UBB.Developers Forums UBB.classic V6 MultiHack Mods [6.x] album.pl 6.0: Uploadable Photo Gallery for UBB

This is the best hack yet for UBB!!!
I've been looking all over the net for a program to allow my readers to have their own "home page", and I think that this program will fit the bill nicely (The UBB integration is what sold me). I do have a question though:

Is there a way to add more description fields? Or better yet, a description field for each folder of pictures. I would like each user to be able to upload a bunch of pics, and then on the thumbnail page have one area that describes all of the pics (i.e. "here are 12 pictures of my trip to the bathroom..."), instead of a description for each individual picture.

Thanks for all your hard work Mike, it is much appreciated!

Terry
Jeepz.com Reader Rides section

I'd implement this down the road, especially since the more people upload in terms of photos, the more hard drive space we'll need. I'm assuming we can set the max size of each file be 30k but that adds up when you have a board for example, at 10,000 members. Just a thought.

melder: Aha. I think I get it.

You can't add long descriptions to movies, like you can with photos, right? This is because you have to play a movie in an external viewer, you can't just display it "inline" like you can with an image. So the only other option would be to go to a page with a "Click here to play the movie" link in the middle of it, which didn't make sense to me...

You can still rate movies, the ratings and option to rate appears on the "album" view right under the movie.

Does that answer your question? (I was able to get into your album this time, must have been an intermittent problem...)

NostalgiaAU: The rating system includes the ability to add comments. Is that what you meant?

tdog: Thanks! You can definitely add descriptions for individual folders, but right now, that's basically an admin function. Users can't control what the description for their upload area is, though that's a great idea. I've added it to the "to do" list, and hopefully I'll get a chance to scope it out...

Splitfyre: In addition to limiting the size of individual uploads, 4.6 (not yet released) allows you to use "quotas" to set the overall limit for users. However, this only works when you're doing "per member" uploads. (I.E. Each member gets their own upload area, and can only upload into that area...)

Thanks all!

[ 10-25-2001: Message edited by: Mike Bobbitt ]

Folks, version 4.6 is now available at http://perl.cdnarmy.ca/album/

Changes/features in this version:

• Line numbers are now displayed for errors. Helps track down where the error is being generated.
• Added ``Create Album'' to the album administration menu.
• Added ``quota'' config item, to enforce total upload size limits. Only available when using ``per user'' uploads.
• Config items can now be added via the web configuration interface. (Try it out with "quota"!)
• Pictures viewed for the first time show better ``view'' description.
• Fixed several minor bugs.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers

Im really stuck. Ive tried multiple times. Here is what I get


ERROR: Line 3270

Error uploading photo: Could not upload file: jail.jpg

Yeah, I'm seeing that from a few people. Sounds like a bug, so I'll try to squash it.

Thanks

Thanks. The product looks like it is really great, I just need to get over this 1 hurdle. If you come across anything let me know.

[email protected]

Thanks

Ben Fisher

Whew!

Finally got it, this was a tough one!

I've updated the zip file (http://perl.cdnarmy.ca/album) with a fix, so this problem is toast!

Thanks to all who reported it, and please let me know if you have any other problems.

Cheers

Edit: Just replace your album.pl with the one in the zip.

[ 12-06-2001 10:10 PM: Message edited by: Mike Bobbitt ]

Anyone know if the gallery can be accessed by Internet explorer version 4 ? - Also are there any other Browser limitations.

Thanks

David

I haven't tried with 4, but 5 and 6 work fine. I suspect that the style sheets won't work as expected (at least some of the style commands), but other than that, it's pretty much straight HTML. The actual upload has a bit of javascript for form validation, but that's not required...

Sorry I've been so quiet lately, I've been busy working away at version 5.0. I've got a beta ready to go. It's performed well in testing, but I still want to call it a beta since it has so many changes in it. Most of the codebase has been re-written, and there are tons of new features and enhancements. The major improvements are with the installation/configuration, and now users can edit titles and descriptions or delete photos they upload.

