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Permlink Replies: 14 - Pages: 1 - Last Post: 14 Feb 20, 15:37 Last Post By: JeffTucker
ksmatharu

Posts: 21
Registered: 2-May-2009
JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 13 Feb 20, 10:39
 
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For a while. I've been adding images to JAlbum which were created with dimensions limited to 2048 pixels. I have "Link to scaled-down images only" selected, and also "Make slide pages" and "Copy originals if needed". Image bounds were set at 2048x2048. And I have "Save project on Make album" ticked.

I'd been pretty much happy with this arrangement, but recently I decided that the image bounds at 2048x2048 were too large, so I changed the bounds to 1024x1024. That's when the problem started.

I click "Make album" and that takes over 5 minutes…fine, that's just JAlbum creating the new images for output but it should only be a one-time-thing (or so I thought). I uploaded the album from within JAlbum and it takes over 40 minutes to upload…again fine as that should be a one-time-thing to upload all the freshly minted output images.

Later, I added one image to the album. JAlbum took over 5 minutes again to create the output album (I just clicked on "Make Album" so I didn't do anything funky). Not sure why it took so long this time…I only added one image. And when I uploaded the album to my web host, it took over 40 minutes. The same thing happened again a day later when I added another image, and again a day later when I added two more images. Oh dear, my hosting company isn't going to like all these uploads. So I stopped.

I wanted to experiment more but not at the expense of my hosting company shutting me down for exceeding my resource allowances. I therefor created my own local website and ftp server on my NAS.

I set up the album upload settings to point to my local server. All good and working. This is what I found after some experimentation:

1. If I add 1 image, 2 images or NO images, JAlbum generates new images every single time for every image in the album. I observed this by looking at the output folder and the file timestamps. The only time JAlbum didn't generate new images was when hit I "Make Album" again without shutting down JAlbum.

2. When I do an upload, every single image is uploaded, and I've checked this by looking at the time it took to upload (I had rate limited the ftp server to help me in this regard), and also by observing the timestamps of the files on the ftp server. The only time JAlbum didn't upload images was when I made "Make Album" again without shutting down JAlbum.

3. If I change the image bounds to 2048x2048 then JAlbum works as expected and doesn't create and upload image files if they already exist in the required size.

To be clear, if I create an album and upload it, every single image is uploaded. If I shut down JAlbum, and make the album again (making no changes and no new images added), every single image is uploaded again. I've even gone to the trouble of explicitly selecting "Smart upload" but that made no difference.

I also deleted the manifest file in case it was corrupt but that, again, made no difference.
I've run out of ideas. Is this the way JAlbum is supposed to behave? Have I made some silly error in the settings? Before I go to the trouble of scaling my all original images to 1024 limits, I thought I'd ask for help in this forum.

My album is at https://www.silentnomad.com/images/ and I run JAlbum 19.3 with Jupiter skin on Windows 10 Pro (1909) 64-bit

Thanks in advance.
RobM

Posts: 3,815
Registered: 4-Aug-2006
Re: JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 13 Feb 20, 11:45   in response to: ksmatharu in response to: ksmatharu
 
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Not sure why you are having such problems but you have Generate Json dats enabled and Jupiter does not, as far as I recall, use Json files.

You also have image limits set to 10000x1024.
davidekholm

Posts: 3,442
Registered: 18-Oct-2002
Re: JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 13 Feb 20, 12:12   in response to: ksmatharu in response to: ksmatharu
 
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jAlbum should naturally not re-generated the images if you simply hit "Make album" (the recommended approach). Can you reproduce this problem with the "Sample Portfolio" project?
JeffTucker

Posts: 8,039
Registered: 31-Jan-2006
Re: JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 13 Feb 20, 14:11   in response to: ksmatharu in response to: ksmatharu
 
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You've posted this as an uploading problem, but it sounds like the problem is that jAlbum is regenerating the images every time. The fact that the images end up being exactly the same doesn't matter - the uploader sees a new timestamp on them, and uploads them again. It's not comparing the contents of the files before uploading them (that would truly take forever).

So, let's narrow this down. Open the project and hit Make Album. Don't bother uploading. Open the output directory and look at the timestamps on the slide images. Close jAlbum. Wait a couple of minutes, and do the same thing again. Are the timestamps on the slide images being changed?

If so, this is a jAlbum core problem, one that has nothing to do with uploading. Try a clean reinstall of jAlbum, and truly scrub the old version first:

https://jalbum.net/forum/thread.jspa?threadID=35746
JeffTucker

Posts: 8,039
Registered: 31-Jan-2006
Re: JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 13 Feb 20, 14:22   in response to: JeffTucker in response to: JeffTucker
 
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The problem isn't with the project settings. In fact, there's no project setting that could cause this.

But while we're looking at those, a few off-topic observations....

Indeed, Jupiter doesn't use the JSON files for anything, so generating and uploading them is a waste of time. Turn them off: Advanced > Metadata > Generate JSON data.

Image bounds of 2048x2048 are too large, but 1024x1024 is too small. What you're trying to do is provide a good size on most monitors. Monitors are not square. Most of them start out at roughly 16:9, but when you subtract for the browser's address and tool bars, you end up somewhere around 16:8 or 16:7. The default image bounds in the skin are 1200x750, but probably should be 1600x750 (which is what I use for most other skins).

