Rhys,

This looks like it has great potential. Unfortunately, I'm getting many errors and am getting a bit lost in how it's supposed to function. Without documentation, I can't tell which are errors and which are built-in functions.

- My pictures always end up as untitled.
- When I try to update the title, I get "Call to undefined function _pictures_update()"
- when I try to upload a photo, at first I was getting errors, I think because the user needs to manually create the /files/pictures directory (at least on a Win server, which I'm testing on)

So basically, for now what would really really help with testing this and debugging it would be some info on how this is *supposed* to work. Let's start with some basic workflow examples.

Step-by-step to create a gallery of images (new and existing images).
Step-by-step to attach an image to a node (new and existing images).

Some more definitions. I though at first that "Source" would be the source image (i.e. the file system path to the uploaded image). It would help a lot to define some of those things.

Anyway, that would help a LOT to get me up and running.

Comments

rhys’s picture

rhys commented

As soon as I can I will attempt to write up something as a README file for the project.

Right now, I'll see if I can provide as clear as possible an idea on how things are supposed to work.

The pictures.module provides several things.
1) Ability to create different kinds of "presets", which perform various actions (such as shrinking, cropping, shadowing, bordering). This can be found at ?q=admin/settings/pictures.
2) Ability to define which node types are allowed to have pictures attached to them. This is found at ?q=admin/settings/pictures/settings. See pictures_attach.module for more details.
3) A filter which takes images, either ones inserted by pictures_tinymce.module or by other means, and given the right attribute, creates a layouted image, which, with the right CSS styling, can be made to look like figured images, or other layouts.

The pictures_attach.module provides the ability to attach pictures to a node. This is found at ?q=node/{nid}/pictures. The pictures_gallery.module is required to be able to attach pictures.

The pictures_gallery.module provides the key access to viewing the pictures which are within the database, and the method for uploading them. As it stands, the internal gallery is simply a flat one-dimensional system, but it was designed to be extended into a hierachical tree structure. Other galleries, such as gallery2, are able to be integrated, but currently suffer somewhat from under-development. When the pictures_import module is on, the upload button is situated on the top left hand corner. Currently the refresh button has to be pressed when changing the number of pictures.
The search capabilities are fairly limited. The keyword search simply looks for each seperate word (which is ANDed within the SQL query), there isn't any advanced keyword searching. This will probably develop more, when somebody works out a good method for doing this. Currently keywords are able to be edited on uploading, or when the access setting is set for the role (and then can be modified by selecting the button [terms] when viewing the gallery).

The pictures_import.module allows for the uploading, and insertion of pictures into the internal database. If a picture is utilized by an outside database, it is copied into the internal database.
It also provides a node type called picture, which is a published picture. Unpublished pictures are those which are not nodes. The upload process is a series of steps, in which the details should be filled out. Selecting File or URL for upload type, allows you to either upload from your computer, or utilize online images. Once that is selected, the file is then copied into a temporary area, until the form is completed. (This requires not only files/pictures to exist, but also files/pictures/temp - something I'm not sure is made to happen automatically). Once you fill out the keywords, and chose whether you want the node published as a node or not, you can submit and have the picture within the internal database.

The pictures_tinymce.module allows for inserting pictures into textareas using the tinymce editor. The folder pictures within the pictures module needs to be copied into the plugins directory, and there needs to be added to the plugin_reg.php file the following code:

$plugins['pictures'] = array();
$plugins['pictures']['theme_advanced_buttons1'] = array('pictures');
$plugins['pictures']['extended_valid_elements'] = array('img[class|src|alt|title|width|height|align|source|date|desc|pid|size|layout]');

The pictures_views.module allows attached pictures (always the lowest weighted picture), to be used in view listings. This could include using thumbnails in combination with titles, to provide pictured listings. Everything in this module, is seen when editing a view.

This is sort of a general run-down. As I get more time available, I'll attempt to make more clear how things function, and with suggestions, or support requests, I'll try to add better functionality. All help is exceedingly welcome.

ergophobe’s picture

ergophobe commented

Thanks. That helps give me a better idea. You have so many components, I was just having trouble seeing how they worked together, complicated by getting stopped by occasional PHP errors, and I was just having trouble really testing it. I'll give it another try when i get a chance (it'll be several days).

rhys’s picture

rhys commented

Since this module was written for a special purpose, it was mostly designed for that purpose. However, since there seems to be some interest in further development on, and hopefully improvement thereof, please see http://drupal.org/node/167528 as I'm trying to get some kind of actual development plan going.

rhys’s picture

rhys commented

Ok, so I'm in the process of creating something which hopefully solves my problem a little better.
I just created a module called Media Manager, so feel free to test this out, and report the errors. I intend to maintain and improve this module, so hopefully we can improve the capabilities of an already great CMS.

rhys’s picture

rhys commented
Status: Active » Closed (won't fix)

This module is being "retired". Please refer to the above mentioned module, since it will perform all the features of the this module, and I'll be maintaining http://drupal.org/project/mmedia instead.

Project: » Lost & found issues

This issue’s project has disappeared. Most likely, it was a sandbox project, which can be deleted by its maintainer. See the Lost & found issues project page for more details. (The missing project ID was 157661)