Posts by JimR

JimR · CE4 Publisher

That's the message I get in LR when I attempt to edit an album set. The dialog includes this message.

TTGPublishServiceProvider.lua:376: attempt to concatenate field 'type' (a nil value)

Even if I create a new album set, I get that same error. See the log file below.

Another clue, if I change the Auto Index Template to "no index" and save. Then the next time I open it I don't get the error. But, it's still failing because I can change the Album Set's "page copy" and it doesn't change on the server. Attempting to edit the Album Set one more time puts me back at the beginning, getting the same error dialog.

Oddly the albums within the set are working. It's just failing to edit the Album Sets.

I've redone the Publisher 220 and TTG-BE 203 update. I've also redone creating the Auto-Index template (models) and then replaced that on the server as well.

This is a new problem in just the past few days. I can't tell you what caused it. And I'm completely lost understanding how to fix it.

The path to my staging area with the problem Album Set is: stage.reekes.net/photos/99models/

Here's the trace from the publisher/logs when I simply tried adding a new Album Set and then Edit it.

[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: NOT get_magic_quotes_gpc
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: $json_parameters 2: {"action":"listAutoindexTemplates","galleryName":"photos"}
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: API KEY: HIDDEN
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: ========================================== [ listAutoindexTemplates ] ==========================================
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: $parameters: Array(    [action] => listAutoindexTemplates    [galleryName] => photos)
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: text for hashing: ttgce2publisher333{"action":"listAutoindexTemplates","galleryName":"photos"}
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: cs: 0b94c82d03dae4aa09e48eb0b7b38243
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: md5: 0b94c82d03dae4aa09e48eb0b7b38243
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: Authenticated
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: returning: {"templates":[{"title":"models","type":"unspecified"}],"crgFeedbackProfiles":[{"id":"1","title":"PROOFS"}],"status":"success"}
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: NOT get_magic_quotes_gpc
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: $json_parameters 2: {"action":"getThumbnails","galleryName":"photos","id":26839}
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: API KEY: HIDDEN
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: ========================================== [ getThumbnails ] ==========================================
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: $parameters: Array(    [action] => getThumbnails    [galleryName] => photos    [id] => 26839)
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: text for hashing: ttgce2publisher333{"action":"getThumbnails","galleryName":"photos","id":26839}
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: cs: df8b9db10bbeb6fc5d777cfe346c8fbb
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: md5: df8b9db10bbeb6fc5d777cfe346c8fbb
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: Authenticated
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: loaded 2 album sets
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: path1: 
[27-Jan-2015 07:19:49] TRACE: returning: {"status":"success","thumbnails":[]}

JimR · CE4 Auto Index

If there's an interest, I'll document the changes I made.

It's still responsive. I adjusted the number of columns to keep the thumbs from enlarging on different screen sizes.

It turned out to be much easier than I feared. Only a few CSS overrides were needed, mainly to the % width attribute (just as Matthew suggested).

JimR · CE4 Publisher

Ben wrote:

Could you have called the top-level directory "/photos/" when you first set up the instance?

That's very much possible, but I don't recall. The top level did change. It took me a while to set everything up, and I was moving things around on my site to create a staging area at the same time.

I appreciate your looking into this. I think all that was missing for me is how to setup Gallery and Auto Index with Publisher on a site that isn't fully managed by TTG. I only needed /photos/ dir managed by publisher. I just tried to duplicate what I already had done in CE3, but the missing piece was the new (and welcomed) breadcrumb feature.

JimR · CE4 Publisher

Ben wrote:

Publisher quite happily accepts "/photos/" as the top-level gallery directory specified in the Publisher instance

In Publisher, I had specified the top-level simply as "photos"

I'm assuming the text "/photos/" was taken from the Auto Index template, where I specified that as the Site Root.

I'm guessing the breadcrumbs for the page built by Auto Index, which I copied into /photos/, was simply using the Site Root field for the top level bread crumb. I don't see how Publisher or anything would know the human name I wanted for the breadcrumb.

I don't think there's a bug. It's just something I couldn't find documented.