You can download 5.0 Beta 1 at http://perl.cdnarmy.ca

The change log for this release is as follows:

• IMPORTANT: Critical configuration items have been updated. Things like rootdir, webroot and relalbum no longer exist! If you are upgrading, I *strongly* recommend you install the included album.cfg file and re-configure. (Keeping a backup of your old album.cfg, of course.) The configuration improvements listed below should make this task much easier.
• Configuration Management screen now comes up automatically when album.pl is run for the first time on a new installation. (newconfig config item added - not visible through the Configuration Management UI.)
• Configuration Management screen now attempts to fill in several settings with ``best guesses'' based on your environment. (For first time setup only.)
• Configuration Management screen now has warnings and notes for many config items, if the file/directory pointed to is not found, readable, writable, etc.
• Configuration update bug where links after firt config point to ``default'' album fixed.
• Updated warning when config file is read-only.
• Users can (optionally) provide an e-mail address during configuration to register, allowing updates on album.pl development to be sent out.
• UBB and YaBB cookies are now read and used for automatic login (if present).
• Uploaded files are now ``owned'' by the user who uploaded them.
• Users can now edit the title/description or delete files and albums that they own. This is controlled by the new allow_edit and allow_delete config items, which can enable/disable this functionality.
• Added default_admins config item, which lists users who will have total control over all photos and albums. (Edit and delete.)
• Added upload, update descriptions and configuration management options to admin menu.
• Added ``Upload Photos'' link to album.tml.
• Added album_login.tml as login form template.
• Added ####LOGIN#### tag, which shows the login status (login link or logged in username). Updated album.tml to include this new tag, and added a new ``login'' class to the style sheets.
• Added ####LOGINFORM#### tag, which displays the actual login prompt. Used in the new album_login.tml template.
• Added tooltips to all images and thumbnails.
• Added jhead support. This includes new jhead and jhead_details config items, a ####JHEAD#### tag, and updated style sheets. If used, jhead information will be added to the tooltip for photos, and can also be added to photo.tml using the new ####JHEAD#### tag. See http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/jhead/ for jhead information.
• Added template_dir config item. This sets the directory for all templates, and individual template config items are now used to set the template filename.
• Updated album template to have page navigation at top and bottom.
• Updated photo template to have enter_desc form at top and bottom.
• Updated style sheets (minor cosmetic changes).
• Added object_alignment config item to allow you to align objects when viewed through an album.
• Updated movie and album icons.
• Fixed a bug where creating an album took you out of admin mode, and put you into enter_desc mode.
• Renamed album.html to !readme.html to make it easier to find.
• Added a link to !readme.html (if found) in the Configuration Management screen.
• Removed HTML tags for static mode output, when run from the command line.
• So many other little things, I've lost track.

If you do upgrade to 5.0, I really recommend blowing away your album.cfg and starting again (you may want to just keep a backup of your old config). There are so many changes that merging would probably take longer than just re-configuring your album.

I've put a lot of work into the installation and configuration, since a lot of people were having problems with that. I'm anxious to hear any feedback that people may have on this.

As always, if you find any problems, or have any questions, just let me know.

Cheers

[ 12-18-2001 08:56 PM: Message edited by: Mike Bobbitt ]

I'm always love your work(every updates...)
Thanks for your Great work.

Can I ask you something?
The *.tml file is not functional ....
I mean, the album.tml can't read the Header.tml and Footer.tml.....

What should I do ?

Good catch!

Template inserted files didn't work when used outsite the directory album.pl was in. Fixed in the 5.0 Beta 1 zip.

Thanks!

Hi Mike,

What could be the reason for this errormessage?
It's in line 2294 of album.pl


Cannot open file: C:/Dennis/Internet/Homepages/BeetStars/Photo_Album/

Ciao
Dennis

PS: Great Hack

Def-Beet,

Are you using 5.0 or 4.6? When I go to 2294, I can't see any error calls. This might also happen if you've hacked the mod... I can't seem to find the error that's being triggered...

