Using PNG Graphic Files in Document Templates

When you attach city logos are other graphic files to document templates in the Document Editor it is important to use as small a file size as possible. To this end it may be worth considering using the PNG format which is often even smaller than JPGs. Even though PNG files are not included by default when you search to attach a graphic file to a document template via the Document Editor, they are supported. To find them you have to change the default "Files of Type" navigation dialog drop-down to "All Files." Then you can attach a PNG file and it should work just fine.

Photo Manipulation Options on Web

Among the changes to the photo options on the Staff web sites are two new pages for manipulating photos after they are uploaded. One page allows you to rotate your images to get the correct orientation. The second page allows you to crop a photo to remove extraneous material. These are particularly useful when using a tablet as a camera and upload device because those photos often benefit from a little maintenance.

Batch Upload for Web Photos

As mentioned in previous post, I have replaced the method used to upload photos in the Staff web site. One benefit of this new method is the Add New Photos option now allows you to do a "batch" upload where you can upload up to 10 photos at one time. A new Photo record is created for each file. This is similar to the Batch Loader option in the Windows program except that you don't have an option to fill in extra fields as part of the process. You will have to edit each record created to change the Description or Linked ID, for example. But you can easily do this once the upload completes.

New Upload Screens for Photos on Web

I have replaced all of the photo upload screens in the Staff web site. The new upload screens allow you to drag and drop JPG or PDF files onto a control and provides a preview of the item before uploading. When uploading JPGs from a PC the new process resizes the image before the upload to improve upload times. This new approach should work smoother on PCs and be a big improvement on tablets as well. This affects the Photo Module upload process and the Property Cover Picture option.

Annotation Training Video

I just published a Training Video for the new Photo Annotation feature I wrote about earlier this week. This is the first time I have tried making a video for web features and the video format is much larger than those I have used in the past. This will only be a problem if you have a particularly small monitor. The new Photo Annotation feature is fun to try and easy to figure out after watching the video: http://zoneprosoftware.com/support/videos/annotate.html

Photo Annotation Added

It's not often that you get to do something that is both fun and useful. The new Photo Annotation feature is just such beast though. This feature allows you to draw on photos that you have uploaded to your Staff web site. This allows you to easily highlight the salient objects in the photo with circles and arrows, etc.

You get to the photo annotation page by going to the Photo Edit page in your Staff site and then use the Photo Annotate menu option on the floating dashboard. As you can see from the above example this page presents you with a toolbar that lets you create rectangles, circles, lines or use a pencil. You can select line width, the fill color, and the stroke color. It is very easy to use. And its quite fun. Give it a try. I also added an option to the Building Inspection E-mail page that makes it really easy to add photo links to your emails. In conjunction, these two feature should improve your communications with contractors.

Photo Scrpt Training Video

Yesterday I posted a new Training Video to our web site that shows how you can easily create a directory of folders for storing photos and documents by street address. Then you can use a script to automatically open the correct folder from any Property Screen record to look through the contents for that address. This technique does not require the use of the Photo Module; it uses ZonePro's scripting feature instead. It is the fastest way to organize and store large amounts of files by address, while still providing a way to access those files from within ZonePro.

Photo Upload Progress

I just published an update to the Photo Module that has a new method of uploading JPG and PDF files to your internet account. Now when you save an item to the web you'll see a progress report showing the number of bytes sent out of the total in a small message box in the upper right of the screen. If the upload stalls or takes too long, you can type in to abort the upload. This new method should handle larger files better but I still don't recommend uploading anything over 2 MB.

Apple Blocks Uploads

A customer pointed out to me that she could not upload Cover picture photos in the Staff web site from her iPhone. I researched the issue and learned that Apple blocks that kind of upload ability from any web site on their iPhone and iPad platforms. They simply do not allow access to the device's file structure via web sites. That means that the Cover picture upload option and the Photo database upload option won't work on Apple devices.

Viewing Photos Linked to Permits on the Web

A new section has been added to each of the permit database screens in the Staff web site. The new "Linked Photos" drop-down section will show any photos that have linked back to that specific permit record. This means that when you added the photo to a property in ZonePro you used the Linked ID option to further link it to an existing permit (or violation, etc.). As this is a web page option, you can only view JPGs and PDFs that have been copied to the web. You can view an example on the sample ZPDEMO web pages by looking up the property at 1400 Main Street and looking at the Zoning Module results.

New Photo Resize Option

I have added a right-click option to the Resize button in the Image Viewer Screen that will always downsize the displayed photo 25%. I decided there was a need for this kind of incremental resizing when playing with the crop tool. The crop tool only works if you can see the full area you wish to crop on your screen. Sometimes you need to resize the image a little to make everything fit.

