OLE Object Path shows as a Package

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tina
  • Start date Start date
T

Tina

I have a table where I connect an item(text) to its picture
(Ole Object). When I populate the Picture column I do not
see the path to the picture just the program used to open
it. Moving to a different computer, when I populate the
picture column (insert, object, browse,enter path), it
just puts PACKAGE in the column, and on the report the
picture shows as an icon. I did not select show ICON when
inserting and the properties of picture is content (not
icon). I know this is a computer specific problem, a
setting somewhere. Does anyone know where?
 
Hi Tina,

Access itself does not natively have the ability to display graphic images.
Instead, it relies on the external program specified in the HKLM section of
the registry for a given file association to be the OLE server for the
embedded object, be it Excel files or gif images. If the program
specified in the registry is not a suitable OLE Server, then Access uses the
Package OLE server as the default. Package, however, does nothing more
then allow the embedded object to be opened with whatever program it is
associated with.

If Microsoft Photo Editor shipped with your version of Office or Access,
then the quickest way to fix the problem is just to install Photo Editor.
If not, then you will need to set up another acceptable program as the
default associated program for the machine, or install one if there isn't
one already.

Hope this helps,

Brian M. Sockey
www.farsightsolutions.com
www.televantagenorthwest.com
 
Thanks Brian,
It is weird that two PCs with the same file associations
behave differently. One NT4 PC with IRFANView associated
to JPGs opens the report perfectly. Another W2K PC with
the same file association, gets the following error when
inserting an object "A problem occurred while ShipLoose
was communicating with the OLE Server or ActiveX control.
Close the OLE server and restart it outside of ShipLoose.
Then try the original operation again in ShipLoose." And
when I view the report on that PC, the image doesn't show.

Do you know how to close the OLE Server?
 
The error you are getting is a generic OLE server error that doesn't
necessarily mean that something needs to be "closed". What the message is
trying to suggest is to make sure you can open up the IRFANView program on
it's own before trying to use it from Access. In rare cases, some programs
(like Excel or Word) might be able to self repair a missing registry key but
I've only seen this fix the problem once out of the roughly fifty times I've
dealt with this issue.

This sounds like a registry setting problem. First step would be to just
uninstall and reinstall IRFANView on the Windows 2000 machine. If the
problem persists then one of the numerous Windows registry settings related
to OLE functionality is likely broken or missing. Unfortunately, fixing
the problem is such a case can require quite a bit of registry hacking to
find the root problem. There's been a couple of times when I finally just
reformatted the machine and started over (amazing how many problems that
solves).

Good luck!

--Brian
 
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