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

here is a feature I would to see :

make use of the ubb cookie in order to automaticaly "log" user in galerie like it is on ubb. If user is not logged in, just make the login form appear.

also I would like ubb used only for authentification, then every users could upload where ever they want and not only in a directory like it is now.

have config files as ubb var files,

oh, and ability to do all the configuration thru the control panel.

[ July 08, 2001 08:45 AM: Message edited by: Chuck ]

nope millenium

Chuck,

That's good feedback.

I've been thinking about doing the cookie thing, but haven't done more than think about it so far. I'll add it to the to do list.

If I understand your second point correctly, it's already done. If you set ubb_member_upload=1 in your album.cfg, then each member can only upload into their own personal directory (created on the fly, if not already there). However, if you set ubb_member_upload=0, then users can upload into any directory under your album.

As for control panel integration, I may end up creating a config screen (like album.pl?function=config) but probably won't link it into the UBB control panel. I still want it to be able to stand alone, since a number of sites use it without a UBB.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback, let me know if I mis-understood your second point.

Cheers

thats what I meant mike, sorry for not taking a better look. I'll try to make a control panel add-on, I'll let you know.

Don't worry about it. With the documentation as bad as it is, I expect a lot of questions.

Cheers

OK, the control panel modification is done, while checking your config file I see you use a lot of relative paths. can normal paths from the root be used instead or does the program stop it ? (I mean /cgi-bin instead of ../../cgi-bin)

I will post some screenshots

[ July 08, 2001 02:27 PM: Message edited by: Chuck ]

relalbum, photo_icon and image_icon (maybe others) are currently appended to webroot, so they kind of have to be relative. I did it that way since people seem to have a variety of configurations, and otherwise I'd have to force the user to put in the whole "http://www.webserver.com/..." for each variable.

Sounds like some interesting stuff there with your control panel work. Can't wait to see it!

OK here a few screenshots of the controlpanel.
I haven't finished the form but that gives you an idea:

http://www.tinsmar.com/hacks/cp1.gif
http://www.tinsmar.com/hacks/cp2.gif
http://www.tinsmar.com/hacks/cp3.gif
http://www.tinsmar.com/hacks/cp4.gif
http://www.tinsmar.com/hacks/cp5.gif

and here is the new config file named vars_gallery.cgi that need to be used:

[ July 09, 2001 10:36 AM: Message edited by: Chuck ]

Great hack, Mike! But I'm having trouble getting my "gallery" to look the same as yours at http://cdnarmy.ca/cgi-bin/album.pl . In your FAQ you say to go thru http://www.webserver.com/cgi-bin/album.pl?function=enter_desc, yet when I do, I get an "ERROR! Cannot open file:..." message. The permissions on album.pl and album.cfg should be 755, right? Plus in your FAQ the question of adding a custom header is never answered...what specific lines of code in album.pl can a header be inserted? Thanks.:)

Which file does it say that it can't open? If it's "descriptions.txt" then your album directory isn't writable for the web server.

You can "pretty much" customize the header using descriptions.txt, though there are some things you can't [yet] change. I didn't modify any code for my CdnArmy gallery. I'm also going to try to make it more flexible.

But, if the descriptions.txt doesn't cut it, and you want to modify the code itself, just look for "sub buildAlbumHeader" and that's where the header gets built. Hopefully you don't have to resort to that though, as subsequent upgrades would be a real pain.

Hope that helps...

Mike do you think it could be possible to make the album script use the new configuration file ? That way people with UBB can use UBB's control panel and the other can still edit the file.

What do you think ? I am still working on the files but I can send you a copy if you want to install it and give it a try.

an other thing, UBB ndoesn't allow entering relative paths but paths from web root could be used it's exactly the same thing.

we could enter the path for album base directory and then the script adds the subdirectories he wants to access on top (do you understand what I mean ?)

just let me know

Yeah, I think I know what you mean. If you want to send me the files ( bobbitt@cdnarmy.ca ) I can start looking at making album.pl use your new config file.

I'd like to keep it fairly readable, so the non UBB users don't have too much trouble...

Thanks for all your work!

I also found a way to get rid of all the ../stuff

add a new variable with either cgi-bin url or just root url and change 1 variable in script. Works for me.

sending you the files, please keep in mind that the control panel is still beta so I still need to fix some errors. You will be able to get the "feel" of it tho

I clicked on the "http://www.webserver.com/cgi-bin/album.pl?function=enter_desc" link, and it came up with that error message (and yes, I substituted the "webserver" part with my domain name :)). I have my "descriptions.txt" and images directory both set at 777.

Even if I get that link working, what exactly do you PUT in the descriptions.txt file to modify the headers? HTML? Perl code? Is there any way that you can post exactly what you have in yours, Mike, so dummies like me can use it, too?;)

It looks like this is one of the best "hacks"/scripts out there, but too bad the documentation doesn't give you step-by-step instructions like other hacks do... :rolleyes:

Machoman,

I've actually put the file format for descriptions.txt into the album.html file, but I'll stick in an example for the next release.

Basically, here it is:

Format for the descriptions.txt file:

Root
Root_Album_Description
Root_Album_Long_Description (multi-line)
~
Image_File_Name
Image_Short_Description
Image_Long_Description (multi-line)
~
Album_File_Name
Album_Short_Description
Album_Long_Description (multi-line)
~
Image_File_Name
...

For example:

Root
The CdnArmy.ca Photo Gallery

This gallery contains photos uploaded by CdnArmy.ca users. To upload a photo, please see the Photo Upload page.
Please select from one of the categories below. If you think a new category or sub category is required, please ;let me know.
Enjoy
~
General
General
General Pictures of the Canadian Army
~
Training
Training
Training Photos
~
Operations
Operations
Operational Photos
~
c7.gif
C7A1 Rifle
This is the C7 rifle, with Elcan scope mounted.

