EnlargeIt! AJAX GUI for CPG 1.5.x

[Timos-Welt]

I don't think that Joachim's reluctance is based on the exact place where the additional files reside (but thanks for the tip anyway).

Adding EnlargeIt! and snippet functionality to the core files would improve usability for the end user because he can chose an AJAX GUI if he wants. Beyond it would massively improve security for current users of EnlargeIt! because fixes would automatically as well go into the snippets and not only into the core files that aren't used as long as EnlargeIt! is active. This of course comes at a price of the core file's additional complexity.

So the question still is: Do you actually want that? And I think the answer is 'no', so it's not very admissible to complain about the additional snippet files IMO.

[Joachim Müller]

I don't think that Joachim's reluctance is based on the exact place where the additional files reside (but thanks for the tip anyway).

My reluctance is based exactly on that issue. As I said earlier, I'm not fond of plugins that don't behave like real, genuine plugins, but require you to move files around, edit files with an editor or similar. That's why I'm not fond of enlargeIt (it requires you to move a file into the root). That's why I'm not fond of Captcha (it requires you to move a file to the root or attempts to do so by itself during install, but will fail in most cases due to permissions). That's why I'm not fond of the RSS feed plugins (there are some of them). All those plugins are really cool and they do cool things, but they are not genuine plugiuns in the aspect that they require the end user to do something that he shouldn't have to do in the first place. As Nibbler pointed out, that's needless - I can hardly think of a reason why a file should need to reside in the root folder. A closer integration into the core is something that might go into future releases, but then it would no longer be a plugin, but a core component.
When Omni created the plugin API for Coppermine, one of the key benefits he build the API on was the fact that the plugins could be installed in a fool-proof way, without requiring newbies to move files around. That's why there's even an uploader and un-archiver built-into the plugin manager: we don't want to force end users to edit files in the long run.

The continuing friendly indifference of you as project leader and the whole dev team in the last 10 months gave me a completely different impression: Nice gimmick, but not interested.

You got the wrong impression: too many sub-projects on to few shoulders. We can't look into everything we'd like to look into, and you certainly where doing well, so there was no reason to butt in with the development nor support you gave.
We definitely could use skilled coders like you, that's why I posted in the dev-only board

What about new candidates for the dev team? I think there are some people who have been around for long and have proven their skills. I suggest asking [...] Timos-Welt [...] to join the team.

So far, only positive feedback has been given. That's why I would like to invite you to join the team - this is of course a strange way to post an invitation (I just couldn't resist to post this here as well ). This being said, let's discuss this privately by PM.

Cheers

Joachim

[Timos-Welt]

Hi,

the latest beta for 1.4x is now 'genuine', and all future versions will be.

regards
Timo

[DaMysterious]

@Timos-Welt

For testing purposes I have installed the EnlargeIt_plugin_v0.3_for_CPG1.5.x.zip from the first message on my CPG1.5.1. Without diving into the code, do you have any suggestion why I'm redirected through timos-welt.de every time I click a drop down, field or even in the page when in the configuration screen?

[Timos-Welt]

This shouldn't be the case, and your test gallery (from a user point of view) works exactly as it should.

[DaMysterious]

This shouldn't be the case, and your test gallery (from a user point of view) works exactly as it should.

Yes I know, but that wasn't my problem and question. The problem is caused in admin mode only when entering and hovering over the EnlargeIt settings/page.

Note: noting is changed through the default installation of CPG 1.5.1. Only installed plug-in is EnlargeIt_plugin_v0.3_for_CPG1.5.x.zip. Using FireFox latest.

Cause is found and eliminated in file plugin_config.php as a closing a tag is missing in the snippet below.

Code Select Expand


starttable('100%', $lang_enlargeit['main_title'].' - '.$lang_enlargeit['version'].'<font size=1 color=red> by <a href="http://www.timos-welt.de">Timos-Welt</font>', 3);



[Joachim Müller]

The font tag is deprecated btw and should by replaced with <span style="color:red">

[Timos-Welt]

I'll do a new version soon that takes care about these things. Thanks for your comments.

[brr]

Hello.

In my CPG 1.5.1 gallery I have not managed to got the following function to work:

Show button 'Info': Yes (open AJAX snippet)

I do not get the AJAX info snippet to show up. I get the normal CPG info view in stead of the AJAX snippet.

Plugin configuration: Show button 'Info': Yes (open AJAX snippet)

Version: EnlargeIt! (enlargeit): v0.3 (for CPG 1.5.x)

System setup: Coppermine 1.5.1 alpha downloaded from the dev board link. OS web –server: Windows Vista Premium, Norwegian. Web solution: XAMPP for Windows, 1.7.1 (Apache 2.2.11, MySQL 5.1.33, PHP 5.2.9). Browser: Both Firefox 3.5.1 and Internet Explorer 8.

Main gallery (stable version): http://web.brr.no/cpg-galleri/
Test gallery (1.5.1 alpha): http://web.brr.no/cpg15x/

Also published this error report in forum.coppermine-gallery.net > Dev Board > cpg1.5 Testing/Bugs, but got as replay that it was not the right place for such error reports.

[Timos-Welt]

In my CPG 1.5.1 gallery I have not managed to got the following function to work:
Show button 'Info': Yes (open AJAX snippet)
I do not get the AJAX info snippet to show up. I get the normal CPG info view in stead of the AJAX snippet.

