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[RELEASED] MultiUp - file attachment plugin

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[RELEASED] MultiUp - file attachment plugin
RELEASE of Beta 03.01.01 will Be Friday about 4-4:30 pm, Eastern.
(This is notice of commercial software, so you have time to place an order before release.)

Response for a 'lite' version was underwhelming. :) I may still do it, but not now.

In order to get the "pro" version out the door FRIDAY, I'm going to disable a few of the user features for this first release. Most of them are management features, which are not really useful until you get a few files uploaded anyway!

1) files uploaded must be unique for each link -- no overwrite, replace, or delete, Only the admin can do that via ftp.

2) users must of course be logged in to upload files. Disabling the checks for logged in users will cause too many bugs that will delay release of this. I'll add that in for the next release.

3) limited (very) admin features, since they are tied to the ability to overwrite/replace files.

What this _will_ do:

1) Allow uploads to be attached to a link.
2) will try to figure out if the attachment is a graphic, and if so, process it, thumbnail it, and insert the sizes into the record.
3) Will pick up an "admin" status on a user, and allow them to edit/validate records. This will be greatly expanded, once the overwrite/replace features are added back in.
4) Basically, if you've been waiting for this, it will let you get started.

It _IS_ beta software.
It _IS_ unfinished.
It _SHOULD_NOT_ do damage to your system.
It _SHOULD_NOT_ install without problems or fiddling :)
It _WILL_ drive you crazy as you try to figure out how it all fits together, but I can't help that :)
It _SHOULD_ be as simple to install and get "running" as installing the plugin, and adding a single line to your add_success.html and modify.html templates. From then on, you have a lot of customization of the templates to make them look how you want them too.

and, the biggest "It _SHOULD_"....

It _SHOULD_ be released before I go see the pirates lose again on Friday. :)

If you order it, I'll send it out before dinner on Friday, and let you play with it, and I'll start fielding questions in my development forum as soon as I get home, which could be pretty quickly if they are playing up to their usual standards, but no later than about 11:30 pm Eastern.

Setting up a demo is problematic, since I don't like public uploads to my servers. A demo might have to wait until I get a real site up and working, and then you can see how it works from that.

If you want it, place your orders now. Everyone who purchased the ImageGallery plugin should get a copy automatically, but if you want to make sure drop me an email. PayPal preferred, but we do take MC/Visa directly if you fax or email a signed scan. Only PayPal orders can be processed on the weekends, so if you want it, do it now.

I'm just cleaning it up now at this point, so the only way I'll miss releasing it is if my Internet connection goes down.

It's been a long wait... but it's at a good 70-75% finished point, with most of the missing features being admin/management items which are more important down the road, and a better template set. I feel comfortable enough that it's stable and usefull enough to release at this point. It's not finished, but it does more than just take up space at this point :)

Documentation? None :) But, honestly, you shouldn't need it. As complex as this is, I've tried to make it idiot proof and really, really as simple as adding those two lines to your two templates. Everything else is done in the templates, and you can see all the tags (on your system) by adding <%GT::Template::dump%> to the bottom of your template. Everything is Links SQL compliant, and standard. Any documentation will be just how to install or upgrade, and an explanation of what all the options do. All the other questions should be answered in Links SQL itself in the Template help module (and the new documenation package). And of course, custom and specific answers and help is in my forum (to keep this uncluttered).



PUGDOGŪ Enterprises, Inc.
FAQ:http://LinkSQL.com/FAQ
Plugins:http://LinkSQL.com/plugin
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Re: [RELEASED] MultiUp - file attachment plugin In reply to
Pugdog,

I have seen many different threads about your multi-up mod...not sure where I saw the following:

Is it true that you'll be charging more than $75 once it is released? I just don't want to mess with beta software if I don't have to. It will be a big deal if I figure this thing out while not in beta!

Is this the best hack to use if we are going to use Links2.0 as a content management system (for the photo and logo acompanying an article?)

As always thanks for your time,
-Evoir



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Re: [RELEASED] MultiUp - file attachment plugin In reply to
Hi,

I know there are a bunch of threads, but sometimes posting, and getting even one idea back, helps get over the problem :) The $75 for the 03.xx series is not going to change. The price on the 06.xx series will.

This is not technically beta, in the true sense, it's hopefully more of a pre-final. It's unfinished, and will have more features added, but it's in use on some of my hidden development sites, for adding content (even though the admin features aren't finished, it's still letting me get content on-line). It's beta since it doesn't have all the features planned for this release yet. Initially it was going to be a post-alpha, but in the past 2 weeks, I've turned it into almost a final beta. It really should only be bug fixes and connecting things up, no major changes.

I've locked down the database, 32 fields, and I think that is sufficient to get through upgrades into the ImageGallery series ... from 03.xx to 06.xx. You can add more, but I don't think the program will need more. If it does, adding fields is not difficult, and it doesn't disrupt anything. Added fields would most likely be flag fields, which are toggled as they are used.