Speed Display of Web-based Photos

You can increase the speed with which the Image Viewer Screen displays photos stored under your web account by adding a simple text file to your ZP SQL installation folder. Create a new text file and name it WEBSITE.TXT. As the text enter you ZP SQL web site address. For example, www.customername.zpuser.com. That's it. Pretty simple. If you don't know the name of your web site I will be disappointed in you but feel free to contact me for a refresher.

Photo Module Changes Web Storage Method

Once again I have changed the way ZP SQL stores photos on the web. Just about a year ago we introduced the option of storing JPG photos and PDF files in a separate SQL database so that they would be viewable from anywhere (unlike locally stored photos that can only be viewed when you are on your office network). With the latest Photo Module release we are moving on-line photos out of the SQL database and storing them directly on the web server. This is actually a much simpler arrangement for us but the primary advantage for customers is that now we do not need to limit the number of items you store on the web. When we used a database for storage we limited customers to 1,000 items because the databases could only be so big. That's not an issue with the new technique. This switch should be a painless for customers since the screens and functions of the Photo Module will look the same. Most of the changes are actually behind the scenes. The change will be more obvious on the Staff web site.

Save Button in Photo Viewer Screen

The Image Viewer screen in the Photo Module has a new Save button. This button is only active when you are viewing images that are stored on the web. It gives you an easy way to save a local copy of those images (if for some reason you don't already have one). Copies of the viewed image are stored in the \Export folder and are named using the Photo ID Code, so for example an image might be saved as PH000032.JPG. This option works the same for photos that are stored in your on-line SQL photo database or on-line images that your reference by their URL.

Photo Module Supports Adds from Main Screen

A new version of the Photo Module is available for download that allows users to add new entries from the Photo Screen off of the Main Screen. Previously you could only view photos from this screen and had to go to the Photo Screen off of the Property Screen to add anything. You can also now use the Batch Loader from both Photo Screens. Users who converted from ZP 32 will recognize that this is more like the way the Photo Module works in that version.

On-line Photo Storage Driver Install

Several customers have run in to connection problems when they try to upload photos to the internet using ZP SQL. The likely culprit is a missing ODBC driver on the PC. ODBC drivers are Windows system files and are used to access different types of databases. The driver to access your main data, which is stored in SQL 2005 databases, is included standard with most Windows installations so it does not require any extra action. For on-line photo storage, however, we are using SQL 2008 databases and the driver needed to access it is not always installed. This oversight is easily resolved by installing the driver yourself. I've just posted a item called "Installing the Driver for On-line Photo Storage" on the Tutorials page of our web site that tells you how.

New Cover Picture Option in Staff Web Site

The newest enhancement to the Staff web sites for ZP SQL customers is the Cover Picture option. This option allows users to add a cover picture to each property record. This picture is then displayed on the main Property page when that record is viewed. This cover picture is only viewable through the Staff web site. There is in fact no data stored in any database. Rather the picture file is stored in a special folder on the internet server. You can change cover pictures or delete them. Only one cover picture can be added per property record. I would typically expect this to be a basic photo of the property that would then make it easy to recognize when you view that property record. Of course, the photo could also be site plans or another type of drawing. You can upload any type of JPG file. The photo is resized to 500 pixels in width and displayed at that size. You must have the highest security access to use this feature, although anyone can view the results. This is a fun feature to try so enjoy.

On-Line Educational Meeting 8/19

I've been threatening to do this for a while but tomorrow I will host the first on-line educational meeting for ZP SQL customers via GoToMeeting.com. This meeting will demonstrate the recent changes to the Photo Module and show how it now supports the on-line storage of photos and PDF files. Space is limited for these on-line meetings but I expect there will be enough room for those who have the time and the interest. I hope to have many more such meeting if this one is a success. Details for the meeting are:

Thursday, August 19 at 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time.https://www1.gotomeeting.com/join/831437328

Photo Module Pages For Web Interface

Previously our web page interface for ZonePro SQL did not have any Photo Module pages because there was no way to view any of the images. Now the web interface will have a Photo Module section. You can only view photos and PDFs that have been copied to the internet database, but you can see the basic field information for all the photo records. We will also include an option to add photos and PDFs to ZP SQL directly from the web interface. In this case those images will be stored on the internet without a local path. The other limitation, at least for the moment, is that there is no Batch Loader option for the web. You have to add photos one at a time. With the addition of this feature we will be discontinuing our experiment with the Web Album internet option. Thanks to all the customers who helped test that feature.

Photo Batch Loader Redesign

In order to give users the option of storing copies of photos on the internet we decided to redesign the Batch Loader in the Photo Module. It now has a series of tabs that you move through; more like a wizard-style interface. On the opening tab there is a new check box option to "Save Image In SQL Database On The Web." This does just what you expect, saving a copy of the image on the internet. In the tab that has the global fields there is now an option to define an "Album" name for all of the moved images. One final change occurs when you use the Preview Pane option. I added a right-click option that allows you to move a file from one list to the other while previewing. This is a handy shortcut if you are being selective about which photo you want to place in the Images to Move category.