A couple of presale questions

imported_rrr · March 23rd, 2005, 01:55 PM

Hi there,

I like the looks of vBadvanced Gallery so far, and I just had a couple of questions.

1) Is there a paid "branding free" option for vBa Gallery? If so, how much is it?

2) Is there a "search engine friendly" URL option or mod for vBa Gallery. I didn't see one when I searched, but I may have missed it.

3) (a bit more complicated):

I would like to use vBa Gallery (in conjunction with vB) to allow the members of my forum to upload pictures of their products.

For example, if I'm running a candle makers forum, and all my forum members have their own online stores selling custom made candles, I'd like them to be able to upload a picture each of their candles and have each candle photo be able to be linked to their website page that is selling that candle.

They would specify the URL of the page selling the candle (it would be different for each candle) when they upload the image.

That way, when a customer interested in candles comes across the gallery, they can see the candle they like and either click on the picture or a "buy this candle now" link and be taken to the candle merchants website to complete the purchase.

So for example, if this was an example page:
http://www.vbadvanced.com/gallery/sh...e.php?i=250&c=

The picture of the glass would be hyperlinked to that user's online store selling that glass. The description area would be a product description, keywords would still be used, and right under the picture of the glass, is where a "buy this item" link or button would go.

Would I be able to do this with vBa Gallery, right out of the box, or would it need some custom modifications?

I know you can add extra fields, but if I add a URL field, would it automatically be hyperlinked?

Basically I would need a variable like $storeURL that would create a hyperlink whenever called. Then I could add it to make the product picture hyperlinked, I could make the picture title hyperlinked, and I could add a hyperlink in the description area if needed, all using the same "tag".

Sorry for the long post, but I was envisioning how it would work as I was typing

Is this possible out of the box (or with minor modifications to the code)?

ConqSoft · March 23rd, 2005, 02:05 PM

1) Yes. ~$40
2) No. (And this isn't even needed anymore for all of the major search engines. They index sites fine.)

KW802 · March 23rd, 2005, 02:08 PM

rrr,

1) Yes, there is a branding free option available. When you go through the vBa Gallery purchase screens you'll be prompted if you're interested in purchasing an installation option (currently $14.99) and/or a branding free option (currently $39.99 for Gallery).

2) The Gallery should already be search engine friendly in that guests don't have a sessions ID in their URL. As long as the gallery category is viewable by guests then the search bots shouldn't have a problem finding them.

3) You're on the right path in regards to using a custom field. With RC3 it will not automatically turn the entry into a hyperlink but there is an RC3 hack available to do just that. There is a possibility that RC4 may contain that feature as a built-in option but if it does not then the RC3 hack will continue to work. I use this feature on my own site so that people can provide links to the source of the images they upload. For example, if you visit here and then scroll down you'll see a custom field I created named "Artist/Photographer" -- If the user enters a web site address, email address, or FTP address then it'll automatically be turned into a hyperlink like it does when posting messages in the forums.

Kevin

imported_rrr · March 23rd, 2005, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ConqSoft

1) Yes. $39.95

2) No. (And this isn't even needed anymore for all of the major search engines. They index sites fine.)

Thanks for the help with the first 2, conqsoft.

You're right, most of the search engines have gotten a lot better at spidering urls with query strings, however, I've found that having mod_rewrite used to make search engine friendly URLs helps the major search engines go much *deeper* into the site than it would normally.

I guess I can bug a mod_rewrite expert for help with that part though...that only leaves my 3rd question before I make my purchase.

imported_rrr · March 23rd, 2005, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KW802

rrr,

3) You're on the right path in regards to using a custom field. With RC3 it will not automatically turn the entry into a hyperlink but there is an RC3 hack available to do just that. There is a possibility that RC4 may contain that feature as a built-in option but if it does not then the RC3 hack will continue to work. I use this feature on my own site so that people can provide links to the source of the images they upload. For example, if you visit here and then scroll down you'll see a custom field I created named "Artist/Photographer" -- If the user enters a web site address, email address, or FTP address then it'll automatically be turned into a hyperlink like it does when posting messages in the forums.

Kevin

I must have been typing my last reply when you were...

Thanks Kevin, it looks like that hack is exactly what I need. The sample URL you posted seems to be what I'm looking for as well.

Say you wanted to link that person's artwork to the artist/photographer's website using the same URL that is shown in the "artist/photographer's website" link. Could you use some type of variable to take that field and hyperlink the picture or hyperlink the photo title?

KW802 · March 23rd, 2005, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rrr

I must have been typing my last reply when you were...

Thanks Kevin, it looks like that hack is exactly what I need. The sample URL you posted seems to be what I'm looking for as well.

Say you wanted to link that person's artwork to the artist/photographer's website using the same URL that is shown in the "artist/photographer's website" link. Could you use some type of variable to take that field and hyperlink the picture or hyperlink the photo title?

With a little bit of extra work, yes. Would what need to happen is some additional edits to the Gallery PHP file so that an explicitly specified custom field is returned with a different variable name then it does now. To clarify that, if there were 5 custom fields the PHP files builds the output of all 5 of those fields into one variable name and then that one variable name is included in the output template. In this case we would need to say that while the custom fields are being extracted that if field X is present then create a new variable (eg: $CustomFieldX) instead of adding it to the rest of the custom fields. From there then $CustomFieldX would need to be referenced in the templates.

I haven't looked at the code lately (so Brian or somebody else may correct me on what I'm about to say

) but I'm thinking that it'd be easier to use $CustomFieldX as part of the title or to display it somewhere else in the template rather than making it a link of the image being shown because the image may already be hyperlinked.

vBa Gallery allows you to specify a maximum size of how big the pictures should be. For our example, let's say that I specify 640x480 is the max' size for a JPG. I can then optionally say to keep the original image before it was resized. So now if I upload a 1024x768 image vBa Gallery will make a copy of it to 640x480. When I then click on the thumbnail of that image from the index it'll show me the 640x480 version of it but because I turned on the option to keep the original image I can then click on the image to view the original 1024x768 version. The logic that created that hyperlinking of the image to the original image is in a different section than where it builds the custom fields so changing the image's link to instead be the value of a custom field would be a bit more difficult. For that reason I believe it'd be easier to just display $CustomFieldX somewhere on the template or in place of the title.