The program code is pretty stable, except for bugs people will come up with. It might not work on NT at the moment, but I have no way to be sure. I've altered the NetPBM scripts to be perl rather than shell, but I don't think I caught all the cp and mv commands which need to be File::Copy, File::Move for compatibility. Only an NT user or two will be able to tell me for sure :)

Right now, most work is in the templates, and adding/changing passed tags to make the templates work. I really redesigned all the logic to make the templates do all the work. Admittedly this might change a little, but it will become simpler, and more efficient, not wildly different. Fewer tags are being used to trigger the correct routines, and fewer templates are being used, as I'm able to combine functions using <%if%> and <%loop%><%include%><%endloop%> constructs.

Price is going to stay at $75 for the 03.xx releases. It's a compromise between the less expensive program I originally planned, and the higher end program that will fall between the ImageGallery and this one. Upgrades will be free, and added features will be what I've talked about in the various threads, but it's not going to have the higher-end back-end directory management features and the user-signup/user-management features of the higher-end ImageGallery.

In all the major rework I've done in the past 2-3 weeks, I have not had to do anything except copy over the .cgi, .pm, and template files. I've made some configuration changes, and added a few database fields, so I've updated the install, and will install it on 2-3 clean sites before tomorrow to make sure it works. Point of this is, that upgrades from the "beta" with 99% certainy, will not require anything else but copying the MultiUp.cgi to the user directory, MultiUp.pm to the Plugins directory, and editing/copying over the updated templates. The plugin will not have to be reinstalled, but for completeness, you could copy it to the Uninstalled directory and then re-install/overwrite.

Bottom line: I would suggest if you are planning to install this mod, to get it now, and start working with it. Getting used to the way the templates are used is the biggest change. Adding a few attchments to a few links in a specific directory, and working with them would be the best way. The plugin should install and run easily, but customizations, and editing the templates to work the way you want users to flow through your site will take time. It won't be an instantaneous process. Unfortunately there is no way around this. It is a design "feature", that hopefully is the true future of Links SQL. It's actually pretty cool, and there are a few places where a javascript "kick" will make it awesome :) I'll leave that to the end users to come up with though.

The more I edit the templates, the more modular the back end code becomes. It still needs a lot of clean up, but that's a process that happens as the features get locked down. It doesn't interfere with function, just makes the code look messy.

It's up to you, but the sooner you start working with loops and functions in the templates, the better. And while I haven't dug into the GossMail templates at all, I'll bet this plugin is using templates more complicated than any except for GossMail. I'm pretty sure it's the most complex set around for Links SQL, at any rate. :)

Remember: You also need to have Image::Size from CPAN and NetPBM from Sourceforge installed.


PUGDOGŪ Enterprises, Inc.
FAQ:http://LinkSQL.com/FAQ
Plugins:http://LinkSQL.com/plugin
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Re: [RELEASED] MultiUp - file attachment plugin In reply to
ahhhhh...

maybe this is more than we need. Perhaps I can use a link to an image (by adding another field to the db).

We are hosted on a shared server and probably wouldn't be able to have Image::Size from CPAN and NetPBM installed.

Are Image::Size AND NetPBM expensive components?

Thanks for your time,
-Evoir
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Re: [RELEASED] MultiUp - file attachment plugin In reply to
Image::Size may already be installed.

They are free.

Installs:http://wiredon.net/gt
FAQ:http://www.perlmad.com

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Re: [RELEASED] MultiUp - file attachment plugin In reply to
I'll go check. thanks. brb.

Thanks for your time,
-Evoir
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Re: [RELEASED] MultiUp - file attachment plugin In reply to
Thanks PaulWilson,

You were right! Image::Size is installed. And, I have permission to install the other (but it looks daunting!)

I don't feel like I need to resize images and all on the server. I would only want to allow up to a certain size image. this would not be for the public to upload, but rather, for our editor to be able to upload a picture.

Do we need to have all those converters and resizers? Can't we just upload a picture? :)

Thanks for your time,
-Evoir
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Re: [RELEASED] MultiUp - file attachment plugin In reply to
Hi,

Image::Size is pure-perl, and is a free CPAn download.

NetPBM is a download from SourceForge, and can actually be installed _anywhere_. It's not actually a perl module, which is why it's not on CPAN (most likely). It's also free. It's just a set of filters that do image processing, nothing really "magic".

What I might do, for people on shared hosting, is to create a smaller package of of the filters needed, (or ask the maintainers to do this, since I don't really work with C/c++ any more at all) so that only the half dozen or so parts that are used by the program are installed.

If you don't want to create thumbnails, then you don't need NetPBM. Just set "CREATE_THUMBNAILS" to '0'. If your host won't install Image::Size, you can even comment out that portion, or you can install it into the admin/Links tree. This is a cool thing to have, though, since it will get the file type and dimentions (height/width) of your gifs, jpgs, etc which can be inserted into the HTML to make it load faster.

Remember, you can always upload your thumbnails separately (I'll add this to the to-do list), it's only a trivial (but something I need to think out) change.

The automatic thumbnails was a feature for the larger program, actually, but I added it in here, and will add it to the 01/02.xx series, which will then allow the image to be attached in the link (one image) and the same image thumbnailed for use as the logo image.



PUGDOGŪ Enterprises, Inc.
FAQ:http://LinkSQL.com/FAQ
Plugins:http://LinkSQL.com/plugin