Paul,
The "Load Web Page" solution could be a clever workaround. I thought that possibly there might be a way to use an action to send the Attachment to the Web Browser to be opened, but I can't find an action that passes the Attachment data into another web session. I would like to be able to keep the Attachments in Method rather than storing them externally.
When I click on the Adobe icon of the Attachment in the Method Screen, another Method Screen is launched in a new tab, unattached without the Active Record.
I am thinking that the current implementation of the Attachment Object type might be correct. In that Method would not necessarily know what kind of Attachment will be stored in the blob data type. It would be nice to be able to have some options like the Print Grid, or Export Grid to Excel options, but the Attachment Object does not allow configuration of ANY actions.
But, I think Method may really already have the solution for this built in. It should be possible to create an Embedded Report on the Screen, or to Generate a Report from a button. But, I just can't get this work, yet.
The Picture control as implemented by the Report Designer would appear to have the capability of rendering ANY picture type in the Report, and it also appears to have properties to bind the control to a data member of the dataset for the report. The Picture control even includes the option to use a hyperlink for the picture.
I have tried this a bunch of different ways, and just can't get it to work. But, the Webinars for Reports are extensive and well done, and I haven't watched them yet.
I think there should be some support for standard Actions on the Attachment Object, but I wouldn't think further development time for managing printing and presentation would be justified since the Report Designer and the standard Actions may provide all the functionality required in standardized implementation scenario.
I would be very helpful if a more experienced Report designer could try this.
I may also try implementing the Doc Library, but I want a very simple way to upload just a few Attachments bound to Items, possibly standardized to PDF for viewing and printing in the adopted Adobe window, and the additional functionality of the Doc Library may be more than what I want the user to see. These are just engineering drawings of the parts we use.
Cheers,
James