filter view on cck image field exists

I've got a similar problem. I'm using views_bonus/grid to display 3 random images from a CCK node type with an image field attached to it. However, the view is still built even if an image doesn't exist -- so basically, views is not checking if the image field is empty. So sometimes this display can have 1, 2 or 3 images, when ideally, it would always have 3.

There's been a long ongoing discussion about how to modify the views module to check if the particular CCK field image is empty before deciding whether or not to add it to views -- the discussion is here: http://drupal.org/node/101050 -- however no solution yet.

However, maybe a better response is to find a way to expose image fields to views in order to filter them. Oddly enough, the "Image: " fields do appear in the Field options, however, they do not appear in the Filter options below them.

Ideally, one would be able to select the Image field from a drop down list in the filters section, and then have a way to filter out those nodes where the image does not exist (NULL or Empty?).

I'm no expert but maybe something needs to be added to one of the .inc files packaged with the views module?

Any ideas? Thanks!

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