Exhibit Engine 1.0 released (FINALLY)

[Pekka]

And no, this is not an April fools' trick!

Exhibit Engine 1.0 (15000 lines of PHP code plus 23 MySQL tables) is finally ready for sharing. I included into the installation package miniversions of my galleries which let you get into the system easier. The big photos in demo installation galleries are fetched from my server so don't stress it without reason :)

Version 1.0 features sophisticated features: News Editor, Copy/delete Editor with event logging, Exhibition Editor, Photo Editor, Size Path Editor, Multieditor (on one page you have: Camera Editor, Lens Editor, Light Editor, Workflow Editor, Owner Editor, Category Editor, Microthumb Path Editor, Thumb path editor and Location Editor). Exhibition delete makes backups of photos, detailed camera data can be hidden from public (per photo).

Go to http://photography-on-the.net/ee/ for download page and install info.

[GenDEM]

Is there a version of MySQL that is better than another for this? I have to install and set that up too on my linux box, you see! ;)

[GenDEM]

...or better yet, simple instructions for setting up a mysql database, for the database novice? ;)

[GenDEM]

Hey, my third reply in a row...guess who's got time on his hands! ;)

First off, here are a few clarifications to the instructions:

1. Unzip the packgage with folder structure to a folder that is accessible by your webserver. I assume for the sake of explanation that this folder is called "gallery." Therefore, the contents of the ee zip file will be extracted to "/some_path_your_web_browser_can_see/gallery/" . The easiest way to do this is to use Winzip or some other zip extraction utility.

2. Rename the folder "input" to something very odd like 'foo32423423' and write it down.

3. Open file 'add/connect.php' in a text editor (a real text editor like Notepad or UltraEdit - not Microsoft Word!). Replace USERNAME, PASSWORD and DATABASENAME with the user name, password and database name you were supplied with. You had this info from your ISP when your MySQL database was opened. Save the file.


Now then. Pekka, I've tried to modify the galleries, but I've noticed two things.
1. The delete doesn't actually delete the gallery, which makes it impossible for me to remove the references to the D30 (among other things) in the Multiedit page. This is the error:
Cannot delete the default lens (ID 1) or lens that are in use.
USED IN EXHIBITIONS (UNIQUE PHOTO BACKUP) (UNIQUE PHOTO BACKUP) D30 photos (id 7)

2. Deleting a deleted gallery just adds another (UNIQUE PHOTO BACKUP) to the gallery name, ad infinitum. Might want to check that.

Still chugging along! ;)

[Pekka]

gendem wrote:
Now then. Pekka, I've tried to modify the galleries, but I've noticed two things.
1. The delete doesn't actually delete the gallery, which makes it impossible for me to remove the references to the D30 (among other things) in the Multiedit page. This is the error:
Cannot delete the default lens (ID 1) or lens that are in use.
USED IN EXHIBITIONS (UNIQUE PHOTO BACKUP) (UNIQUE PHOTO BACKUP) D30 photos (id 7)


That is as designed. If you want to delete an exhibition altogether, it must be empty. You can create a new exhibition, and move all stuff there (it'll be hidden) and then delete the gallery. Or delete photos one by one and then delete the exhibition (slower).

Other way to hide an exhibition totally from public is to give it a password other than 'public'

2. Deleting a deleted gallery just adds another (UNIQUE PHOTO BACKUP) to the gallery name, ad infinitum. Might want to check that.


Works as designed. If a photo does not belong to any gallery, you can not see it even in the editor. That is why deleting a gallery check which photos are unique to that gallery and it backups those photos.
It makes sense after you fiddle with the EE for a while.

I know I must write a FAQ, but now I'm installing Windows XP to my main PC and I'm offline for a while.

Still chugging along! ;)

Nice! :)

[Pekka]

gendem wrote:
...or better yet, simple instructions for setting up a mysql database, for the database novice? ;)

Creating a MySQL database is normally done by the company you buy webspace (virtual server) from. You tell them you need to have a database, and they create it for you and mail you username and password to it. You can manage database(s) easily with PhpMyAdmin.