Correct, this is not implemented yet. Read the config page carefully, there's a lot of 'Dummy - does not work yet' on it. It doesn't make sense to implement the AJAX stuff before CPG 1.5 is released to the public. Please be patient, it will all come back

[Timos-Welt]

Just released v0.4 for CPG 1.5.x

- favourite button is back
- histogram button is back
- download button is back
- bbcode button is back
- three new animation modes
- genuine: nothing must be copied to gallery root anymore

[Joachim Müller]

That's great news. I can't wait to get home and test the new version on my local testbed there.

Joachim

[phill104]

Absolutely superb work. I really loved this on 1.4.x and am glad to see it carried over to 1.5.x.

I've done a little testing and there is a small difference with the hit counting with this version compared to 1.4.x. It appears that the view count only goes up if you view the fullsize image but on the old version views increased when the intermediate image is viewed. Some users are obsessed with stats like this so may want the old method.

Also, are you aware of this thread regarding the admin/user mode?

http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php/topic,62046.0.html

[Timos-Welt]

Hi Phil,

do you use IE as browser?

Please try the attached version and empty your browser cache after installing it. Does it count correctly now?

regards
Timo

[phill104]

Yep, that is counting correctly now.

I've tested in IE8, Safari, Opera and FF.

[Joachim Müller]

This is a milestone release: finally, enlargeit works out of the box, without the need to move files around. Great job.
Please allow me to come up with some suggestions for possible future releases or enhancements. Please note that this is not actually a list of bugs nor is it a list of feature requests, but something in between. Please understand that I'm not trying to nag or criticize, but to improve your already great plugin.

• Suggestion: you might want to add some nice icons to the config screen
• Suggestion: for the features that don't work yet you might want to set the control to disabled on the config screen
• Suggestion: You might want to add the color pickers to the config screen that I have added to your excellent thumb_rotate plugin
• Suggestion: convert the yes/no dropdown fields in enlargeit's config into radio buttons or even better checkboxes: the advantage is one click less per option
• Suggestion: Would you be OK to add the plugin to the SVN repository? This way, others could contribute as well, but of course you'd lose control over it a bit. Your choice. If you decide for yes, we of course need to make sure that you have write access, so please review the other thread in the dev-only board where dev team membership issues are being discussed
• Potential bug: Enlargeit interferes with the annotation plugin: when clicking on the (i) icon in enlargeit, I'm sent to the intermediate screen (as expected). But on that screen, the annotations that should be hidden and that only are meant to display when you hover over them are being displayed right away, so I guess the JavaScript is sort-of in-the-way. My suggestion would be to only add the enlargeit JavaScript file into the HTML header if it's actually needed, i.e. on the thumbnails and index page. This would speed up the loading as well even with browser caching on. I've tested this on FF3.5.something on Ubuntu 9.10. - done with 0.5
• Suggestion: you might want to add sections to the config screen and label those sections instead of just separating the sections with a horizontal ruler
• Suggestion: you might want to use the spinbutton support that is already built into the core for the numeric values on the config screen
• Potential cosmetical flaw: at the top of the config screen, the arrow next to "EnlargeIt! PlugIn" that is meant to toggle the expanded/collapsed state doesn't change
• Usability improvement: when the config screen is submit, don't send the user to a page that just says "Values have been updated successfully" with a continue button, but display that message at the top of the screen that is your actual target page, using the built-in features.
• Usability improvement: don't send the user to the plugin manager screen once the config page form has been submit, but send him either to the config page once more or send him to the gallery index.
• Cosmetical issue: when viewing the details or a narrow (portrait) image and then going to the bbcode view, there are scroll bars at the bottom (see screenshot). Can't the container instead use percentage of the available width, so there would be no horizontal scroll bars? -  not possible AFAIK - use larger files
• Organizational suggestion: there's a naming convention available for our files, see http://documentation.coppermine-gallery.net/en/dev_plugins.htm#plugin_writing_naming_conventions_archives, so your plugins should actually be named cpg1.5.x_plugin_enlargeit_v0.4.zip or similar. Once that this board opens publicly and there will be the release, we should make sure to avoid newbie confusion as much as possible, with the same naming scheme for the files in our download repository as well as within particular threads -  done with 0.5
• I don't know why, but v0.4.1 doesn't work for me (while 0.4.0 works as expected): I can't install it in the first place - the plugin manager doesn't even display the plugin in the list of available files. I have no idea why this is the case for me, as I understand that only the js files have changed -  correct, only the JS files changed
• Maintenance: the content of the js folder is a mess. One would expect js files to reside there, but it contains all sorts of files. I suggest at least moving the images to a separate folder. The changelog and license definitely should not be inside that folder.
• Suggestion: cpg1.5.x already comes with per-theme loader animations. I suggest using them instead of the one that comes with the plugin, to make the plugin blend even more into the theme used.

[Timos-Welt]

Hi Joachim,

thanks a lot for your review, I'll try to realize your suggestions soon.

BTW: I think we should definately add EnlargeIt! to the SVN repository. My Sourceforge username is timoswelt.

regards
Timo

[Αndré]

Added plugin (version 0.41) to repository as suggested.

[Joachim Müller]

My Sourceforge username is timoswelt.

You already have SVN access.

[Joachim Müller]

• Suggestion: Would you be OK to add the plugin to the SVN repository? This way, others could contribute as well, but of course you'd lose control over it a bit. Your choice. If you decide for yes, we of course need to make sure that you have write access, so please review the other thread in the dev-only board where dev team membership issues are being discussed

Done

• Maintenance: the content of the js folder is a mess. One would expect js files to reside there, but it contains all sorts of files. I suggest at least moving the images to a separate folder. The changelog and license definitely should not be inside that folder.

Cleaned up. Please make sure to update your working copy by checking out / updating.