Batch Add Folders go missing in upgrade?

[Bob Terveuren]

Hi

I've recently upgraded Coppermine from 1.2 to the latest 1.3.2. I went to use the Batch Add facility and I was presented with the following message:

Select directory
This function allows you to add a batch of file that your have uploaded to your server by FTP.

Select the directory where you have uploaded your files

No directories were displayed.

Others with this problem have been directed to the current online documentation which clearly states that pictures should not be uploaded to albums/userpics/

The documentation with 1.2 did not state this and I had previously been ftp'ing to folders under /albums/userpics/ e.g. /albums/userpics/holiday/monday/ as I made the assumption that /userpics/ was where I should be uploading stuff.

1.3 will not show folders in the batch add screen unless they are under /albums/ (e.g. /albums/holiday/etc) - that's easy enough to sort by ftp'ing to the correct folders.

However this problem seems to be common on looking through the board - perhaps many, like me, were previously ftp'ing to the wrong place and are now confused upon upgrading?

Bob

[Joachim Müller]

Many have been uploading to userpics in the past, although they shouldn't have done so. We kept getting question on this issue for ages, so I won't repeat the answer here once again. When upgrading, you're meant to read the docs -  in it, you can find the bit of information that you mustn't upload there. You never were meant to upload there, in no coppermine version. Just from now on (after the upgrade), ftp-upload to a folder structure within the albums dir (but not userpics). It's recommended to mimmick your category/albums structure, but not mandatory. What is your actual question?

Joachim

[Bob Terveuren]

Many have been uploading to userpics in the past, although they shouldn't have done so. We kept getting question on this issue for ages, so I won't repeat the answer here once again. When upgrading, you're meant to read the docs -  in it, you can find the bit of information that you mustn't upload there. You never were meant to upload there, in no coppermine version. Just from now on (after the upgrade), ftp-upload to a folder structure within the albums dir (but not userpics). It's recommended to mimmick your category/albums structure, but not mandatory. What is your actual question?

Joachim

There is no question - I'm making a statement.

The previous docs made no mention of the fact that we should not have uploaded to userpics - the current docs (1.3) do.

You always answer problems like mine with 'look at the documentation' so we do - all we see is the fact that the folder userspics should not be used for uploading - it does not tell us why we cannot 'see' the previously viewable folders. IMHO you have failed to explain  the answer to the questions that previous posters have posed.

I figured that my post may have helped some others due to the lack of clarity in all your previous answers on this topic (and YES I have read the forums trying to find the correct answer and, after seeing you telling us to 'check the documentation' yet again I felt that a fuller explanation may have helped some?)

Bob

p.s. if we were never meant to ftp into the folder called /userpics/ then why the blazes was it called userpics in the first place??

[kegobeer]

You would have to ask the original developer of Coppermine, Gregory Demar.  Unfortunately he's not involved in the project anymore as he's taken an extended leave of absence.  I can hazard a guess: userpics is for your users to upload into, hence the name userpics.

The documentation does say why you can't upload into userpics (and the edit directory):

these folders are used by coppermine internally and mustn't be used for any other purpose!

If those folders are used internally, would it make sense to display them?

Although 1.3+ documentation does say not to upload into userpics, and everyone who upgrades from a previous version should read them before upgrading, we could include something in the docs that explains pictures already uploaded can stay where they are but all new FTP actions must be done in a folder NOT userpics.

[Bob Terveuren]

we could include something in the docs that explains pictures already uploaded can stay where they are but all new FTP actions must be done in a folder NOT userpics.

I'd vote for that one - the upgrade section in the docs is excellent and if you added the above then it would settle the teething troubles that some of us have had with the upgrade.

For my money Coppermine is one of the least buggy, well documented and best supported Open Source packages available - thank you

Bob

[bryan]

Is there a way we can transfer/edit our structure (folders) within our server and have a tool that will update all the links in the Gallery itself?

[Tranz]

You would have to manually edit the database, and only do that if you're confident with doing that and after backing up.

[bryan]

That's too much work to do for the amount of photos I have! Hope someone can come up with a such tool.

[kegobeer]

There isn't any need for such a tool.  The files that are already in the database are fine.  Moving the files is unnecessary.  Only new files uploaded via FTP need to go into the new directory.

[bryan]

I mean it's for those who wanna re-structure their folders again. Sure there are people.

[Joachim Müller]

The database keeps track of files, the human doesn't have to. We've been trough this discussion before; every now and then someone turns up and requests a mod to move the files around, saying he likes things "neat" and this would help him. We believe that moving files can be dangerous (as it's hard to predict if a file move will work, with permission issues on webservers on people not understanding the concept of CHMOD and CHOWN, with coppermine being capable to run both on Unix and Windows servers). From our point of view, this tool is not needed, so we won't be looking into it. If you need it, you will have to code it by yourself.

Joachim

[bryan]

Okay. Guess I have no choice.

So from now on, I have to use start making my folders outside "userpics" and leave those in "userpics" alone right?

[Joachim Müller]

yes, that's what we've been repeating all over...

Joachim