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[Fairlight]

When asked his whereabouts on Thu, Aug 03, 2006 at 08:48:37AM -0700,
ivan chason took the fifth, drank it, and then slurred:
> 
> Now where would using the BLOB command fit into all of
> this.  I'm still hoping to some how stream line the
> way that images are viewed.  Now we use a system
> command and I would like to contain everything within
> FilePro's functionality.  I just really don't have an
> understanding of how the BLOB function works.

It [BLOB] wouldn't [fit into all of this], in an ideal scenario.

You're talking about two different aspects of dealing with the images,
namely storage and viewing.  Those are compartmentalised operations.

Ideally, all you do is store the images somewhere on disk (a heirarchical
directory structure that limits most cases to under 500 files per directory
is preferable, though certainly not -necessary-).  In filePro, you maintain
a table with records that simply describe the image, and then have a
pathname to the actual location on disk.

Storing images in BLOBs is really a bad idea for a lot of reasons that have
been rehashed in the past.  If you're interested, the archives of this list
must have a good dozen discussions over the years on this very topic.
Take it as a given that it shouldn't be done as a matter of good practise.

As for viewing, you can use any image viewer you like.  People have been
over that.  But since fP (regular, not GI) has no functionality for viewing
images, you're going to have to rely on SYSTEM and start a viewer.

As for the VPN solution...  I personally wouldn't like that solution.  I'm
not a big fan of VPN's for several reasons that exceed the scope of this
conversation.  You didn't mention what software you used for telnet.  Now
if you could guarantee that all clients were something like Anzio (and I'm
presuming, although I have a copy and have never actually tested it) that
its zmodem has auto-detect/auto-start, you could possibly do something
like send the image on the fly, then start the viewer on that file via the
remote command escape sequence capability.  Not necessarily the best way
to do it, but it's -one- idea just off the top of my head that illustrates
that you don't need a VPN connection from you to everyone else to do it.
Past a certain point in a scenario like this, the 'P' seems to disappear
from VPN.  There are other ways to skin that cat, depending what software
is involved and can be deployed.

mark->