Answered
Preserve images when making spreadsheet edits
Geoff Todd
When using the spreadsheet export/import to make bulk edits, I have to manually go through any Section fields that had static images and re-add them. A feature to preserve these when re-importing back into the same form would be a big time-saver. I know I could store the images online and use URLs in the dynamic image field, but I want the images to be accessible in the app offline so would like to avoid that. Perhaps specifying URLs to be used to import static images when using the spreadsheet import would be a compromise?
Hi Geoff,
We'd recommend storing these images in a data source - with Image chosen as the column type - and then referring back to this data source and column in the dynamic image property of the section fields where you want to use the images. This would be done using the DSFIRST function. For example:
DSFIRST('DATASOURCEID', 1, '{{this[0]}}="GUID"')
In the above example, "DATASOURCEID" is the External ID of the data source, "1" is the column containing the Image, and "GUID" is the GUID of the row containing the image. This directs the system to grab the image in the column and row matching these parameters.
With this setup, you will be able to export and re-import the form without losing these image references. Although this won't let you see the images in the designer (only being visible in the app), a workaround would be to add them as static images as well as specifying their data source reference. The static versions will be lost upon re-import, but they'll at least give you a visual during the initial design process.
We'd also suggest naming the data source column 0 (the GUID column) something descriptive of the actual image, just being sure also to keep every entry unique. This will make it easier to refer back to these images in other locations on your forms wherever you want to use them.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
~Support