Display Image Lookup field in Document Designer
Nate Montgomery @ SmartSuite
Merged in a post:
Document designer: Show actual images of files in linked records, not just the filename
Kevin Venter
Can we please show the actual image of a linked record files field in the document designer and not the filename?
I have 2 clients now that do field inspections. As part of this inspection, they fill out a SS form with information.
This includes taking photos on site and adding some sort of description with the photo.
We enable this behaviour through a linked record field on the inspection record.
The clients would like to generate a report after the inspection that includes these photos and descriptions, matching the description to the relevant photo.
However, in the current document designer, when I pull in the linked records, it displays the description and the file name of the photo.
It would be really great, if it could display the actual photo.
Then we wouldn't have to rely on 3rd party tools to generate the reports outside of SS.
Some further thoughts - thinking ahead.
As you wouldn't want to show actual documents, can we enable this to only show the image if it is a jpeg or png / some other image type file, not docx, pdf, etc.?
Thanks
Jon Darbyshire
Hiya Kevin Venter, thanks for this post! I have a few more questions for you:
- Could you provide more details on how you envision the image display in the report? For example, should the image be displayed next to the description or below it?
- What is the average number of images that are usually linked to a single record? This will help us understand the potential volume and design the feature accordingly.
- Would you like to have any control over the size of the displayed images in the report? If so, could you describe your ideal settings?
Kevin Venter
Hi Jon Darbyshire
- Ideally we would have the image with the description below it.
- At this stage, it seems to be at least 6, but could go up to 12 on some of them.
- Would be good to be able to control the size. Maybe similar to the static images where you can resize by dragging the image borders?
Another thing that just popped into my head is to make sure the table splits nicely across pages. Don't think that actually works well at this stage - or if there is a feature request out for that already?
Kevin Venter
Hi Jon Darbyshire - another thought that was just raised on this and might be a lot cleaner solution.
If we had the ability to add a file description to the photo when it is uploaded, we could even get away with not using a linked record to display these, we could use the existing functionality of displaying multiple dynamic images.
Then we just need to be able to display a file description with the image. And default would be to display it below the image.
Philip Woods
Kevin Venter and Jon Darbyshire - This solution would resolve the issue for our client well. The practical challenge is this:
When completing a "site inspection" (using SmartSuite form) the client would upload a few photographs. The challenge is, when the record is viewed (or the PDF inspection report created via Doc Designer), sometimes it is hard to work out what the photo is of. Hence the desire for each photo to have a caption (description). A simple "file description" feature to optionally accompany the Files and Images Field (which we could include with the image in Doc Designer or other exports via automation) would be perfect. I expect there would be many other helpful use cases for this feature. Pretty please 🙏�
Jon Darbyshire
Hey Amanda Peers, thanks for your feedback! I have a few more questions for you:
- Could you please provide more details about the specific use case where you want to use the image preview in the Document Designer?
- Are there any specific formats of the image files that you are using in your app?
- Could you clarify how you envision the handling of duplicate files?
A
Amanda Peers
Jon Darbyshire
- Currently I'm using the image to create a "proof" for customers to sign.
- JPEG/PNG are fine.
- The reason I'm using a lookup field is to avoid duplicating files. I only want to upload the proof image in one table and have it show up in all other tables. Having to upload the same files and images in every table could leave room for the wrong file or image to be uploaded.