Picture Source Options

BarTender offers a variety of ways to import an image into your template or data entry form. The option that is best for you might vary depending on the location of your picture, the size of your image, and whether the image is dynamic (based on data in a database). When you use the Picture Source option on the Picture property page, you can specify the method that BarTender uses to import your image. Typically, the easiest method is to embed images; however, one of the other options might better suit your needs.

You might not need to import a picture if what you want is a standard complex caution, warning, hazardous materials, packaging, textile care, electrical matters, or industrial workplace symbol. Most of these images are available in one of the special symbol fonts that are installed with BarTender.

For more information about how to place a symbol font character text object on the template or data entry form, refer to the "Text Object" section of Adding Objects to the Template and Adding Objects to the Form.

In This Section

Embedded Picture

Embedded pictures become a permanent part of a document so that even if the original picture file is moved, deleted, or renamed, the picture on the template or data entry form remains the same.
External Picture File

For external picture files, BarTender stores only the path and name of the picture file, not the actual picture. When you print a document, BarTender automatically updates the open copy with the picture that is stored at the specified location. If the picture files frequently change, linking to an external picture file can be a time-saving alternative to embedding pictures.
Other Picture Sources

Embedding pictures and linking to an external picture file are the more common methods that you can use to import a picture into your template or data entry form, but BarTender supports several additional methods. For templates, you can capture an image at print time by using a control on the data entry form, link to a binary formatted image file in a database, and embed Base64 encoded images into the template. For data entry forms, you can import a preview of the template as an image.
Using the Paste Command to Import Bitmaps from Other Programs

You can use the Paste command to place bitmaps that were created in other Windows programs into a template or data entry form.

Related Topics

Supported Image Formats