If you have a dedicated server it usually has administration software which lets you create databases, as many as you like. I use Plesk software for setting up the server.

MySQL database per se can hold several tables, but the table names has to be unique. This means you can have only one database (like with most virtual servers) which can hold a forum database and gallery database tables - whatever.

Only benefit of having separate database for each application is that there is a limited amount of cache memory set up for database index table (to speed things up some table data is held in RAM) so having lots of tables (e.g. over 100) on one database can make indexes work actually slower not faster.

[Pekka]

gendem wrote:
Is there a version of MySQL that is better than another for this? I have to install and set that up too on my linux box, you see! ;)

3.23 or later will do. On this server it's 3.23.36.

[GenDEM]

gendem wrote:
Now then. Pekka, I've tried to modify the galleries, but I've noticed two things.
1. The delete doesn't actually delete the gallery


That is as designed. If you want to delete an exhibition altogether, it must be empty. You can create a new exhibition, and move all stuff there (it'll be hidden) and then delete the gallery. Or delete photos one by one and then delete the exhibition (slower).

Other way to hide an exhibition totally from public is to give it a password other than 'public'


This may be as designed, however it's extremely frustrating to have to delete each photo individually. Maybe a small checkbox beside each image with a button that says "delete checked"? Just a thought.

I have deleted each photo from the D30 Exhibition, but when I go to delete the exibition it still says there are photos there. THis of course prevents anything from being deleted in the multi editor.

Also, does deleting the photo delete the file on disk/actual photo from the database? If not, how do these get purged? Or is that once a photo is uploaded there is no simple way to get rid of it completely?

2. Deleting a deleted gallery just adds another (UNIQUE PHOTO BACKUP) to the gallery name, ad infinitum. Might want to check that.


Works as designed. If a photo does not belong to any gallery, you can not see it even in the editor.

I can understand this, however, there should be a reasonable limit on the number of times you can delete an exhibition, no?

It might be an idea to include only one sample gallery, with maybe three photos in ot, so that everyone doesn't have to go through 30 minutes of photo deletion! ;)


I know I must write a FAQ, but now I'm installing Windows XP to my main PC and I'm offline for a while.



Good luck with that! Great work on the gallery, BTW, really impressive. I've spent many years in software development and hope you don't mind the suggestions ;)

[GenDEM]

BTW the message I get in the photo editor is:
0 photos found by search. This gallery has 2 photos in total.

Confusing. It knows there are photos there somehow, but it can't display them and I can't delete them!

[Pekka]

Ok, now I have XP pro set up and I'm back online.

gendem wrote:
This may be as designed, however it's extremely frustrating to have to delete each photo individually. Maybe a small checkbox beside each image with a button that says "delete checked"? Just a thought.


I'll do that, of course. I thought a good interface for deleting photos was not top priority because you have the 'delete from exhibition' tool in copy/delete editor. Then again maybe people don't work like I do.

One thing to remember is that one photo takes about 2 kilobytes in database disk. It's no problem having them there on hidden exhibitions - the biggest drawback is esthetical while in the editor.

I have deleted each photo from the D30 Exhibition, but when I go to delete the exibition it still says there are photos there. This of course prevents anything from being deleted in the multi editor.

It might be a bug (I'll explain it in reply to your next post) Is the list empty in copy/delete dialog for that exhibition?

It might be an idea to include only one sample gallery, with maybe three photos in ot, so that everyone doesn't have to go through 30 minutes of photo deletion! ;)

Good idea. I'll try to implement a couple of bugfixes and changes and post a new smaller package soon.


Also, does deleting the photo delete the file on disk/actual photo from the database? If not, how do these get purged? Or is that once a photo is uploaded there is no simple way to get rid of it completely?


Deleting a photo does not delete any files. The dilemma here is that EE is designed to have photos in any server - each exhibition can have infinite number of paths for bigger photos. So it's not possible to just delete physical photos as there is no way PHP could access a remote server and delete files there (or actually there is: ftp protocol, but that would need configuration settings for each size path).

