2022.2

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Use a fast network and internet connectionoravoidloadingexternalorinternetresources.
Usingimages,JavaScriptorCSSresourceslocatedonaslownetworkoronaslowinternetcon-
nectionwillobviouslyleadtoalossofspeed.Whilewedoourbestforcaching,adocumentwith
5,000recordswhichqueriesapagethattakes1secondtoreturnadifferentimageeachtimewill,
naturally,slowoutputgenerationdownbyupto83minutes.
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Makesuretouseoptimized graphic resources.Forinstance,avoidusingimageswithtrans-
parencywherenotransparencyisneeded.
Images
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Makesuretouseoptimized graphic resources.Forinstance,avoidusingimageswithtrans-
parencywherenotransparencyisneeded.
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Whenatemplatethatcontainslotsofimagesismergedwithalargerecordset,themanyfile
requestsmayslowdowntheprocessofoutputgeneration.Onesolutionistocombinetheimages
intoasingleimagefile(an'imagesprite')anddisplaythepartthatholdstheimage.Thisreduces
thenumberoffilerequestsandcanimprovetheoutputspeedsignificantly.
Creatingandusingimagesprites
Step 1. Create a file that contains a collection of images.
Staticimagesmaygoinanytypeofimagefile.Storeimagesthatneedbeaddeddynamicallytothetem-
plate,inonePDFfile,oneimageperpage.
ThereareseveraltoolstocombineimagefilesintoasingePDF.ImageMagickisoneofthem.You
couldusetheconvertcommandoftheImageMagicklibrary:
convert C:/myimages/*.jpg C:/myimages/image-collection.pdf
YoucouldalsouseConnect Designeritself:createaprinttemplatewiththesizeofyourimagesand
setthepagemarginsto0.Createascriptthatloopsoveryourimagesandaddsthemtothetextflowof
thetemplate.SubsequentlygeneratePDFoutputandusetheresultingfileasyourcollectionfile.
Step 2. Add the file that contains the collection of images to the template's Resources (see "Adding images" on
page240).
Step 3. Display part of the collection file as an image in the template.
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Static imagesthatarepartofanimagefilecanbedisplayedviaCascadingStyleSheets(CSS).
Thistechniqueismuchusedinwebdesign.Inthistechnique,thefilethatcontainsacollectionof
imagesiscalledanimage sprite.ThetrickistocreateaBox(orDiv)foreachimageandgive
thatboxanID(see"Boxes"onpage226).ThenusetheIDinastylesheettoselecttheBoxand
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