Hi.
I've created a modification of Coppermine, which can make the upload procedure a bit easier when uploading pictures. The upload is performed by a Java-program, and is thus more userfriendly than the original javascript-user interface. The program is still very much in beta, but has reached a usable state, and I'm now interested in some feedback from users of Coppermine, to see if it is worth pursuing and developing further.
I created a screenshot of the applet, so that you can get an initial impression of the functionality (
http://aasted.org/CMIU-screen.jpg).
Unfortunately, I can't offer a public demonstration of the applet, as my Gallery is private to my family, and thus I'm not interested in having a public link to it anywhere.
The following are instructions that should enable you to try and set up the applet in your own installations. Unfortunately, the applet requires that Java 1.5 is installed on the machine, which I fear is a rather rare occurrence for most users. Find it at
http://java.com/getjava .
Install instructions:
1. Download
http://aasted.org/CMImageUploader.zip and unpack it.
2. Edit the file upload2.php. Modify the "uploadURL", "nextPage" and "Domain"-parameters to the applet, so that they match your installation.
3. Upload the 3 files to the root of your Coppermine-directory.
4. Log in to your gallery.
5. Go to the upload2.php page. Accept the warning that the applet should be trusted. (This will give the applet full access to the contents of your harddisk, so I guess you'll just have to hope that I'm not trying to con you.
).
6. Use the applet to select a number of pictures. When you're done, press "Start upload".
After this, the applet should (hopefully) present you with the page that is normally used to import images uploaded by FTP. I originally tried to interface with the normal upload-page, but this proved impossible, as it was expecting some posted parameters that I could not provide from the applet.
I'll now list some of the improvements I would like to make to the applet, if there is sufficient interest in better versions.
1. Make it recover gracefully from network errors. How it reacts to network errors have not been fully explored, but I imagine that it isn't pretty.
2. Make the upload-page detect whether a Java-VM of the correct version is available. If this is not the case, revert to old, form-based upload-method. Perhaps leave some text explaining the advantages of getting Java.
3. Do some prefetching of "likely pictures to be previewed next" in the applet. This will improve the perceived load-time when going through each picture in the directory.
4. Integrate the applet with the general UI of Coppermine. (Preferably, I would like some assistance with this, as I'm not very well-versed in your code-base).
5. Make a stand-alone application with the same interface, so that people can run it outside the browser. (Should be extremely easy).
6. Dynamically generate the parameters to the applet.
Looking forward to receiving feedback on this.