Inserting images in MultiTerm

Question

When inserting images in a MultiTerm Termbase, is it important where the image file is located? Does Multiterm ever use that file again or is it stored with the Termbase? In practice, can I just grab an image from a location or do I have to copy all image files to a dedicated location that I keep with the Termbase? 
 Second question: Does the file size matter? I obviously don't want to slow MultiTerm down unnecessarily by inserting huge images. Does Multiterm convert images to a specific format (jpg, png, tif, bmp?) and does it scale them. How are they stored? 
 Thank you, 
 Daniel

Former Member · Accepted Answer

The size of the images may end up being a non-issue. So I have to correct myself (regarding what I said above). I have, for instance, a termbase with 26 images that occupy less than one megabyte (!) and the average dimensions of each are 500 x 500 pixels (attached below, the images used in their corresponding folder which, as I said before, once they're in your termbase you need not carry them with the termbase). On the other hand, images in a MultiTerm termbase are there for the sole purpose of illustrating a concept or term. So 'quality' considerations are perhaps irrelevant, which is not to say they don't look good. Images saved in a termbase as blob records will of course not be used for any other purpose.

Jesús Prieto · Answer

Yes, images are stored in the SDLTB file. 
 Out of curiosity, I renamed a SDLTB to MDB, opened it in Access and saw a table with the images content.

Former Member · Answer

Daniel, the images are saved as "BLOBs" (binary large objects). In fact, a BLOB is as a file stored in a field in a relational database and each termbase internally has a dedicated space to save all kinds of blob files: PDF, Excel, Word, jpg, png, you name it. The blob content will end up as a "long text field', previously called 'memo field', inside an XML structure, in the same way as some web pages (see fragmented image below). However, when you are exploring a database with a third party tool (other than SDL MultiTerm Desktop) like Tb-Scout , you will only see the name of the original file (without the directory path). And that bring us to the location issue. You need not worry about the location, once an image or PDF file, etc, is saved into a termbase you can change the location, taking with you only the .sdltb file (you can even forget about the other .mdf and .mtf files), open it and find all your images right there. Regarding size, keep in mind that the maximum size of a termbase database is just 2GB, so the more images you add, the more it grows.

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Inserting images in MultiTerm

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