jAlbum 38 beta 27 is now available for testing through https://jalbum.net/download/beta/jalbum-core.jar

This beta release introduces "Views" in an early version (you can't create them via the UI as of yet, give it until end of next week). Views are what Structures should have been, i.e. they allow the viewer alternative views of the same gallery IN ADDITION to the main folder structure without consuming more disk space - if the skin allows internal linking, that is. Imagine allowing the user to view recent objects, or objects by date or place or theme in addition to whatever folder structure you've chosen as your main structure...

Here's a demo project where I've pre-created a "flatten" view under the "Views" folder. This view presents the contents of the project in a flattened layout. If the skin supports internal linking, then jAlbum can avoid creating images, otherwise jAlbum will recreate the images in the view.

https://jalbum.net/download/Stocks.zip

I still have it on the todo to allow the user to create and edit various "views" from Explore and Edit view mode (it will be similar to web locations), but with this beta you can test whether your skin plays well with "Views" or not.

Other things on the todo is to ensure that you cannot attach images to internally linked objects and such sanity restrictions.

Looking forward to your enthusiastic testing . I'll be on a short vacation to Spain. Back on Thursday.

That will be interesting. A "view" can't be created in the UI, and no skin has been released that has internal linking enabled. This limits the testing to the zipped Stocks project, and to only a couple of skin developers.

On a happier note, I've tried that sample project with a couple of my skins (one lightbox, one "slide page"), and no smoke or flames, and no superfluous output thumbnails or slide images.

That pretty much guarantees that internal linking and views will work with most of mine: Atom, Jupiter, Mercury, Neptune, and Saturn.

Opus 16 will have to wait for the attachment issue to get sorted out - remember, that skin works by adding JPG's to the project (like for each composer), and then attaching an MP3 to each one.

Triton doesn't support folders at all, so not a good candidate.

Venus puts all the folders on a single index page, so also not a good candidate.

The old NoPages utility processor would make no sense with internal linking - its reason for existing is to process images and videos, without making an actual album.

Thanks for your testing. Minimal works once you’ve added that supportsInternalLinking skin property. Laza has at least Tiger working now. Expect a skin update any day.

Once I’m back I’ll complete the UI so you can create views of your choice for any project.

One note of caution to anyone wanting to test jAlbum 38. As discussed elsewhere, this release final kills off the THM method of attaching a representing image to another album object, like a PDF, MP4, or MP3. It's been replaced with a much more flexible, robust method for attaching representing images to other album objects, without having to go through the rigamarole of matching the base name and putting a bogus file extension on the representing image file.

jAlbum 38 converts your existing THM files to the newer attachment scheme. Works very well, but once it's converted a project, there's no going back - you have to stick with jAlbum 38.

With Missive skin and jAlbum set to process folders first, during the iteration process view and flattened are not processed using

<ja:fileiterator dirs start="1">
<% System.out.println(label) %>
...
</ja:fileiterator>

Result in System console =
Making "Stocks" (Changes)
People
Scenic images
Sports
"Stocks" made in 0.358s

If a view is treated as a folder it should be processed.

Yes, I'm inclined to dump the structure concept soon. If you really want the one and only main view to be, say calendar, then you can use the organise functionality. Also, views will break if combined with non-mirrored structures and skins that supports internal linking (internal linking relies on finding the files under the mirrored path).

That's what a lot of first-time users thought the Structure panel would do, and were puzzled when it didn't change anything in the Explore view!


Yes, that would be quite a tangled mess. I'd say that the Structure panel should vanish as soon as internal linking is added. Having the two of them trying to coexist, even briefly, could produce broken albums and user confusion.

jAlbum 38rc1 is available as a beta core update. It also requires a new texts.properties file that goes under the "texts" sub directory.

Files:
https://jalbum.net/download/beta/jalbum-core.jar
https://jalbum.net/download/beta/texts.properties

Changes:
Views implemented, providing additional ways to navigate a gallery without impacting disk size*.
The views are:

• Recently added - Display objects added since last upload for instance
• Alphabetical - Display objects grouped by the initial file name character
• Date - Display objects grouped by year and month for instance
• Place - Display objects grouped by country, region and place
• Keyword - Display objects grouped by keywords

Views can be added to any place of your project, just like you add a folder. They are considered as folders and can have unique names and comments.

To add a view, see the new "New view" sub menu of the context menu of jAlbum's Explore view (right-click empty area between thumbnails). Some view types have settings and can be edited later on via jAlbum's Edit view.

Note: Disk size impact is negligible for skins that support internal linking