Just remember that the chosen width does affect the position of the navigation icons on the slide pages (it's a long story - I'd love to change that, but there are other factors at work).

Oh, and neither image nor monitor sizes normally come in powers of two. ;)
ksmatharu

Posts: 21
Registered: 2-May-2009
Re: JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 14 Feb 20, 06:35   in response to: RobM in response to: RobM
 
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Thank you. Those image bounds were set when I had one last go but to allow for panoramic sized images. I'm gone back to 1024x1024 on my local server (no connection to the Internet) for test purposes.

I've now unchecked the "Generate JSON data" but that has made no difference.
ksmatharu

Posts: 21
Registered: 2-May-2009
Re: JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 14 Feb 20, 06:58   in response to: davidekholm in response to: davidekholm
 
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I've checked the Sample Portfolio, and that is working fine. I've made no changes to the settings for that Album and left it on the default Tiger skin.

I then switched the skin to Jupiter, making no other changes. That is also working fine.
ksmatharu

Posts: 21
Registered: 2-May-2009
Re: JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 14 Feb 20, 07:08   in response to: JeffTucker in response to: JeffTucker
 
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Yes.

1. Open output folder.
2. Make Album.
3. Observed that every image in the output folder had their timestamp changed to latest time. I can see the timestamp changes as they happen.
4. Closed JAlbum.
5. Waited a couple of minutes.
6. Executed JAlbum.
7. Opened the album.
8. Open output folder.
9. Make Album (nothing else touched).
10. Observed that every image in the out folder had their timestamped to latest time.

I will try to uninstall JAlbum next per guide.
ksmatharu

Posts: 21
Registered: 2-May-2009
Re: JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 14 Feb 20, 07:17   in response to: JeffTucker in response to: JeffTucker
 
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Oh, and neither image nor monitor sizes normally come in powers of two. ;)

It's a hard habit to break ;)
ksmatharu

Posts: 21
Registered: 2-May-2009
Re: JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 14 Feb 20, 07:28   in response to: davidekholm in response to: davidekholm
 
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Just a follow-up. When using the Sample Portfolio album, everything works fine with the default Tiger skin and with the Jupiter skin.

On my own album, I switched from Jupiter to Tiger. That made no difference....new images are being generated everytime :(
RobM

Posts: 3,815
Registered: 4-Aug-2006
Re: JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 14 Feb 20, 12:48   in response to: ksmatharu in response to: ksmatharu
 
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Just to rule out the impossible, are the original images time stamps unaltered?
JeffTucker

Posts: 8,039
Registered: 31-Jan-2006
Re: JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 14 Feb 20, 12:57   in response to: ksmatharu in response to: ksmatharu
 
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Very mysterious....

  • It's not an uploading issue - the uploader is doing what it's supposed to do, to wit, uploading all new files. It's an album build problem.
  • It's not a skin problem. It almost couldn't be, since the skins don't control file processing (with the exception of some skin-specific files like oversized folder thumbnails).
  • It's not a project settings problem. With your project settings, and even with some of your images, I can't reproduce the unnecessary slide image regeneration.

Beyond "bad juju," I'm not sure what we're left with, here.

You're clicking on Make Album, right? Or just hitting F9? You're not hitting SHIFT-F9, are you? Stupid questions, I know, but I'm desperate. ;)
JeffTucker

Posts: 8,039
Registered: 31-Jan-2006
Re: JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 14 Feb 20, 14:36   in response to: JeffTucker in response to: JeffTucker
 
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I think this is a permission problem. Something is preventing jAlbum from writing out the .info file, which contains things like the most recent "made" date and the hash settings. I'm seeing dates in there (in milliseconds) that correspond to something in early 2018, along with an internalVersion of 15.1.6, rather than 19.3.

Try moving the whole project to the C: drive, and see what happens.
ksmatharu

Posts: 21
Registered: 2-May-2009
Re: JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 14 Feb 20, 15:30   in response to: JeffTucker in response to: JeffTucker
 
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Everyone, thank you for all your help. I did all the testing with the project file on the C: drive but I hit the frustation-wall and decided to nuke it from orbit.

I created a brand new project and started from scratch, carefully entering all the settings that I had noted down from my previous project. Everything now works. In retrospect, I suspect much like you, that the issue was probably due to permissioning.

Having started from scratch, I took the time to do some heavy prunning of my photos so this was a good opportunity for some much needed maintenance :)

At the moment, I've uploaded to my local server, but I'll upload to my hosting site at some point today.
JeffTucker

Posts: 8,039
Registered: 31-Jan-2006
Re: JAlbum uploads all images, not just changed ones
Posted: 14 Feb 20, 15:37   in response to: ksmatharu in response to: ksmatharu
 
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ksmatharu wrote:
I created a brand new project and started from scratch, carefully entering all the settings that I had noted down from my previous project. Everything now works.

Excellent!

In retrospect, I suspect much like you, that the issue was probably due to permissioning.

It was the only remaining explanation, at least the only one that made any sense.
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