Upload image from web URL

moses · February 1st, 2005, 03:40 AM

Hello,

Is there a way to upload an image from it's URL?

This would be useful when taking an image from Google Images for use on my newspage, as I wouldn't have to save the image to my hard disk, then upload it again.

Is there a way for VBadvanced Gallery to just grab the image from the URL?

Thanks,

Andrew.

February 1st, 2005, 07:19 AM

Currently, no.

Globalbuzz · February 1st, 2005, 11:28 AM

wouldn't doing something like that constitute 'bandwidth theft' ?

Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

rbl · February 1st, 2005, 11:31 AM

Yes, it does.

February 1st, 2005, 11:36 AM

If you "grab" the image and upload it to your server, then no.

KW802 · February 1st, 2005, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Globalbuzz

wouldn't doing something like that constitute 'bandwidth theft' ?

Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

I don't think 'bandwidth theft' since moses wants the end result of having the image uploaded to his own server. What he wants to do is eliminate having to do the "right-mouse, save-as to local PC" step and instead directly upload to his remote server from a different remote server instead of his local PC.

rbl · February 1st, 2005, 11:42 AM

If the image is automatically pulled from an URL and saved to the files folder (bypassing the need to download, save to disk and upload like Moses said), Kevin is right, it's not bandwidth theft because Moses will be using the image hosted on his server.
But, unless he has authorization from the author, it's still theft =)

Tom M · February 1st, 2005, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbl

But, unless he has authorization from the author, it's still theft =)

This is true in any case, whether it's downloaded from a server or off of your local disk.

The request to be able to load images via the web still seems reasonable. I've got plenty of our organizations pictures hosted on Club Photo that could easily be moved to the gallery. Many of these photos were posted by others for use by the group.

Globalbuzz · February 1st, 2005, 01:46 PM

I was thinking more along the lines that image is linked directly to someone else's server and not their own

I am not too familiar with all the different ways of presenting the images on the Gallery, but I am sure I shall learn

robert_2004 · February 2nd, 2005, 08:16 AM

THEN, make it so i can mass-grab images from a site. THEN i can crawl porn sites, and open a free gallery, with each group of photos in it's own gallery.
i rule.

gorp · February 2nd, 2005, 11:43 AM

there are many free image hosting services, and I agree that it would be nice to be able to link the URL from one of those to the Gallery. I don't think it should be a moral issue here - if someone allows hotlinking images from their site then they are probably cool with it. Also- if you hotlink to someone's image that they are hosting then you are stealing nothing, since you don't actually own or serve the photo. Then - if a person decided to pull, change or rename the photo from their server they would have control over whether it is seen or not, so I think to send this discussion off in to the area of "is it moral" is the wrong approach to this question.

rbl · February 2nd, 2005, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gorp

I don't think it should be a moral issue here - if someone allows hotlinking images from their site then they are probably cool with it.

How can you tell if someone "allows" others to hotlink to pictures on his site?
By the lack of a deterrent?
That makes much sense as saying that you allow others to smack you in the head with a hammer because you're not wearing an helmet =)

gorp · February 2nd, 2005, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbl

How can you tell if someone "allows" others to hotlink to pictures on his site?
By the lack of a deterrent?
That makes much sense as saying that you allow others to smack you in the head with a hammer because you're not wearing an helmet =)

All sites have a control panel, and most of them (cPanel included) have a setting in the control panel that controls the hotlinking, and I think that most webmasters, especially ones that deal alot with image content, are aware of this feature.

rbl · February 2nd, 2005, 11:35 PM

All sites have a control panel???!!! No, that's not true but even if it was, they would have to find out what hotlink is and what it does, in the middle of all the other cryptic named cpanel options.
Usually they only find out when they see a huge extra bandwidth bill.

But humor me, do you really believe all that you said? Do you really believe that unless I bolt my front door, I'm allowing others to rob me? And do you really believe that in if they rob me in these conditions, is totally justifiable?

gorp · February 3rd, 2005, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbl

All sites have a control panel???!!! No, that's not true but even if it was, they would have to find out what hotlink is and what it does, in the middle of all the other cryptic named cpanel options.
Usually they only find out when they see a huge extra bandwidth bill.

