You now have the opportunity to save pictures in Auto Shop Writer, and to directly reference them throughout the program. Once saved, the photos can be pointed to one or more records, and each record can have one or more photos. This option is setup using the Photo Manager found with Tools - Pictures found on the main toolbar of Auto Shop Writer.
The Photo Icon
Pictures are accessed in the program using the camera icon. On the main button bar ( Primary screen ), it will bring up the picture assignment dialog. The button on dialogs will bring up the picture viewer associated with the record on which the button is placed. A click of the button will automatically activate the proper actions.
Saving Pictures
You will need a sub-directory ( folder ) in your ASW8s folder ( on the server ) titled Images. You will place all of your digital photos / images, stored as type .jpg, in that folder. You may wish to provide names that have meaning to you, and for the purpose. For example, client images might be named with a C ( for client ) plus the last name and first namel, and then a number if you have multiples. So, the third photo for James Smith might be C_Smith_James_3.jpg
There is no limit to the number of photos you can place in this folder, but do remember that size, and disk capacity, must be balanced. This means that you will want to often use low resolution photos, and make sure you have a high capacity disk drive.
Assigning Pictures
The Picture page allows you to assign your digital files to clients, vehicles, workorders, parts, vendors, or employees. When a photo file is saved in the image folder, you can then call up the System Pictures dialog. First give the page a title and very brief description. Then use the lookup icon to browse the image folder and select the actual file. Next, you can assign a client number, vehicle license, workorder number, part number, vendor account number or employee code. In fact, as shown in the sample screen, you can assign the picture to multiple records. Finally, add a larger description ( if desired ) in the center white box.
The dialog shows a reduced size copy of the picture, but you can also press the View Image button to see it in full screen.
You can also assign multiple pictures to a single record. This will be particularly useful with vehicles, parts, and workorder specific shots.
Viewing Pictures
By pressing the camera button on the various dialog screens, a viewer will pop up. Only pictures that are specific to the item you are highlighting will be made available. Thus, if you have 6 pictures of a specific part, and in the workorder parts screen you press the camera button, the viewer will show you a list of the six pictures for the highlighted part. If there are no pictures, it will alert you and not show the viewer. You can also highlight an image in the list and press the View Image button on the viewer ro see the full size picture.