I can write an utility which says which files and in which server are not connected to EE any more.

Great work on the gallery, BTW, really impressive. I've spent many years in software development and hope you don't mind the suggestions ;)


Thanks. I love having suggestions, especially when they are all 'programmable' and logical! :)

[Pekka]

gendem wrote:
BTW the message I get in the photo editor is:
0 photos found by search. This gallery has 2 photos in total.

Confusing. It knows there are photos there somehow, but it can't display them and I can't delete them!

There might still be some small insert/delete bug somewhere - could be only a lens id which is not in relation to lens list. This thing is very complex. Those bugs are easy to track if you can tell anything what did you do before you enountered the problem, and also (if you can install PhpMyadmin) it would be very useful if you'd create a database dump file with that and mail it to me.
Use settings like in http://www.photography-on-the.net/ee/support/dump.gif
I don't need any photos or thumbnails, just the data.

Meanwhile I'll have to write a restore script which corrects relations.

[jonday]

Pekka

I have downloaded a copy of EE and installed it on my server. I have a fairly standard setup - php and mysql on a unix box.

I followed the instructions you provided and here is my first attempt:

http://www.teammel.com/eegallery

Just a few photos of Venice and Jersey suitable for all audiences.

Please all feel free to visit and leave comments.

As I spend more time with it, I will provide you with more detailed feedback, but here are some initial thoughts:

- I agree that you should reduce the photos in the download to say one directory with 3 photos in it, so it can be tested but is not time consuming to delete and start afresh.

- Is it possible to import EXIF data from the jpegs? It seems very time consuming to manually enter data re lens, date etc. when it is sitting in the uploaded jpeg. I know you want to do the format and resizing of photos outside of the server, but something like jhead could extract the EXIF data direct into the database.

- In the photo editor page, when creating a new photo, the thumbnails are dead links until you hit the save button at the bottom of the page, then you see the photos. This means you have to save at least twice so you can see the photos before giving them a title. Could you do a image refresh of the thumbnails as you select the filename from the dropdown so you see the photos prior to saving?

- Is it possible to set a lot of the fields to default options - eg owner, camera make, date, lens, etc - could these default to a standard setting and then only change the ones that need correcting. This would speed up adding photos a great deal.

- Could the same be done with the paths. Whilst the current method allows for being very flexible, could you choose a list of default paths so you do not have to select these for each photo.

- on the photo editor page, I seem to have to go back to the album to add a photo. Could we have an 'add photo' link on the photo editor page as well, to avoid 2-3 steps for each photo added?

- Would it be possible for all uploaded files to be added automatically to a default album and then simply use the copy option to copy them into a specific new album? This would speed up adding photos greatly.

I do not know if the above are due to my not understanding the workflow very well or if they are valid points. Either way, I hope they provide some useful initial feedback.

It looks excellent so far. No problems yet. So thanks for a great product.

Cheers
Jon

[HotDogOne]

Pekka wrote:
gendem wrote:
BTW the message I get in the photo editor is:
0 photos found by search. This gallery has 2 photos in total.

Confusing. It knows there are photos there somehow, but it can't display them and I can't delete them!

There might still be some small insert/delete bug somewhere - could be only a lens id which is not in relation to lens list. This thing is very complex. Those bugs are easy to track if you can tell anything what did you do before you enountered the problem, and also (if you can install PhpMyadmin) it would be very useful if you'd create a database dump file with that and mail it to me.
Use settings like in http://www.photography-on-the.net/ee/support/dump.gif
I don't need any photos or thumbnails, just the data.

Meanwhile I'll have to write a restore script which corrects relations.


Hiya

New user here - (actually new to the forums as well!). I have tried EE - ran into the same problem - but worked out that there are two photographs that are set to not display in public - hence you cant click on them in the exhibition area. You can work-around this by adding a new photgraph, then by using the small photograph drop down, you can then select the two hidden ones and delete them.

