Link to an external image file

Use a Linked Picture screen object to link to an external image file, so that you can easily reuse the image in your project and/or change the image during run time.

This task assumes that you have a Screen worksheet open for editing.

Also, you must decide where exactly the image file will be stored:

• If you want the image file to be downloaded with the rest of the project files to the target system, it must be saved in your project folder at: AVEVA Edge 2026 Projects\ <project name>\Web

• If the image file will be located elsewhere on the network or target system, note the complete file path.

To link to an external image file:

1. On the Draw tab of the ribbon, in the Libraries group, click Linked Picture.

   A standard Open dialog box is displayed.

2. Use the dialog box to locate and select the image file, and then click OK.

   The following table shows which image file types are supported on each target platform:

   File Type	Windows	Embedded	Mobile Access
   Windows Bitmap (.bmp)	#	#	#
   Windows Metafile (.wmf, .emf)	#
   JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg)	#	#	#
   PNG (.png)	#	#	#
   TIFF (.tif, .tiff)	#	# (see note)
   GIF (.gif)	#	# (see note)
   Exchangeable image file (.Exif), which is commonly used in digital cameras		# (see note)

   For maximum compatibility across all target platforms, you should use PNG files whenever possible.

   Note: The project runtime software for Windows Embedded devices uses a new drawing system to display images. This system requires that your device be running a recent version of Windows Embedded, and that all of the supported image file types are included in the device's operating system image. If an image is not displayed correctly on your device, there are two possible solutions.

   First, you may disable the new drawing system and use the legacy drawing system instead. If you do this, however, only BMP, JPG, and PNG files will be supported in your project. To use the legacy system, use a text editor to open your project file (<project name>.APP) and then edit the following property:

   [Objects] DrawingSystemID=<0 for new system, 1 for legacy system>

   Second, you might need to update the operating system image on your Windows Embedded device in order to include all of the supported image file types. (The operating system image is typically set by the device manufacturer.) That is beyond the scope of this documentation, however; please refer to the technical note Image Requirements for IWS v7.1 Runtime on Embedded Systems, which is available on the AVEVA Edge installation media and the AVEVA website (https://www.aveva.com)for more information, please contact your software distributor.

   The image is added to the worksheet as a Linked Picture screen object.

3. Double-click the screen object.

   The Object Properties: Linked Picture dialog box is displayed.

   

4. In the Link File box, examine the link.

   If the image file is located in the Web folder, the link is a relative file path. If the image file is located elsewhere, the link is an absolute file path.

   You can specify folders within the Web folder. For example, if you type MyPictures\Picture1.bmp, the project runtime will look for the image file at the following location:

   <project name>\Web\MyPictures\Picture1.bmp

   Tip:

   The file extension is not always required for the link to work. In projects that are configured to run on the Windows target platform, if no file extension is specified, .png is used by default. To change this, use a text editor to open your project file (<project name>.APP) and then edit the following property:

   [Viewer]

   DefaultLinkedPictureExtension=<image file extension>

   In projects that are configured to run on the Embedded target platform, if no file extension is specified, .bmp is used by default. This cannot be changed.

5. If you want to change the link — and therefore change the picture — during project run time, replace the file path with a project tag:

   1. In the Link File box, select the file path, and then copy it to the clipboard.

   2. Replace the file path in the Link File box with the name of a String tag in curly brackets (for example, {MyLinkedPicture}).

   3. If the tag does not exist, you will be prompted to create it. Make sure that you create it as a String tag.

   4. Set the tag's startup value to be the file path that you copied to the clipboard, either by pasting the file path into the tag's Startup property (in the Project Tags Datasheet View) or by configuring a Startup Script to set the tag value when the project is run.

   With a properly configured project tag, the link will be refreshed whenever the tag value changes during run time. Keep in mind that the tag value must have the same format as a normal link: a relative file path for a file located in the Web folder, or an absolute file path for a file stored elsewhere on the network or target system.

6. If you want some part of the picture to be transparent to the screen background, select a transparent color:

   1. In the Transparent Color group, select either Color Code or Tracker in the list.

   2. If you selected Color Code, type a tag/expression that will provide the 24-bit color code of the desired transparent color.

      For more information about Windows color codes, see Color Interface and WdColor Enumeration.

   3. If you selected Tracker, click and drag the tracker on the screen object until it is positioned over a sample of the desired transparent color.

   The tracker is an additional handle on the screen object that initially appears just inside the bottom-right corner of the object. Moving the tracker on the object does not move or resize the object itself.

   Note: Transparent color is not supported for Windows Metafiles (.wmf, .emf)

7. Close the Object Properties dialog box.

Please note that if you enable performance control in the project settings, each image file will be cached in and then loaded from memory, if possible, rather than from its specified location in the project folder or on the network. This will improve runtime performance, because loading a file from RAM is faster than loading it from the hard drive. For more information, see Configure the performance control settings.

If you do not want the image files to be cached, however — in other words, if you want to ensure that the latest versions of the files are always loaded from their specified locations — you should disable performance control. This is typically required when certain images (for example, snapshots) are updated during project run time.

To troubleshoot custom widgets, you can open the browser developer tools for a widget, view the widget console messages in the log, and turn off GPU acceleration if widgets are not displayed correctly on some graphics hardware.