This server behavior, as
its name suggests, will make an album or many albums from a given directory
with no requirement of database. It will not create thumbnails on its own but
will read all existing thumbnails in the given directory which have been created
using the X Upload features. The application is able to make multiple albums
at one time and also on the same page.
Since what said doesn't put really much light on it a better explanation is
forced.
First we make clear few
rules. The thumbnails feature from the X Upload can create only 2 formats, jpg
and png, therefore also the normal images must be of the same format and they
must have the same name as the thumbnails, that is, if a thumbnail name is "mycat.jpg"
a normal size image with the name "mycat.gif" will never be found
but it will be found if the name is "mycat.jpg". Now since different
formats may be uploaded, unless we don't want to limit file type to only one
format, we can use the Resize feature from the X Upload to convert any uploaded
image to desired format the same as the thumbnails format and if we want to
leave the original size of the file just scale it at 100%. Of course for a better
display of the thumbnails a fixed size of thumbs would be recommended other
than a scaling, but this is your choice.
The application it will always search for the "thumbs" folder inside
the given directory and if it is not found an empty album will be the result.
In the most simple way if you straight upload files in one location without
any dynamic allocation you will have only one album.
Taking a step forward we can have many upload applications which upload to different
locations and we can apply the X Album behavior as many time as we like on the
same page each one calling a different location.
Taking the most advanced step we can create dynamic allocation of the uploaded
files using the X Upload feature, this will create others one level subdirectories
inside one upload location and all of them will be scanned for the relative
"thumbs" folder. The result will be the creation of a clickable column
reporting the subdirectories names as album names which include also the parent
one identified as "main", if a relative "thumbs" folder
is not found the subdirectory will not appear on the list, obviously no thumbnails
no album. Still, since we can apply the X Album behavior multiple times in the
same page calling different locations, we can have more than one column of albums
on the same page.
Of course all displayed thumbnails are clickable to open the original image on a sized window.
Applying
Despite the complex explanation
to apply the X Album it takes 3 seconds and you will be surprised of the result.
Assume that the task to create the directories is accomplished by the upload
application.
Before opening the X Album dialog click on the page where you like to display
the album, later you can move the source where you want. Once defined the few
parameters and clicked OK turn on the Bindings panel, you will see that a node
with the name X Album On the Fly has been created and it contains the column
source referenced by the same number reported by the album source on the page.
for each time you apply the behavior on the page a new source will be added
referencing the applied album.
Since this source contains the list of subdirectories it may not be required
to place it on the page, assume you don't have any dynamic allocation inside
the assigned location it will not make any sense to drag on the page the source
for an empty list, otherwise you better drag the source on the page just where
you find more convenient.
| Folder Location: | This is where you browse for the main uploaded images location. |
| Columns: | This will tell in how many columns we want to display the thumbnails. Rows will be determined by the number of existing images. |
| Cell Spacing: | Define here the space in pixels between thumbnails. |
| Cell BgColor: | This will define the background color of the thumbnail container cell. It is optional but it may be relevant, depending on the page graphics, if you add the image title. |
| Image Border: | Define the border width surrounding the thumbnail. It can be left empty. |
| Add Title: | Checking this box the name of the image will be added below the thumbnail. |
| Font Color: | Determine the color of the image name font. It may be relevant depending on the background color. |
| Use External Viewer: | The native viewer is a classic popup window but if you check this box it will be disabled so you can use a viewer of your taste as for example the FX Pictures Viewer or else. |
Sub albums will always display the album's name header. The main parent album will never display a header.
Tips
After applying the behavior it will be created the $xdirenum variable where enum is the album number (ie: $xdir0, $xdir1, etc.) which contains the sub albums directories, this can be used in case of external viewer.
If you have sub albums together a parent album and you want to display only the parent album, do not bind the column source on the page.
by FELIXONE