Ok... I'm done with Version 1 of this APP so figured now is the time to share it and let others provide feedback/Test (or ignore!) while I made some further enhancements to Version #2!
So, I proudly present to you... The Gallery Creator!As mentioned in the posts above, this app will allow you to create an online gallery from images within your database.. either for viewing locally on your machine (with proper server setup) or for one click upload to your hosting service... in order the make the magic happen, there are a few setup items to do ahead of time [only once].
FIRST: Download and install WinSCP [freeware] (
https://winscp.net/eng/index.php). WinSCP is a complete FTP solution that provides an easy interface... but most importantly, a robust command line which we will leverage to perform folder uploads from within the APP!
SECOND: Setup the nangallery2 gallery on your host (
https://nanogallery2.nanostudio.org/). Nanogallery2 is a freeware javascript library which allows you to build galleries of images. Install instructions are located on their website but only takes a few steps.
THIRD: Setup the nanoPhotosProvider2 php script on your host (
https://nanophotosprovider2.nanostudio.org/). nanoPhotoProvider2 is a free php script that publishes photos automatically to the nanogallery. Once again, easy to setup with a few steps.
FORTH: Write down your FTP login info... You will need to know your: Hostname, FTP Username, FTP Password and the URL where you setup NanoGallery. The FTP info should take you directly to the remote directory where the Nanophotosprovider2 content is located.
Once all these steps are complete, you should now have a gallery located on your host that you can navigate to and see the sample images (ie:
www.mysite.com/gallery)!
Step 1 is to fill out your FTP Server login info in order to utilize the FTP feature. Note, this only needs to be done the first time and then any time changes are made to your FTP info (rare - but if you change your FTP password for example). Once you have added the information, click the File Credentials button. You can show/hide the credentials using the Show/Hide Button. Once this is complete, you are ready to move on to Step 2.
Step 2 presents you with 2 options... you can either create a new album (folder) with the selected images or add the selected images to an existing album (folder). The first time, you'll want to create a new album. Select your images, enter an album name and click the Create New Album button <i>(the results box will show success and error information)</i>. This will create a subfolder with your images in a C:\Gallery_Temp folder.
You can also add selected images to an existing Album by clicking the Choose Existing Album Button whcih will allow you to select an existing subfolder to add images to.

Step 3 allows you to FTP an album of images to your gallery. This is done by clicking the FTP Files Button... if your credentials and items are setup correctly, the ftp.bat script will get called and your selected folder will be added to your gallery. You can now click the Launch Gallery Website button to open a new browser tab and see your gallery!
Rinse and Repeat Steps 2 and 3 to build out a fully functional gallery with albums and images!!

There are a few items I would like to see if I can accomplish in Version 2 to make this even better:
- a user definable Gallery Location on your local system
- an option to include some basic metadata into the gallery for each image file (description/keywords)
- an attribute or other database element to tracks images that have been added to the gallery and the album they are located in
- the ability to create sub-albums
- the ability to upload multiple folders
- being able to remove images from the gallery
In any event... I do hope this is useful to the community... I am using this currently for my family album and it works quite well. It is lightweight and relatively fast once the thumbnails and images have been processed on the server. I'm happy to help anyone that is having trouble with the initial setup so please just send me a PM or respond to this string... always happy to help!
To install, just unzip the attached Gallery.zip file and place the app folder into your C:\ProgramData\photools.com\imatch6\webroot\user path. The app will appear in the app manager and can also be used from the browser. As always.. use with caution... I've tested it and use it.. but what works for me might not work for you.
And.. finally.. Enjoy!