It is the standard issue rifle for the Canadian Army.
~
...


Hope that helps!

P.S. Can you provide me with the rest of your error message? You've cut out the critical part!

Thanks Mike, I will try this.:)

The entire error message is "ERROR!

Cannot open file: /home/virtual/srtrade/home/httpd/html/shows/artwork/&function=enter_desc "

Are you calling your album.pl, and adding "?function=enter_desc" to the end of that?

It kind of looks like you might be adding that to the end of a directory, which won't work... It has to be tacked on to the album.pl.

Sorry if that's not it...

Yes, I'm calling it from "album.pl"?function=enter_desc"...here's my exact link:

http://www.vhtrading.com/cgi-bin/album.pl?function=enter_desc . You'll see what it does. :rolleyes:

I do indeed see! I'll have to take a deeper look at it. What I've been able to discern so far is that your $album path is being set with the ?function at the end of it, which sure looks like a bug!

Now I have to figure out why!

Cheers

Can you set the script so that it recognizes if the file is a photo or movie (map/zip in my case) and use a different graphic to represent it instead of the photo one?

Good one. I'll add that to the list.

As a side note, I'm going to be out of town from about now until Tuesday night, so I won't unfortunately get much done 'til then.

Cheers!

The New Version Works Mike I have it running now Great!!!

Can't wait for the CP functions

I thought I'd give the adventurous UBB hackers out there something to play with while I'm away. Beta 4.0 is now available at:

http://perl.cdnarmy.ca/album

There are a few bug fixes, but the biggest change is that you can now use photo and album template files. This required a major re-write of large sections of the code, and I haven't had time to test thoroughly, so expect it to have some rough edges.

But if you're up for the task, give it a shot, and let me know what you think. I suspect I'll have a mailbox full of bug reports when I get back!

Cheers, and thanks.

P.S. No Control Panel work in this one. I'm a one track mind. But I promise I'll spend some more time on that next!

Edit: My web design skills are somewhat lacking. I'd also be interested to see some of the cool templates that people can come up with for this. I'm sure you can outdo my standard ones...

[ July 12, 2001 10:20 AM: Message edited by: Mike Bobbitt ]

what about making it use ubb templates header and footer as an option ? You should add a single option for "stand-alone script" or "Total UBB integration"

Yeah, good point. The current templates aren't the standard UBB style you're probably used to. They're basically a couple of HTML files with special tags in them. The tags are replaced with dynamic data by the script, so it's really pretty simple.

I'll stick it on the to do list and see what I can do about it.

Thanks

It is actually very easy, check quasic's avatar hack, the avatarlist.cgi file. this weekend I will send you a final control panel with better and more options in config file. (stuff I forgot to incvlude or that where not needed on user interface) I will also add an option to choose style file to be used with gallery, that way when you add it, config file is ready.

Great, thanks again for all your work!

Sounds good Guys can't wait!!
One thing I am breaking my head on is where is the Path to the authentication database?
the "auth_db" cal me stupid but I can't find it.

You mean in the code or in the config?

You have to have ubb_auth=0 for the auth_db to use used (otherwise is uses your membersdir for authentication).

Hope that doesn't just confuse things more...

In the config, I did not understand where the ubb_auth is on my server but using the membersdir is good also.
Thanks

Great hack, gonna use it on my Rollercoaster Board so member can upload pics of Coasters. Thanks

Can someone tell me how i could do this(Sorry i dont know much cgi), Thanks

The ubb_auth item is in album.cfg, under "Uploads":

Hope that helps...

Hyabusa,

That's a code hack I haven't done myself yet. It's on the list though.

ok :), il try and contact Astro23

I just tried V4.0 Beta and i get this error

"Failed basic sanity test: Config file is version 4.0 Beta but you are running version 4.0 Beta of this program. Please fix! "

which doesnt really make sence

It would appear not!

But I'm guessing that maybe you have some whitespace at the beginning or end of the line in the config file.

Did you FTP it using ASCII?

Ok, I really am taking off shortly, so you won't hear from me until probably Tuesday.

Cheers

ah maybe i didnt :), Thanks

Im thinking of trying to Adapt this for a File Database type thing. I wonder how hard it would be.

[ July 15, 2001 04:00 PM: Message edited by: Hyabusa ]

Very easy, actually. One person has already done it.

Basically, here are the config settings you need to use:

# Valid Image extensions. Only files ending in these extensions will be considered a photo. Anything not in this list will not be displayed as a photo. Only files with this extension will be allowed to be uploaded (assming you allow uploads).
@imgexts=

# Valid Image extensions. Only files ending in these extensions will be considered a movie. Anything not in this list will not be displayed as a movie. Only files with this extension will be allowed to be uploaded (assming you allow movie uploads).
@movieexts=zip,txt,exe

# Allow uploads? If this is 1, people can upload to your photo album by using the function=$upload flag. They must be authenticted first, see below for authentication information. Setting this option to 0 disallows uploads.
allow_uploads=1

# Allow movies to be uploaded too?
movie_upload=1

Anything not listed above can be pretty much adjusted to your liking.

So what I've done here is turn on downloads and enable movie downloads. Then I blanked out all the image extensions, so no images will be used (since they're handled differently). Now all of the file types you want to deal with should be added under movieexts (I added zip, txt, and exe as an example). Once this is done, your users will be able to upload zip, txt or exe files, and they will be downloadable through the same album interface.

Hope that helps!

[ July 16, 2001 09:11 AM: Message edited by: Mike Bobbitt ]