Hi Mike
Thanks for your reply but, it still not working....

I made out the folder for template called " photo_template" in cgi-bin directory and put all the *.tml files in there.

Album.pl works fine with only album.tml but still can't read other *.tml files...

Should I configure more the extensions of *.tml for IIS server?

Thanks

* It still great hack among the all UBB hacks MIke

Hmmm. No IIS configuration should be required. Your config should look something like this:

[code][/code]

If that still doesn't help, I can take a look at your album, if you'd like... (Feel free to e-mail/PM me with the URL and debug code...)

Cheers

Hi Mike,

I'm using 4.6! Where can I get 5.0?

Here you find the error message:

www.BeetleFun.de

Bye
Dennis

http://perl.cdnarmy.ca/album/album50.zip

Here's my setting in album.cfg
actually nothing diffrent with yours but cgi-bin dir
Really I have no idea.


[code][/code]

And I have one more question.
When in the album protection mode(uses UBB member DB)I can't use the the functions, like upload, debug.


After first login, when I try to use the function the login window comes out again.
and I login again, nothing's happen.

I would like to show you my photo_album...
I'll send you the mail later

Thanks a lot!

[ 12-20-2001 09:24 PM: Message edited by: junhyok ]

The only things I can think of are that maybe the rest of your templates aren't readable to the web server, or you're using the "unfixed" version. I'll look for your e-mail so I can see it in action.

As for upload/debug not working (login required), the URL that's part of album.tml won't work because it just has a hard coded "function=upload" in it. (It also won't work if you change your upload code...)

Of course, if you're using cookies, that shouldn't be a problem, but that doesn't cover all cases.

I'll see if I can fix it up a bit...

Ok, I've fixed the upload/debug problem, at least as far as the "Upload Photos" link is concerned. Re-download the zip and replace album.pl and album.tml and it should be working now.

Cheers

Beta 2 is out:

• Added recent_uploads config item to allow users to view the most recently uploaded files. Also updated album.tml and the style sheets.
• Fixed several bugs relating to authorization, admin, etc.
• Updated the album.tml and CSS to have a (slightly) better look and feel.

Same upload link:

http://perl.cdnarmy.ca/album

Enjoy!

[ 12-22-2001 11:26 AM: Message edited by: Mike Bobbitt ]

I tried the Beta 5 version before your new one today.
I had a heck of a problem with several of the paths.
What I found is it showed a error on the path in the config area even though it was correct.
God!! trial and error.
I have a permissions and path problem still with one file but other than that it is a great hack. I like the part of intergrating with the members files in UBB.
I was using aspupload but once I get everything set up. I will probably alter the html page to use not only pictures but files also.
I hope you continue on with your todo list.
IF I were to add anything to it that would be to interface it with a post so a person could upload a file and a ubbcode would automaticly be inserted to open the file from the forum itself.
Thanks

[ 12-22-2001 01:59 PM: Message edited by: Ruben Rocha ]

Well I tried ver 5.2 with much more success than ver4.6.
I have found two problems with it so far.
The config file shows a error for the Thmb.gif for photo,movie,album but it works fine.
The big issue right now is if I upload a movie or pdf or zip file.
When you try to open it the url reference goes to file///c:/bla/bla/bla. But the movie thmb file does appear.
Version 4.6 worked fine.

Ruben Rocha,

If you want to PM/e-mail me the URL and debug code for your site, I can take a look at it for you...

Cheers

Mike the newest version fixed the non photo link problem. It works perfect now.
Thank you for the very quick response.
I even have the style sheet working.
As far as the default thmb images I copied them into both directories. The album and cgi directory.
The only feature I have not tried is the password flat file. I am using the UBB option.
Still afraid of the static html option.

I am very very pleased with this hack.

Now I am going to print the cfg file before I hose it up.

The update is very nice. But (always that but) when someone wants a mail when a image is uploaded...this does not work. Maybe it's a permission thing?

