Interfacing Access with a camera (1 Viewer)

[JohnPapa]

We have a dental practice management software (www.VisualDentist.com) and we would like to be able to show a picture of the patient, in the patient details.

There is the obvious solution where a picture is taken and stored in a file, which we can link to.

The ideal scenario would be to operate the camera (through some api) from our software, take the picture which would be automatically saved using the unique ID generated from our software.

Does anyone have any experience with this and with a specific camera?

 

[June7]

Did you try web search "Access VBA camera"?
https://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/threads/vba-to-capture-camera-image.313982/

 

[JohnPapa]

Did you try web search "Access VBA camera"?
https://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/threads/vba-to-capture-camera-image.313982/

Thanks, will try it.

 

[GPGeorge]

We have a dental practice management software (www.VisualDentist.com) and we would like to be able to show a picture of the patient, in the patient details.

There is the obvious solution where a picture is taken and stored in a file, which we can link to.

The ideal scenario would be to operate the camera (through some api) from our software, take the picture which would be automatically saved using the unique ID generated from our software.

Does anyone have any experience with this and with a specific camera?

I wonder if this might be a use case for a PowerApps application? It can run on a smart phone or tablet, using the built-in camera. It can then store the image in a location to which your Access accdb interface can link to retrieve the image path.

 

[JohnPapa]

Thanks, will try it.

Tried it and it works with a minor problem that may be in the settings. The image that is stored is reflected ie left is right and right is left. Any idea why this is the case?

Edit: My bad. It is fine.

 

[JohnPapa]

I wonder if this might be a use case for a PowerApps application? It can run on a smart phone or tablet, using the built-in camera. It can then store the image in a location to which your Access accdb interface can link to retrieve the image path.
View attachment 114747

Is PowerApps an application? Can you please clarify?

 

[GPGeorge]

Yes, it's a Microsoft application which is intended for low-code/no-code development. It is available in Microsoft 365. I don't know if all versions of 365 support it.

It is designed to run in a browser or on a mobile device, such as a tablet or smart phone. That's why I thought of it in this situation. A two or three screen app running on a smart phone could be used to take the client picture and assign it to a client's record. There are licensing costs that make it more practical for one or two users, but I can picture that being adequate for a dental practice where one or two people are doing intake and not everyone needs to use it.

It would require a cloud-based database, such as SQL Azure or SharePoint lists, because it doesn't connect directly to Access. In either case, though, Access could also connect to that cloud storage/database to retrieve appropriate data. I use Azure Storage with the library app illustrated, but a SharePoint library would be fine.

I assume that you have licensed the Access-based software you referred to above and that you can customize it, which in this case would be adding the paths to the stored client images and displaying them in a form.

How all that would compare to a VBA solution is not really clear to me, but I was thinking mostly of the ability to leverage the camera in an existing phone and the low-code app development required.

 

[Pat Hartman]

You don't need to involve Power Apps. Any camera can create an image saved in a format that Access will recognize. You just upload the saved image to your PatientsPhotos directory and then in the Access app, browse to the folder and save the path. You don't import the photos into the database because the image files are large and this will seriously bloat the database. But linking works great.

Add an unbound image control to your form. In the Current event of the form, you populate the image with one line of code.

Me.PatientPicture.Picture = Me.PictureLink

You obviously change the two control names to match your form and table

 

[JohnPapa]

Yes, it's a Microsoft application which is intended for low-code/no-code development. It is available in Microsoft 365. I don't know if all versions of 365 support it.

It is designed to run in a browser or on a mobile device, such as a tablet or smart phone. That's why I thought of it in this situation. A two or three screen app running on a smart phone could be used to take the client picture and assign it to a client's record. There are licensing costs that make it more practical for one or two users, but I can picture that being adequate for a dental practice where one or two people are doing intake and not everyone needs to use it.

It would require a cloud-based database, such as SQL Azure or SharePoint lists, because it doesn't connect directly to Access. In either case, though, Access could also connect to that cloud storage/database to retrieve appropriate data. I use Azure Storage with the library app illustrated, but a SharePoint library would be fine.

I assume that you have licensed the Access-based software you referred to above and that you can customize it, which in this case would be adding the paths to the stored client images and displaying them in a form.

How all that would compare to a VBA solution is not really clear to me, but I was thinking mostly of the ability to leverage the camera in an existing phone and the low-code app development required.

Thanks for your input. Actually we have 2 products, one is a desktop with Access/Jet and the other is SQL Server/.net based on Azure. We need a solution for the Azure solution, so I will investigate.

 

[JohnPapa]

You don't need to involve Power Apps. Any camera can create an image saved in a format that Access will recognize. You just upload the saved image to your PatientsPhotos directory and then in the Access app, browse to the folder and save the path. You don't import the photos into the database because the image files are large and this will seriously bloat the database. But linking works great.

Add an unbound image control to your form. In the Current event of the form, you populate the image with one line of code.

Me.PatientPicture.Picture = Me.PictureLink

You obviously change the two control names to match your form and table

Thanks for the input. We are trying to avoid taking a picture and thereafter handling the picture. With the software in #2 above I can call the camera from our application and the picture will appear on the form immediately.