How to print images in Base reports.

I have a music database running on LO Office V5.2.5.1. (X64) on Windows 10 Pro. The database is running as a “split” database with the back-end on a Windows server.

This database consists of several tables, two of which are Albums and Tracks. In these I list all the information regarding the album title, artist, year and writers, producers etc for each track, and I have a field for the album art. This is defined as BLOB (BLOB). I have inserted image files into each record (about 1500). The form used for data input works fine and displays the images perfectly in a 4 x 4 cm control on the form. Other forms used to display the result of queries also display the images correctly.

I have a requirement to occasionally print out the full details of an album. To do this I have a report pointed at a query which queries both tables and produces the required information and then displays it on the screen so that I can then print it. However the image files do not appear on the report. I have manually inserted the field into the report because the wizard does not list the field as available. When the report runs there is a space where the image should be.

My question is: does base actually support inserting images from a table into a report? If so how do I do it? What I do not want to do is to have to put all the image files into a directory and point the field to these so that it loads each one on demand.

Yes Report Builder handles these images. I have used LONGBLOB fields in my past testing without problem. They are inserted into reports using the Image control tied to the Table or Query field. They can be placed in headers or detail depending upon your need. Have also done this with other report builders. A bit more on this can be found in the documentation - Chapter 6 Reports on page #13 - click here.

Many thanks for your reply, I will have a look at this. At first glance it is exactly what I am looking for. I will get back to you later.

Hi, sorry for the delay in getting back to you, but I have been doing a bit more digging.

On my Windows10 system I run the database in split configuration with the back-end on a Windows server. I have, some time ago, upgraded this to HSQL V2.2.

On my Linux (Fedora) system I am still running HSQL V1.8. When I quickly knock up a test database, enter some records and produce a report the images are there.

I guess the report does not work correctly with HSQL V2.2.

Any suggestions?

Have further tested with embedded v1.8, split v2.3.3 and MySQL. v1.8 and MySQL work without a problem. v2.3.3, as you mentioned, did not display the images. However, I don’t believe it is HSQL but rather Report Builder. Using the same split DB and HSQL v2.3.3 and Pentaho Report Designer, the images print correctly. I believe the Pentaho report engine is used in Report Builder but maybe not up-to-date.

Thanks for the further information. I am not familiar with Pentaho. Can this be “embedded” into the Base front-end or would I have to use this as a stand-alone report builder and connect it to my DB back-end?
I guess I should also raise a bug-report.

Thanks for the further information. I am not familiar with Pentaho. Can this be “embedded” into the Base front-end or would I have to use this as a stand-alone report builder and connect it to my DB back-end?
I guess I should also raise a bug-report.

A Bug report would be appropriate. Here is the link for Pentaho - click here. The worst part of Pentaho is learning how to set up the DB connections. It is an open source stand alone and works with most DB’s. I do prefer Dynamic Reports which is Java based and runs under Eclipse. Tough to initially learn but after that fairly easy to create precise reports.

Many thanks for your help. I will look at these report builders and decide which is best. What I really wanted was a report which I could print directly from a form in Base. I doubt that a bug fix would be very high on the priority list because it works with the embedded HSQL V1.8. I will raise the bug report when I have a bit of spare time.

Once again many thanks for your help. I upgraded my HSQL to 2.3.3 and repeated the exercise with the same result. I have raised a bug report # 106376.