To name the root level was to create the gallery.xml file, along with all the other template files from Auto Index I exported. I think if I was using Pages this wouldn't be necessary. But without Pages, none of the templates would know the human name for the root directory.

JimR · CE4 Auto Index

This was easier than I thought. Just a few CSS over rides and got what I wanted.

I even added a conditional check in my PHP Plugin to determine if I was loading the Main page or the large Models collection. Both are Auto Index pages, but I wanted them to have slightly different styles. So the check in PHP Plugins let me load a different custom CSS file.

I still have some fine tuning to do before finally pulling the switch and migrating everything from CE3 to CE4.

If you're interested in seeing my mods to Auto Index, look here:

stage.reekes.net/photos

stage.reekes.net/photos/99models

JimR · CE4 Publisher

Sigh - there is no Pages. I do not have Pages. "I don't need no stinking Pages" as far as I understand.

If there is some reason I should be using Page, let me know so I can purchase it.

For non-Pages users, I can't see how TTG could know the name of my directory. It's just a web site. The directory is /photos/ in FTP and I don't understand how anything (TTG included) could ever understand how that should be called "Photos" (according to me).

Bem wrote:

Publisher does have a publisher_root table that has an entry for each top-level gallery directory. That would be a good place to add a Title field that could then be exposed to the user for editing in the Publisher admin.

OK - where do I add the "Title field" name of the publisher_root, so Publisher would pick up that name? I'll delete the manually created gallery.xml file and instead update things according to your advice.

I hate being a pest. It seems like we've not connected on how things actually work.

JimR · CE4 Publisher

Ben wrote:

still a mystery to me why your gallery was displaying '/photos/'

The only mystery (for me) was how to tell TTG the name I want to use in the breadcrumbs. In other words, how would TTG know my intended name for the directory?

I couldn't find any such field for the breadcrumb name in the Gallery plug in, or in the Publisher setup.

Again, note that the /photos/ directory is the top level location I created on my server. Publisher is told that's the root directory, but there's no place (that I know of) to tell Publisher the desired name of that directory. This root level is managed entirely manually. I create the Auto Index files by exporting from the web module, and then manually copy them via FTP to /photos/.

Publisher, as I've been told, cannot manage the root level and doesn't place any files into the root level. It only created sub-directories within it for the albums.

Adding the gallery.xml file is the only way I know of for the Gallery template to pick up the desired name to use in the breadcrumbs. If I don't place a gallery.xml file in /photos/ then how would TTG know the name I want to use?

JimR · CE4 Publisher

Thanks Ben, adding a gallery.xml file to the /photos/ directory (the root of Publisher) with this content has solved the mystery.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<gallery>
  <name><![CDATA[Photos]]></name>
</gallery>

JimR · CE4 Publisher

Can you provide a link to a gallery with the problematic home breadcrumb name?

My sandbox for designing the new pages with CE4 is:

stage.reekes.net/photos/

I'm only using Gallery, Auto Index, and Publisher.

JimR · CE4 Auto Index

Matthew wrote:

You can probably effect the change you're asking for by rewriting the .step_down class' CSS.

Yikes - sounds like a lot of work.

Is what I'm asking for possible in Pages, or does it have the same responsive only behavior?

What I want is a fixed grid of icons for the Auto Index, just like CE3.

JimR · CE4 Publisher

My guess is that the autoindex you're using needs to be a CE4 autoindex in order for the breadcrumb title (or whatever it is) to be passed on to the galleries

Somehow the words are confusing us

Every one of my image pages are generated by TTG.

reekes.net/photos/ is from Auto Index (but not managed by Publisher). I simply drop the exported template's files into /photos/ which picks up all the galleries created by Publisher.

Publisher creates all of the files below reekes.net/photos/

I've never used Pages. I only use Gallery, Auto Index, and Publisher.

I'm not aware of how Publisher could manage my top level folder at reekes.net/photos/ which is an index page to all of my galleries (created by Publisher).

Maybe, if I'm understanding this, I could have Publisher manage the /photos/ dir by having the root set to be my domain reekes.net and then have Publisher take over /photos/

I'm not sure if I could do that with Auto Index. I tried once and it didn't work.

