Seperate folders for each Exhibition for paths- is this possible?

[EricKonieczny]

under the current setup, is this posible?

Since there is the thumb and microthumb paths for the directory view


Is it possible to have seperate folders for each of the sizes and then each have it owns path to each exhibition?

So on the server it would look like, this

Big and inside that big folder you would have each exhibition:
Exhibition 1
Exhibition 2
Exhibition 3

Medium:
Exhibition 1
Exhibition 2
Exhibition 3

Small:
Exhibition 1
Exhibition 2
Exhibition 3

Thumb:
Exhibition 1
Exhibition 2
Exhibition 3

Microthumb:
Exhibition 1
Exhibition 2
Exhibition 3



So it would be easy to keep all the pictures for each exhibition seperated and better organized.


Even better organization- it would be nice if seperate size folder were automatically created and the photo sizes were places in the correct folder. Instead of Exbitions inside Size folders, it would be better if Size folders were inside the Exhibition folder

When you are ready to creat a new exibition you go and create a new folder corresponding to the new exhibtion: So the workflow for this would look like.

Manually create new Exhibition folder: in this case "New Exhibition 1"
Then the Path Setup and PHP code automatically create Size folders inside the "New Exhibition 1" folder, so all corresponding images for one exhbition are in one folder instead of all sizes in one foldeer



It is a reversal in thinking but to me it makes more sense for organization as the EE database gets bigger

Pekka, let me know what you think and if you see major flaws in my thinking?

[shaun3000]

That would be nice. One problem is pictures that have the same name. Since the default method dumps all the pictures into one directory and are kept organized by a separate database, you can only have one file with a certain file name. This is fine if you keep the name format your digital camera assigns, but yuo start changing the names (or using pictures that do not come from a digital camera) then you will run into problems with unique names.

For example, I have a bunch of pictures that I've scanned in over the years, before I went digital. Many of them have the same name (such as, "Shaun and Heather") but I had kept them in separate directories so it was never a problem. But with EE, I could only have one file with a certain name and would often times forget about that and end up with the same picture in several exhibitions. An option to organize photos into directories correlating to their exhibition would be nice.

[tommykjensen]

Yes it is possible. But You would need to define 5 new paths for each exhibition. In Your example that would amount to 15 paths! Not something I would do.

[EricKonieczny]

That would be nice. One problem is pictures that have the same name. Since the default method dumps all the pictures into one directory and are kept organized by a separate database, you can only have one file with a certain file name. This is fine if you keep the name format your digital camera assigns, but yuo start changing the names (or using pictures that do not come from a digital camera) then you will run into problems with unique names.


This is the exact problem that got me thinking, on what I was doing wrong with file names and organization.

Here is my solution for correction:

When a new exhibition is created by the link in the admin panel, a corresponding folder and size sub folders are created on the ftp server. Also possible would on the Exhibition editor that you could specify the folder name and then it creates the ftp folder with sub size folders when yiu upload the pictures in that step.


As my EE gets bigger, with multiple files as the same name, it is becoming a challnege to keep coming up with new names. I have event galleries and like 50 photos from each it is not in my interest to name each one with a descriptive name, I am happy with my Batch rename from CS with starting at 1.

[Pekka]

If you keep all your photos in same folder EE will take care that names fo not conflict when you upload.

Also, EE will create all paths needed when uploading, there is no reason to make them by hand.

I do not know what is the reason you want to keep each exhibition's in separate folders? Modern computer filesystems can easily hold tens of thousands of files in one folder without speed problems. If you want to back files up, then you can sort ftp listing by date or name and multiple select. I have of course on my todo list a photo file backup feature which would retrieve and zip all files from exhibitions.

For faster adding of paths there is a shorthand writing system in next EE; it will let you type long path names in few letters of your own choice. See http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=408834#post408834

Specific automated folder creation systems are always specific to certain type of structural thinking. That is why they can be coded as special additional tools, but not as main feature which you need to set up. EE makes path usage totally free. That freedom does not mean you should make complex path systems, they are there mainly for multiple server usage and working around disk size and bandwidth limitations.

Bottom line is: for database's point of view there is no reason to organize photos by exhibition.

[shaun3000]

Pekka,

I don't use the uploading built into EE as I usually upload 20+ images at a time. I usually upload them directly via FTP and then add them to EE, skipping the upload step through EE. Using this method, EE has always had the problem I mentioned with files sharing the same name. I had about 5 files with the same name and it always overwrote them so I would end up with the same picture in 5 different albums.

Does the renaming only work if I upload through EE? If so, can you fix it so that it works with direct FTP uploads, too?

[Pekka]

Pekka,

I don't use the uploading built into EE as I usually upload 20+ images at a time. I usually upload them directly via FTP and then add them to EE, skipping the upload step through EE. Using this method, EE has always had the problem I mentioned with files sharing the same name. I had about 5 files with the same name and it always overwrote them so I would end up with the same picture in 5 different albums.

Does the renaming only work if I upload through EE? If so, can you fix it so that it works with direct FTP uploads, too?

I'm not sure which upload command you mean. When you use Upload page STEP 1 and send identical filenames they are overwritten (I'll put autorename there on my todo list). So:

1. Place your files (either by ftp or upload page STEP 1) in UPLOAD folder
2. use the upload system to put photos to EE
3. empty the upload folder (there is a command there "DELETE FILES THAT ARE USED IN EE DATABASE" or "DELETE ALL FILES IN UPLOAD FOLDER"
4. go back to 1.

With this workflow EE takes care that no photos has identical filename when using the upload command (STEP 6 in upload page).

[shaun3000]

That doesn't happen with mine. I only upload one set of photos at a time. (Via FTP) So Exhibit A has a file named "Me and Friends.jpg". I upload it, set up the exhibit, delete photos in upload folder, then move onto the next set. "Me and Friends.jpg" is there, again, and sent to a new exhibit. However, it doesn't rename it to resolve conflicts. Or, if it does rename a file, this isn't reflected in the exhibits. Any exhibit that has a "Me and Friends.jpg" will show the last uploaded picture instead of the one intended for that exhibit.

[Pekka]

That is strange. I cannot verify the bug. Do you have UPLOAD folder set to 777 permission?

a) I send photo a.jpg to UPLOAD folder using EE's form
b) I select exhibition X and upload it there.
c) I delete a.jpg from UPLOAD
d) I send a different photo named a.jpg to UPLOAD folder using EE's form
e) I select exhibition Q and upload it there.

Now after "e)" in UPLOAD folder a.jpg has been renamed to xxx_a.jpg (where xxx is random string) and in exhibition X I see the original a.jpg and in exhibition Q I see the second a.jpg and in photo editor I can verify that it is renamed xxx_a.jpg.

If you do above test does it fail for you?

[shaun3000]

Hrm, worked fine. I don't know what went wrong, before. Thanks!

[Pekka]

OK, if you can make a step-by-step to reproduce the rename problem you had let me know. If I can reproduce it here, it can be fixed.