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Bloat with Linked OLE/Best Practice for OLE Links

 
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jimo

External


Since: Apr 29, 2008
Posts: 6



(Msg. 1) Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:28 am
Post subject: Bloat with Linked OLE/Best Practice for OLE Links
Archived from groups: microsoft>public>access>tablesdbdesign (more info?)

I am having a problem with database bloat. I have confirmed that the bloat
is caused by a table of OLE images that are used to store links to documents
stored on a fileshare. The database is not storing the full OLE files, just
links to them.

These OLE images (typically Visio diagrams, Word Docs, or Excel
Spreadsheets) are then printed in a report. Converting the images to jpegs
does not appear to be a good solution for us, as many of the linked OLE
documents continue to evolve and we don't want to have to keep saving
separate copies of the documents/images.

Approximately 150 linked OLE images are consuming almost 900 MB of disk
space. What can I do to eliminate this bloat? Are there better ways for
storing references to Microsoft Office documents and printing them in reports?
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vbasean

External


Since: Apr 03, 2008
Posts: 87



(Msg. 2) Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 1:27 pm
Post subject: RE: Bloat with Linked OLE/Best Practice for OLE Links [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)

are you using a hyperlink field to store the link?
is the directory to all these files the same or close?
why not create a default directory that reaches the root of where all these
files are and then have your field only store the sub directory and then link
them together in a function?
You could have a text field (as long as the sub directory never exceeds 255
characters) and that would take up a whole lot less space.
where to store teh default directory. A table? I've created tables in my
db (or a single table) dedicated to storing the databases default values.
Add a memo field to the table to store your default directory for this
certain application.
--
~Your Friend Chris
http://myvbastuff.blogspot.com/
thinking out loud


"jimo" wrote:

> I am having a problem with database bloat. I have confirmed that the bloat
> is caused by a table of OLE images that are used to store links to documents
> stored on a fileshare. The database is not storing the full OLE files, just
> links to them.
>
> These OLE images (typically Visio diagrams, Word Docs, or Excel
> Spreadsheets) are then printed in a report. Converting the images to jpegs
> does not appear to be a good solution for us, as many of the linked OLE
> documents continue to evolve and we don't want to have to keep saving
> separate copies of the documents/images.
>
> Approximately 150 linked OLE images are consuming almost 900 MB of disk
> space. What can I do to eliminate this bloat? Are there better ways for
> storing references to Microsoft Office documents and printing them in reports?
>
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jimo

External


Since: Apr 29, 2008
Posts: 6



(Msg. 3) Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:08 pm
Post subject: RE: Bloat with Linked OLE/Best Practice for OLE Links [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)

I'm using an OLE field to store the link, as we need to be able to include
the image in reports. Storing the files in a directory isn't the problem -
the issue is that the database file is growing like crazy even though we are
only storing the OLE as a link...

"vbasean" wrote:

> are you using a hyperlink field to store the link?
> is the directory to all these files the same or close?
> why not create a default directory that reaches the root of where all these
> files are and then have your field only store the sub directory and then link
> them together in a function?
> You could have a text field (as long as the sub directory never exceeds 255
> characters) and that would take up a whole lot less space.
> where to store teh default directory. A table? I've created tables in my
> db (or a single table) dedicated to storing the databases default values.
> Add a memo field to the table to store your default directory for this
> certain application.
> --
> ~Your Friend Chris
> http://myvbastuff.blogspot.com/
> thinking out loud
>
>
> "jimo" wrote:
>
> > I am having a problem with database bloat. I have confirmed that the bloat
> > is caused by a table of OLE images that are used to store links to documents
> > stored on a fileshare. The database is not storing the full OLE files, just
> > links to them.
> >
> > These OLE images (typically Visio diagrams, Word Docs, or Excel
> > Spreadsheets) are then printed in a report. Converting the images to jpegs
> > does not appear to be a good solution for us, as many of the linked OLE
> > documents continue to evolve and we don't want to have to keep saving
> > separate copies of the documents/images.
> >
> > Approximately 150 linked OLE images are consuming almost 900 MB of disk
> > space. What can I do to eliminate this bloat? Are there better ways for
> > storing references to Microsoft Office documents and printing them in reports?
> >
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Fred

External


Since: Jun 26, 2006
Posts: 484



(Msg. 4) Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 5:38 am
Post subject: RE: Bloat with Linked OLE/Best Practice for OLE Links [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)

I know OLE only as a generality, I'm not enough jock to know the fine points
of it's architecture or terminology. But it's well established that when one
uses an OLE field type to put images into an Access DB (at least through
2003, 2007 is rumored to be better) the DB undergoes exponential bloat.
Despite the "L" in the field type name, the experts (which I am not) refer
to this as being stored "in" the table. I learned from a zillion experts to
store them separately (simply files in a seperate folder), store their path /
file name in a table (typically a text field or 2) and then use code to make
them display in forms and reports.

Not sure if this helps a little.
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jimo

External


Since: Apr 29, 2008
Posts: 6



(Msg. 5) Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:58 am
Post subject: RE: Bloat with Linked OLE/Best Practice for OLE Links [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)

Thanks Fred.

What you describe does make sense and would certainly be a preferable
solution, but my understanding is that there is not a reliable way to display
an OLE image/file in a report via code referencing the path of the file. I
understand that this is reasonably straightforward for jpegs, but that it
doesn't work for OLE files (Word, Visio, etc). Any pointers to the contrary
would be welcome!




"Fred" wrote:

> I know OLE only as a generality, I'm not enough jock to know the fine points
> of it's architecture or terminology. But it's well established that when one
> uses an OLE field type to put images into an Access DB (at least through
> 2003, 2007 is rumored to be better) the DB undergoes exponential bloat.
> Despite the "L" in the field type name, the experts (which I am not) refer
> to this as being stored "in" the table. I learned from a zillion experts to
> store them separately (simply files in a seperate folder), store their path /
> file name in a table (typically a text field or 2) and then use code to make
> them display in forms and reports.
>
> Not sure if this helps a little.
>
>
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