Hope this helps !

btw. I beta test and am a developer of Falcon4 (a flight simulation) so am used to testing software - if you want specifics testing on this - let me know !

[Pekka]

jonday wrote:
Pekka

I have downloaded a copy of EE and installed it on my server. I have a fairly standard setup - php and mysql on a unix box.

I followed the instructions you provided and here is my first attempt:

http://www.teammel.com/eegallery

Just a few photos of Venice and Jersey suitable for all audiences.

Please all feel free to visit and leave comments.


Very nice photos! You might want to write lens info and camera info by yourself - your opinions might differ :)


As I spend more time with it, I will provide you with more detailed feedback, but here are some initial thoughts:

- I agree that you should reduce the photos in the download to say one directory with 3 photos in it, so it can be tested but is not time consuming to delete and start afresh.

Done.

- Is it possible to import EXIF data from the jpegs? It seems very time consuming to manually enter data re lens, date etc. when it is sitting in the uploaded jpeg. I know you want to do the format and resizing of photos outside of the server, but something like jhead could extract the EXIF data direct into the database.

I have put into my todo list a script that would read Yarc txt file into the database. Actually any exif reader that has text output could be used as input data. It means a lot of work, though, as complex RegExp is not my strong point for now.

- In the photo editor page, when creating a new photo, the thumbnails are dead links until you hit the save button at the bottom of the page, then you see the photos. This means you have to save at least twice so you can see the photos before giving them a title. Could you do a image refresh of the thumbnails as you select the filename from the dropdown so you see the photos prior to saving?

I just finished a new way to create a new photo: you're presented a thumbnail page where you select the photo. Much easier.

- Is it possible to set a lot of the fields to default options - eg owner, camera make, date, lens, etc - could these default to a standard setting and then only change the ones that need correcting. This would speed up adding photos a great deal.

- Could the same be done with the paths. Whilst the current method allows for being very flexible, could you choose a list of default paths so you do not have to select these for each photo.

Defaults are good to have I admit, but they should be tied to the database and that might take some designing time.

- on the photo editor page, I seem to have to go back to the album to add a photo. Could we have an 'add photo' link on the photo editor page as well, to avoid 2-3 steps for each photo added?

This is now done. I'll upload a new version soon. It has also multidelete where you can check photos to be deleted and click one button to do it.

- Would it be possible for all uploaded files to be added automatically to a default album and then simply use the copy option to copy them into a specific new album? This would speed up adding photos greatly.

That's actually pretty easy to do. I'll see what comes up in near future.

I do not know if the above are due to my not understanding the workflow very well or if they are valid points. Either way, I hope they provide some useful initial feedback.

Yes you feedback was very useful! Thanks.

It looks excellent so far. No problems yet. So thanks for a great product.

No problem!

Pekka

[Pekka]

HotDogOne wrote:
Hiya

New user here - (actually new to the forums as well!). I have tried EE - ran into the same problem - but worked out that there are two photographs that are set to not display in public - hence you cant click on them in the exhibition area. You can work-around this by adding a new photgraph, then by using the small photograph drop down, you can then select the two hidden ones and delete them.

Hope this helps !

btw. I beta test and am a developer of Falcon4 (a flight simulation) so am used to testing software - if you want specifics testing on this - let me know !


Thanks!

I actually solved the reason for those two photos - the problem was included in installation and has nothing to do with user input. It was merely unmatched counter id's for couple of photos.

I'll include a database fixer script with next update.

I'm always looking for bugs, so all feedback is always appreciated! One area which is not tested at all is several users editing at the same time. To cater for this I'd have to use table locks here and there, and as they are not yet implemented the thing could do an big immelmann if several people input it at the same moment.

[HotDogOne]

Hi

Just wondering if it is going to be possible for you to expand the search ability to the whole database, rather than per exhibit - (If this is already possible then PLEASE! enlighten me!).

I am trying to set up a searchable database for my aviation photographs, with each 'airshow' or base visit as its own exhibition. But I would really like the ability to search through and find photographs of certain aircraft regardless of the exhibition they are in.


