VISUAL QUICKPRO GUIDE FileMaker Pro 7 Advanced FOR WINDOWS AND MACINTOSH [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Batch-Importing from a Digital Camera (Mac OS X Only)

Batch-importing is the perfect way to transfer into FileMaker a collection of images that are already on your computer. But what if you have a digital camera filled with images? It would be nice to avoid the two-step process of uploading, then batch-importing.

But there's more at stake than a few extra minutes' work. Your images also invisibly hold useful information, like the dates they were shot and many of the camera settings you used to shoot them. All of that EXIF (Exchangeable Image File) information disappears when you download unless you can transfer it directly into a program that can read and archive it. So if you have to batch-import from a folder, the file information is already gone.

Mac OS X users don't have to lose that useful data. They can import images directly from camera to database.

In this example, we use one of FileMaker's most useful templates to create an instant database for our camera import. This database template already has fields for capturing not only the image, but all of the EXIF file data.

To import images from a digital camera

1 .Choose FileMaker Pro > Preferences (Command+,). When the Preferences dialog box appears, make sure that "Show templates in the New Database dialog box" is checked (Figure 12.16). Click OK.

2 .Choose File > New Database.

3 .

When the New Database dialog box appears, select Home from the drop-down menu. In the list of templates, double-click Photo Catalog.

4 .When the "Create a copy named:" dialog box appears, rename the database file. Click Save (Figure 12.17).

5 .Choose View > Browse Mode (Control+B/Command+B). Attach your camera to your Mac.

6 .Choose File > Import Records > Digital Camera.

7 .

The Photo Import Options dialog box appears. In the Download section, click the "All images" radio button to transfer everything in the camera to the database. Click Continue.

As with a regular folder batch-import, you can import the actual images into the database, or only the reference information (Figure 12.18).

8 .When the Import Field Mapping dialog box appears, match up the incoming information with the database fields. Click Import (Figure 12.19).

9 .When the Import Options dialog box appears, set any auto-enter options, then click Import.

10 .The Import dialog box will appear, giving you a status bar of your files as they import. At the end, you'll see an Import Records Summary dialog box where you can view a capsule summary of the import. When all of the photos have been downloaded, you can view them in the database (Figure 12.20).

Once an image is imported you can't change its orientation, so vertical pictures display sideways. You can use the import options to orient your photos properly.

To rotate images while importing

1 .Follow steps 15 of the previous task, "To import images from a digital camera."

2 .The Photo Import Options dialog box appears. In the Download section, click "Some images."

3 .

The Specify Images to Import dialog box appears. Highlight any image that should be displayed vertically and rotate it left or right using the rotate arrow buttons (Figure 12.21). Click OK to return to the Photo Import Options dialog box and Continue to resume importing the files.

You can select several images at once and rotate them all at the same time in the same direction.

Tip

In OS X, iPhoto is usually set to launch automatically when you attach a digital camera. You can change this default to FileMaker. In OS 10.3.x, before you attach your camera, open the Image Capture application. Choose Image Capture > Preferences. When the Image Capture Preferences dialog box appears, choose Other from the Camera Preferences drop-down menu (Figure 12.22). The Image Capture Preferences window will open and allow you to browse to the FileMaker Pro application to select it.