But humor me, do you really believe all that you said? Do you really believe that unless I bolt my front door, I'm allowing others to rob me? And do you really believe that in if they rob me in these conditions, is totally justifiable?

If your site does not have a control panel find another server. Let me rephrase; "MOST servers have a control panel...." If you do not know how to protect yourself or your property then you have no business posting on the internet.

By hotlinking to someone else's site, rather than downloading and reupping the pic you are giving them the opportunity to make changes to their photo, or to delelte it altogether. If I download it and reup it to my site they do not have that option.

I think your analogy is a bit extreme, but I will add that if you had stuff you cared about and you put up flyers telling everyone about all of the cool stuff, and you put all of your stuff out on your front lawn and someone walked up and borrowed/copied (since nobody is actually taking the original) your stuff I would not have any sympathy for you, and in fact I would think that you were an idiot for doing so.

rbl · February 3rd, 2005, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gorp

If you do not know how to protect yourself or your property then you have no business posting on the internet.

In part that's true! The thing is, cpanel and stuff like that, eliminated the need to have a techie in the staff and because of that, a lot of people started their own websites, although they don't have the necessary expertise to do it.
But that doesn't mean that the rest of us should prey them!
Being on the internet doesn't change the fact that you still have rights on your property.

Quote:

By hotlinking to someone else's site, rather than downloading and reupping the pic you are giving them the opportunity to make changes to their photo, or to delelte it altogether. If I download it and reup it to my site they do not have that option.

No, you can always replace the photo but we are talking about another thing. We are talking about using someone else's content and resources without their knowledge or approval.

Quote:

I think your analogy is a bit extreme

My analogy follows your reasoning. If you don't lock your door, you are inviting others to steal you. That's your point =)

But anyway, I see you are trying to justify it by blaming the victims for not protecting themselves.
Stealing is always a crime, in every legal and moral aspect, whether content or bandwidth, and it doesn't stop being a crime just because by presenting it from another point of view.

gorp · February 3rd, 2005, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbl

No, you can always replace the photo but we are talking about another thing. We are talking about using someone else's content and resources without their knowledge or approval.

No- this is what we are discussing: having the ability to add URL's to the gallery. If the URL's change the picture disappears. I have stolen nothing, for it is not there anymore. If I grab the picture and reupload it, and the owner of the image takes it down from their site for whatever reason then they have lost control.

Quote:

But anyway, I see you are trying to justify it by blaming the victims for not protecting themselves.
Stealing is always a crime, in every legal and moral aspect, whether content or bandwidth, and it doesn't stop being a crime just because by presenting it from another point of view.

you are defining this as "stealing," but I do not accept that definition. I think that reposting a picture, rather than providing a direct link to the URL is the bigger "crime" here. Also- I am not "blaming the victims," I just said I would have little sympathy for anyone who tosses their resources around so carelessly if in fact they are that important to them.

KW802 · February 3rd, 2005, 02:11 PM

Guys/gals: This thread has taken a 180 from the original topic. Let's all remember that the original question was related to the availability of a function in vBa Gallery.

gorp · February 3rd, 2005, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KW802

Guys/gals: This thread has taken a 180 from the original topic. Let's all remember that the original question was related to the availability of a function in vBa Gallery.

I agree and I was trying to bring the discussion back in that arena. As I said before - to add some sort of moral issue to a function in the gallery is silly, especially since it is a function that doesn't exist, and probably won't

moses · February 28th, 2005, 04:35 PM

sorry, didn't mean to start a moral issue - as I said I'm generally just taking a pic from google images then hosting it on my own gallery. I've been using another site which uses 4images and they have the upload directly from URL so I figured it should be possible with gallery.. could you get php to save the image to /temp then upload it from there? I'm not crash hot on php yet..