Thanks !!!!

[Pekka]

HotDogOne wrote:
Hi

Just wondering if it is going to be possible for you to expand the search ability to the whole database, rather than per exhibit - (If this is already possible then PLEASE! enlighten me!).

I am trying to set up a searchable database for my aviation photographs, with each 'airshow' or base visit as its own exhibition. But I would really like the ability to search through and find photographs of certain aircraft regardless of the exhibition they are in.


Thanks !!!!



I think doing a result page which includes photos from all exhibitions is a bit tedious to code. Let's see what happens :)

But you have something like that there now. When you do a search, sort, output choice: after you get the result just change to another exhibition and it "runs the query again" - you always see a list of photos by the criteria you've set.

[HotDogOne]

Pekka:

I think doing a result page which includes photos from all exhibitions is a bit tedious to code. Let's see what happens :)


:) ok
Pekka:

But you have something like that there now. When you do a search, sort, output choice: after you get the result just change to another exhibition and it "runs the query again" - you always see a list of photos by the criteria you've set.



Yes - thats how im going to tell people to do it.


Thanks Pekka !

[aosty]

Pekka wrote:
jonday wrote:

- Is it possible to import EXIF data from the jpegs? It seems very time consuming to manually enter data re lens, date etc. when it is sitting in the uploaded jpeg. I know you want to do the format and resizing of photos outside of the server, but something like jhead could extract the EXIF data direct into the database.

I have put into my todo list a script that would read Yarc txt file into the database. Actually any exif reader that has text output could be used as input data. It means a lot of work, though, as complex RegExp is not my strong point for now.




Take a look at Chris Breeze's exif.pl. You can modify that for the relevant EXIF info. Or better yet, keep his script as is (as it's regularly updated with Canon specific info) and pipe it into another Perl script -- it's very simple to create a Perl hash of all the EXIF entries with split /:\t/ from its orderly output.



And before I forget... GREAT job, Pekka!

[aosty]

I haven't installed EE yet but I'm assuming the identifier (photo=123&exhibition=789 in the URL) are auto-generated/incremented values. I want to suggest using the image's filename (and make exhibition customizable) as a base because it'll stay the same if the database ever gets toasted... server dies, user error, drive crash, bad backups, whatever, etc.

An example of the importance of URL uniqueness/longetivity is... suppose you post photo=123&exhibition=789 of your dog on a web board somewhere and the tables needed to be rebuilt a year later (for whatever reason), 123/789 might now be a photo of your nude girlfriend. ;)

An identifier like photo=20020403-1111.jpg&exhibition=doggy will be much more difficult to accidentally duplicate. If the image no longer exists, I'd rather have a broken link than an _incorrect_ link!

Lastly, one easy method to ensure your filenames are unique is to name your images based on the date and the camera's counter... for example 20020403-1234.jpg (BreezeBrowser and other apps make this very easy to do). Exhibition identifiers can be based on the name... like "2002olympics".

Makes sense? I hope you agree!

[admin]

aosty wrote:
I haven't installed EE yet but I'm assuming the identifier (photo=123&exhibition=789 in the URL) are auto-generated/incremented values. I want to suggest using the image's filename (and make exhibition customizable) as a base because it'll stay the same if the database ever gets toasted... server dies, user error, drive crash, bad backups, whatever, etc.

An example of the importance of URL uniqueness/longetivity is... suppose you post photo=123&exhibition=789 of your dog on a web board somewhere and the tables needed to be rebuilt a year later (for whatever reason), 123/789 might now be a photo of your nude girlfriend. ;)

An identifier like photo=20020403-1111.jpg&exhibition=doggy will be much more difficult to accidentally duplicate. If the image no longer exists, I'd rather have a broken link than an _incorrect_ link!

Lastly, one easy method to ensure your filenames are unique is to name your images based on the date and the camera's counter... for example 20020403-1234.jpg (BreezeBrowser and other apps make this very easy to do). Exhibition identifiers can be based on the name... like "2002olympics".