Ruben,

Glad to hear you got it up and running. The static HTML stuff is pretty complicated, I never turn it on via the control panel, I either run it as album.pl?static=1 or from the command line. I didn't want to get into mail handling, at least not yet.

haha, ok Mike. This script is growing into a huge multifunctional

Okay.
I have found two quirks on the ver5.
One is the config screen.
When you make changes they sometimes do not take.
You have to submit twice for the changes to take effect.
The second one is the upload screen.
The link to take you back to the album has the function=upload variables appended to the url.
The only way out is to change pages and then go back to the album. I just went into the template and deleted the albumprog field and replaced it with the actual url. Maybe need to add a field that is not manipulated in the script?

Ruben,

I haven't seen the config not sticking, though I have seen a cached version of the config screen come up some times. Next time you think it's happened, can you check album.cfg directly? See if the changes were actually made, and just not displayed back to you...

The upload link is a known issue. I updated the code to try to be smart, and broke the link on the upload template in the process. Until I get it fixed, you can manually edit album_upload.tml and replace ####ALBUMPROG#### with a link to your album.pl. I'll fix that up soon...

Cheers

I suspected that the config file might be a cache problem just have not verified it.
On the upload page if you read my last post you will see that is exactly what I did.
I just upgraded to IE 6 and I have a lot of other problems that are not related to this script that I have been pre-occupied with.
Thanks.

Cool. I wasn't trying to ignore your post above, just wanted to give others a bit more detail on how to get past the broken upload link issue.

Cheers

Ok, I have updated the 5.0 Beta 2 zip with some bug fixes. Specifically, the "Upload Photos" link in the main album page, and the "view your photo album" link on the upload page now work correctly. There are also some other upload fixes, mostly pertaining to flatfile authentication.

As usual, you can download the new file from http://perl.cdnarmy.ca, and if you are already running 5.0, you need only replace album.pl with the new version in the zip file.

Cheers

V5.0 Beta 3 of album.pl is now out.

In addition to a couple minor bug fixes, this release features the addition of a "stringtable". All hard coded text is now moved out to album_strings.txt, where it can be modified, translated, etc.

You can download Beta 3 from http://perl.cdnarmy.ca/album. To upgrade, replace album.pl, and put the new album_strings.txt in the same directory as it. Make sure album_strings.txt is readable to the web server.

If anyone has the guts to actually translate the strings to another language, I'd love to hear from you!

I just tried beta 3 and here is the error i get.
ERROR: Line 3973

Failed basic sanity test: 5.0 Beta 2 5.0 Beta 3
The only thing I can access is the config screen.
Never Mind.
I just figured out the problem.
What I did was edit the config file and added the new field.
What I forgot to do was change the version number in the config file.

[ 01-08-2002 07:11 AM: Message edited by: Ruben Rocha ]

Ruben,

I also fixed a bug where some of the hard coded strings weren't showing up in the control panel. (For example, there would have been a better explaination of what was going on with your error...) It's updated in album.pl, if you want to re-downlaod and replace the one you've got...

Hi,

I don't know how to set these properties:

cgi_dir, album_dir, template_dir, notify_file, file_photo_icon, photo_icon

Could you please help me?

By default this was in cgi_dir:
/mnt/ls5/04/811/00000018/htdocs/cgi-bin/album

Whats that: "/mnt/ls5/04/811/00000018/" ?

And by default this was in notify_file:
C:/Documents and Settings/bobbitt.NAWIN2K/inetpub/wwwroot/cgi-bin/

What do I have to type in here?

Bye
Dennis

No problem. The defaults for cgi_dir, album_dir, and template_dir are probably right. If you're not using the e-mail notification feature (which does *not* send e-mail ) then you don't need to worry about that one. Otherwise:

notify_file=/mnt/ls5/04/811/00000018/notify_address.txt ==> You'll need to create this file
file_photo_icon=/mnt/ls5/04/811/00000018/htdocs/images/thmb_photo.gif
photo_icon=/images/thmb_photo.gif

The photo icon items are guesses, and you may have to adjust based on where you've uploaded thmb_photo.gif.

Hope that helps.