How to order photos in a report
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How it works
A Landscape report template uses a photo block to print photos contained within points or other geography. Typically these are site visit photos contained in site visit points. Before we get into how the report orders these photos, a quick recap of how Landscape handles photos in the first place:
When you take a photo in Landscape Mobile, two things are created: a point (or 'geography') and one or more photos contained within that point.
In a report template, a photo block will display any photos attached to any points, lines, or polygons on a map, alongside other text data that belongs to either the photo or the geography. In understanding how the photo block handles these objects, it's important to remember two things:
- The report will always sort by the geography first, then by the photos within that geography. In other words, you must always rely on geography fields to order your photos. You cannot rely on a photo field on its own.
- Geography name, description, label, and photo description are all text fields. They are not numeric. This means that all numbers that you are sorting on must be zero padded (have a zero in front) if you want them to appear in numeric order. You can also sort by 'number' field, which is numeric, sorts predictably, and can be edited with the point renumbering tool.
In the screenshot above, you can see how Landscape Mobile's auto-numbering system automatically labelled the point as '2', and added the name of 'Photopoint 02'. The name is zero-padded because geography name is the default field that photo blocks are sorted by.
To change the sorting mechanism of your report, navigate to the report template via Settings > Report Templates (must be an administrator to access settings) and click on the photo block. The sorting options for the photo block are displayed on the right. 'Sort Geography' is the primary sorting field for the photo block. 'Sort Photos' only sorts the photos within a single point feature. In other words, if a point contains multiple photos, the 'Sort Photos' option determines the order that those particular photos are printed in a report.
In the following screenshot, you can see that 'Sort Geography' is set to sort by 'Name'. If using the Point Renumbering Tool, then you may wish to instead sort by Number, as this will do away with the requirement to add extra zeros in certain cases.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
If you can't figure out why your photos or point table are appearing out of order, follow the steps below to troubleshoot the most common issues.
Step 1: Check the sorting method of the photo block (or point table) in the report template.
Open the report template and click on the photo block or, if you're troubleshooting a table, click on the 'Geography Sub-Content Area' block (not the 'Geography.Photos.Repeated Content' block).
Where it says 'Sort map features' check the field that is selected. If it's 'Name' or 'Label, proceed to Step 2a. If it's 'Sort Number', proceed to step 2b.
Step 2a: If the sort field is 'Name' or 'Label', ensure that the relative fields are correctly zero-padded. Eg. 'Photopoint 01', 'Photopoint 02', 'Photopoint 36', etc. If the numbers go higher than 100, then the two-digit numbers will also need to be zero-padded and you may want to consider utilizing the 'Sort Number' field instead (see step 2b below). This will allow you to quickly assign the points an actual number and sort by that field, rather than manually adding zeroes to all of your numbers.
Step 2b: If the sort field is 'Sort Number', then use the point renumbering tool to make sure that each point has the correct number. Access the point renumbering tool by navigating to the map that contains the points, highlighting all the points with the map multi-select tool, and clicking on the small table icon on the geography pane. Note that the sort number cannot be seen by clicking on a point — you must use the Point Renumbering tool to see that data.