Makes sense? I hope you agree!


One extremely important thing about doing it by id's is that you don't have duplicates, ever.

I don't want to rename filenames for two reasons: one is that no-one is able to locate their photos any more from ftp, and second is that EE can work across any amount of servers, and in that case renaming is technically impossible or extremely complicated.

I don't work with filenames at all in the database, it's all relative and works on id's. This makes it very fast - no need to search filename or path strings. Filename is needed only on photo dispay page and in editor.

If I'd use exhibition names as URL material, you could not change even a spelling error in exhibition name without messing all incoming traffic.

If someone had an old id in URL, and gets into EE looking for that id, EE gives you a page redirecting to its browser, it's very fast to find photos from there.

Try http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?photo=7284 for not valid image, or http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?exhibition=9999 for not valid exhibition.

If someone keeps changing images under same photo id, that is really not my business. A "photo mix up" with current system is virtually impossible without user deliberately placing other images there.

Also, if you do e.g. PhpMyAdmin SQL dumps, it does not remix id's. There's no point to rebuild id's in any normalized relational database - id's are just integers and don't cost you nothing...

Anyway I'll think about all this. Now I'm finishing version 1.05 first.

[aosty]

admin wrote:
One extremely important thing about doing it by id's is that you don't have duplicates, ever.

I don't want to rename filenames for two reasons: one is that no-one is able to locate their photos any more from ftp, and second is that EE can work across any amount of servers, and in that case renaming is technically impossible or extremely complicated.

I don't work with filenames at all in the database, it's all relative and works on id's. This makes it very fast - no need to search filename or path strings. Filename is needed only on photo dispay page and in editor.


No... I did't mean to have EE rename the files! That would be just awful! My suggestion for renaming with BreezeBrowser was an example of how to ensure unique filenames (during routine post-processing completely outside and independent of EE).

I meant to utilize the filename as the id in the database.



If I'd use exhibition names as URL material, you could not change even a spelling error in exhibition name without messing all incoming traffic.


I also meant something slightly different here... I meant an id that the user can specify... separate from the exhibition name. Like for an exhibition named "2002 Winter Olympic Games" (changeable), a user might choose 2002olympics as the id.



If someone had an old id in URL, and gets into EE looking for that id, EE gives you a page redirecting to its browser, it's very fast to find photos from there.

Try http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?photo=7284 for not valid image, or http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?exhibition=9999 for not valid exhibition.

If someone keeps changing images under same photo id, that is really not my business. A "photo mix up" with current system is virtually impossible without user deliberately placing other images there.

Also, if you do e.g. PhpMyAdmin SQL dumps, it does not remix id's. There's no point to rebuild id's in any normalized relational database - id's are just integers and don't cost you nothing...

Anyway I'll think about all this. Now I'm finishing version 1.05 first.


True... in the end, it's probably not a big deal... I'm just being neurotic... heh.

[HotDogOne]

I seem to have a problem now - im not sure whats going on.

I cant create any new exhibitiions - when I try to alter the thumbs and microthumbs directory it always resets it self ?? This means that I cant alter where its looking for thumbs.

Now the crazy thing is I can change the directory fine for the two exhibitions I created a few days ago - just not now.

I HAVE set the CHMOD for the new thumb directories.

Im confused!

[Pekka]

HotDogOne wrote:
I seem to have a problem now - im not sure whats going on.

I cant create any new exhibitiions - when I try to alter the thumbs and microthumbs directory it always resets it self ?? This means that I cant alter where its looking for thumbs.

Now the crazy thing is I can change the directory fine for the two exhibitions I created a few days ago - just not now.

I HAVE set the CHMOD for the new thumb directories.

Im confused!



I have no idea what's going on there. And you have pressed the update/save buttons, right? I double-checked the code and it's working.

Can you add new thumb paths or microthumb paths in multieditor?

Try also version 1.05 from http://photography-on-the.net/ee/download.php