I suspect I could do this with Pages, but I want the name of the dir to be /photos/ (not /galleries/)

My web site is:

reekes.net
reekes.net/resume

and the rest of my WordPress site, but for one the photos with is managed by TTG

reekes.net/photos
reekes.net/photos/01faces
reekes.net/photos/02portraits

and so on for the entire set of images and pages all managed by Publisher

JimR · CE4 Auto Index

Here's what I'm seeing...

This is the window at 993 pixels and larger. The icons are the "right" size (or at least the size I'd like them to be).

Making the window just one pixel narrower to 992, it now looks like this. Note how the icons are huge (not the nice small size I prefer).

Lastly, here's what happens when the screen is the size of the iPhone. Note that the small icons are no longer in columns, but have grown to fill the screen.

If I only had less than half a dozen galleries I guess this is OK. It's not what I would prefer, but I could live with it.

The real problem is I have nearly 100 galleries as a collection for all the models I've worked with. The way Auto Index is working (as shown above) is a real problem. I can't expect people to swipe across their phones nearly 100 times to find their gallery.

What I'm looking for is how CE3 Auto Index worked. I could fix the size of the icons so they wouldn't fill the screen. Instead it would fit as many of the icons it could in columns. I used to get three icons across the phone, plus partially see the next row. Scanning nearly 100 galleries was easy and obvious.

The way Auto Index is work now, with the responsive behavior, makes it limited to just a few galleries on small screens.

If there's no way to fix the size of the icons in CE4 Auto Index, is there some other way to build what I had in CE3? You can see it at this page: reekes.net/photos/99models/

JimR · CE4 Publisher

I'm guessing you'll need CE4 Autoindex as your top-level gallery folder for that to work correctly.

Auto Index is responsible for my top level folder /photos/, but it's not created or managed by Publisher.

I can't remember why I do it this way...but I'm guessing it was suggested long ago in a forum post.

Publisher is managing all the folders within /photos/ but not the actual /photos/ top level.

The way I create it is to export my Auto Index template, and then copy it's contents to /photos/.

I created /photos/ and then copied the files from the Auto Index template shown below.

/photos/autoindex.xml
/photos/index.php
/photos/lib/
/photos/setup.xml
/photos/template_index.php

Publisher is then set to have the root of /photos/ and I create all the albums from there.

Is there a way to have the top level /photos/ managed by Publisher with an Auto Index template?

That would mean creating a new Album Set, and then putting all of my existing Albums into it, right?

I'd have to think more how to manage this.

PS - I'll copy the above comment to my original post on this, to keep the thread together.

JimR · CE4 Auto Index

the page you're referencing is a gallery, not an autoindex.

Which one of the two are your referring to?

I know the demo page I'm referring to is a Gallery page. I referenced it because it's doing what I would like, and Auto Index cannot do that (or at least I don't see how it could).

I referenced my page, which was built by CE3 Auto Index, because it also works that way I want. But CE4 no longer supports a fixed layout (or at least I don't see how it could).

to get what you want, you'll probably need to use custom thumbnails

I don't think the issue has anything to do with the size of the thumbnails. The "problem" is that the responsive layout will aways change the size of the thumbnail to fit the width of the screen. On a phone this means you'll end up with just one column, and then each icon is enlarged to fill the screen.

My 70 icons on a desktop are four columns wide and small thumbs. But on the phone it becomes just one column, and large icons. This because a real pain for the user to get to one of the galleries, since each icon is one full screen. So getting to the last gallery means 70 swipes!

According to the docs (the page you cited)...

In the CE4, the iconic layout is responsive. The thumbnails will maintain their aspect ratio at all screen sizes, and the number of columns will adjust itself according to the size of the browser or device.

What I guess I'm asking for is how to turn off the responsive behavior, and get back the fixed size icons we had in CE3 Auto Index.

If that's not possible, then how do we manage large sets of galleries in CE4? This wasn't an issue in CE3.

JimR · CE4 Publisher