Photo Galleries on Barretto.org

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Here are the main components of the gallery tools on this site:

/gallery/default.asp This page lists the galleries that are currently available. It checks the expiration dates of the galleries and only displays those galleries that haven't "expired". I do this to keep from displaying old stuff indefinitely.
/gallery/viewgallery/default.asp This page lists all of the photos in the selected gallery.
/gallery/viewgallery/viewphoto.asp This page displays the chosen photo. It also has links to navigate to the next or previous photo, go back to the gallery, or go back to the listing of all galleries.
/include/serverFunctions.inc This file contains VBScript functions that handle basic operations like opening and closing the database and retrieving site news. Also used by forms to create, update, delete photos and galleries.
/include/galleryFunctions.inc Function library that performs all gallery-specific operations. Gets gallery, photo information. Also used by forms to create, update, delete photos and galleries.
/admin/updateGalleries.asp Form that creates and edits gallery information in the database and provides a link to add photos to the gallery. Here we create a gallery, and give it a name and description. We also give it an expiration date so that old galleries don't remain on the galleries page indefinitely.
/admin/updatePhotos.asp Form that creates and edits individual photo information in the selected gallery and puts it into the database. This is where the captions and descriptions are created.

Contact me (brandt@barretto.org) if you are interested in any of the source code.

Here's the process I go through when putting pictures on the site:

1. Connect the camera to my PC and copy the pictures to my machine. The pictures come off the camera in high resolution (2048 x 1536 pixels)
2. Open up Macromedia Fireworks and use the batch process feature to make 800 x 600 pixel copies of all of the pictures. This is so that they will more easily display on your screen. The originals are automatically backed up, plus there's still a copy on the camera.
3. Use Dreamweaver to FTP (File Transfer Protocol) the files to a directory on the site. I usually create a directory using the year and month name -- that way the directories don't get too big and it makes searching a little easier.
4. Open up all pictures in a browser by going into Windows Explorer, navigating the local folder containing the pictures, blocking them all and clicking on Open. They get opened in the Opera browser.
5. Go to the site and enter the admin area. Create a new gallery, giving it a name and description.

6. Click on the Add Photos link to open the updatePhotos.asp form. Reference the picture in the other browser (reference the browser opened in step 4 with all of the pictures) and create a caption and description. Also need to provide the directory that the file is in and the the photo file name.

7. Repeat 6 until all photos you want are added to the database via updatePhotos.asp.
8. Go into the gallery and make sure that the photos appear as they should. If they don't, go back to the admin forms and correct the mistakes.
9. Create a news item to announce the gallery and give people a link directly to the first picture.

 

If you want to use any of this code, you're welcome to do so. All I ask is that you credit me and this site (Brandt Barretto at http://www.barretto.org/). We appreciate your support!