Picture Window

The Picture window displays a picture associated with the open records. When you have a name open in the Name window, the Picture window displays the picture associated with the name (like a picture of the client) When you have a matter open in the Matter window, the Picture window displays the picture associated with the matter (like a picture of real estate property).

The Picture window itself is a separate window that can be resized or placed anywhere on your screen.

To open the Picture window, make sure you have a Name or Matter window open. Then, from the menu bar, select Window > Picture Window.

To close the Picture window, just click the close button for the window.

You can associate a picture with a name or a matter.

Sizing Images in the Picture Window

Bitmap images can appear in their natural size or be automatically shrunk or stretched to fit the window. Right-click the Picture window image to switch between these two options. If Actual Size is selected then the image is displayed in its original size. If Fit to Window is selected, then the image is being stretched to fit the Picture window.

Hiding the Picture Window

If there are no images associated with the open record, you can select to hide the Picture window (instead of showing the default image). Right-click the Picture window and select Hide if there's no associated picture.

Picture Locations

Underneath the Abacus data directory is a sub-directory called Pictures. This has two sub-directories called Names and Matters, where the images must be placed for the appropriate records. The image files must have a base filename that is the same as the name ID or the matter file/case number.

For example, for client Anthony Pirelli, ID# 19, follow these steps:

  • Scan a picture of Anthony, use a digital camera, or otherwise create the image file.

  • Save your picture as a standard Windows bitmap with the name 19.BMP.

  • Place the file in the C:\Abacus\Pictures\Names or C:\Abacus\Pictures\Matters folder.

  • That's it! With the Picture window open, Anthony's picture will appear whenever you view his record at the Name window.

Restrictions on IDs and Case Numbers

To use the Picture window, you must have name ID numbers and matter case numbers that can be valid file names. This means you cannot have certain unusual characters (hyphens are OK, but all other characters should be letters or digits). Abacus will attempt to replace illegal characters with underbars (_) when searching for the picture, so an ID of "90:001" can have a picture with a file name of "90_001", but it is better to avoid non-letter characters. You should not have any spaces between characters.

Also note that your network may not allow long file names. Novell 3.12 for example requires a patch to handle long file names.

Using the Class and CaseCode Fields

If the current record does not have a picture available, Abacus can fill the Picture window with an image you've saved for that class (for names) or casecode (for matters). The Pictures\Names directory has a sub-directory called class, and the Pictures\Matters directory has a sub-directory called casecode. Place images in these directories that match your class and casecode entries. For example, if you use the standard class codes of CLIENT and JUDGE, create Pictures\Names\Class\CLIENT.BMP and Pictures\Names\Class\JUDGE.BMP. When you view a client that has no specific picture, the basic CLIENT picture will appear. When viewing a judge, the image will change to show the new class.

Creating Pictures

The pictures must be standard bitmap files (*.BMP). If you aren't sure of the type of bitmap files your image software creates, just try to open it in the standard Windows Paint program. (You probably want to save it as a 256-color bitmap, not 24-bit.) If you have a scanner, you can scan a driver's license or other picture, then use your scanner's software to save the bitmap file. If you have a digital camera, use the software that manages the images to save off the bitmap, or use a commercial or shareware program to convert it.

BE AWARE: Each station on a network may have different video capabilities. What looks good on one may be unrecognizable on another. You may need to satisfy the "least common denominator" and save bitmaps that are compatible with your oldest and least capable computer.

Please notice file sizes! Small files will load quickly as you move from record to record. Large files will be a bit slower and will use a lot more disk space. A 256-color face-only picture with acceptable quality that shows up as about an inch square can be as small as 18,000 bytes. File size depends on the resolution as well as the size of the picture, so try to find a balance between file size and picture quality that works for you. Although it is good to have all the images use the same color setting (256-color recommended) and similar size, you do not need to make all the images the same size - the "stretch to fit" option can make small pictures and large ones fit the same window. This can distort the picture, however. If, for example, the window is square and the picture is a tall rectangle, the stretch-to-fit option will widen the image.

Therefore, we strongly recommend:

  • Stick to 256-color bitmaps, not 24-bit.

  • Use graphics software to crop the size and shape to be consistent (square is easiest to track).

  • Test the results in Abacus before creating a lot of pictures; you may change your mind on how to create them.

IMPORTANT TECHNICAL DETAILS: Bitmaps can have many different internal settings. If you are starting with a true-color or 24-bit image, it may be anywhere from 200,000 bytes to two megabytes! These will fill up even a large hard disk fast, and be very slow to display. They also will look horrible on a machine that is set up to only display 256 colors. You should convert them to 256-color bitmaps, but be sure to use software that keeps them close to photographic in quality! For a bad example, Paint will convert such images, but will change the color palette to the standard system palette and "posterize" the image. Instead, you need software that will create a custom logical palette when it converts to 256 colors. This will create a picture a tenth the size that loses very little quality.

Here are software programs that can do this:

  • Corel Draw or Corel Photo.

  • Microsoft Photo Edit.

  • Shareware that you can download from www.download.com.

Please note that Adobe Photo Deluxe 1.0 does NOT convert correctly, although Adobe Photoshop probably does but has not been tested.

Are These Pictures Part of the Data of Abacus?

No. Abacus does not import pictures into its actual databases. (Notice that this also means the Back Up utility will NOT back up your pictures!) By letting you position the files on your hard disk in this way, you have complete freedom to manipulate, delete or replace the pictures. As people change or you get a better scanner, just overwrite the pictures with new ones and they will show up automatically.

Using Multiple Pictures

To have access to more than one image for each record, link the images to a name or matter. Once linked to a name or matter, you can just double-click the document from the Linked Documents tab of the Name or Matter window to open the image in the appropriate application.