do a Filemaker presentation; I think folks jaws would be on the floor.

[kurt]

v4.0 was pretty much worthless; it was an extremely lame version. It was only out about 3 months when they released v5.0.

v7.0 is something like 4 or 5 terrabytes of capacity (meaning you could put about 10 Library of Congress' in there), and the layout options and scripting is vastly superior. And the container fields can hold images, music, movies, .pdf's, etc.

Don't think it will only do what the amateur hour instruction manual tells you. When you get w/a real FM developer, they can make it do stuff you wouldn't believe. It's a lifetime sort of application.