Hi,
I'm a new user. I've just installed the Mobile Server version for testing on Windows and will probably install the live version on an Apache server. In both cases, the server will only be made available to an internal network.
First of all, is there a manual or detailed documentation to read that I've missed concerning configuration? I'm guessing at the meaning of some of the configuration settings.
Secondly, if you have any insight that could help me configure 4images for the following scenario, that would be very helpful.
My Ideal Setup
I have hundreds of images stored on a fileserver. I need to automatically import all the images into the database and generate thumbnails but I want to leave the fullsize images on the fileserver and only store the thumbnails on the web server. I will then open each image and assign keywords and categories (a daunting task). File formats in the image collection include TIF, JPG, EPS, PDF, PNG, BMP, PSPIMAGE.
From a user perspective, I want them to be able to perform keyword/description/date searches on the images, with a list of thumbnails for the results. When clicking on an image, I want a larger version to display (about 800px width max) but not the full size image. Some of our images are thousands of pixels big and not suitable for displaying in a browser. Once they've found the image they want, they can click the download button to retrieve the image from the fileserver.
What I've Discovered So Far
Using this forum I've discovered that by creating the categories first and looking for their ID, you can dump images into that category folder and ask the software to check for new images to add them to the database. I've also found the auto thumbnailer to create the thumbnails for these imported images and the auto image resizer to make every image 800px wide. Is this the best way to acheive what I want? It does mean that I have to import all the images at their full filesize onto the web server before the image and file resize occurs. It also resizes images that are already less than 800 pixels wide. Can it leave these alone? Also, how do I deal with PDFs and PSPimages? These could be large files that will only display in the browser as icons, yet still use up uncessary filespace. It would be more efficient to just have them as database entries.
The download button link does not seem to be working correctly. I can download a file with the image name but it is 0 bytes. In the image properties, I'm setting the download URL as:
file://///fileserver/server%20share/directory/image%20name.jpg
If I use this URL directly in a browser or as a href link on a page it will work fine. However this does not appear to be the case in 4Images. I assumed that 4Images just programs the download button link with whatever is in this field.
My installation of ImageMagick doesn't seem to be working; I get Error Creating Thumbnail messages. (In this test, the images were copied to the category folder.) I've installed the ImageMagick Windows binary dynamic 16 bits per pixel DLL and set 4Images to use ImageMagick. I've given it the windows path to the installation folder C:\Program Files\ImageMagick-6.4.6-Q16\convert.exe. Any idea what I've done wrong? Does anyone have any comments about which of the three image processors to use based on the file formats I mentioned at the start of this thread?
Adding other file formats seems easy enough by specifying it in the configuration and creating a html template in the /media directory. Is there any documentation on creating these? It looks as if you can configure in the template which application is used to open the file. For example, I would want PSPimages to open in Paint Shop Pro.
Thank you for any constructive advice that you can give.
Regards,
Dominic
