Long time

I know it's been a very long time since the last blog update but at the moment I'm very busy with school (graduating in 2 months). Some problems with uploading the pictures when synchronizing still resist so I'm working on that. When that's solved, we are again a step closer to the JCpg beta release.

Picture rating manager

You can now rate pictures from within JCpg by just clicking how much stars you want to give the picture. All information is saved to the gallery xml file and is viewable in the picture overview.

Picrating

JCpg now shows the picrating under each picture with stars.

Filenames now also visible

JCpg now shows the filename under each picture when viewing the contents of an album.

Error handler

I've included an error handler which will put all the error messages that JCpg receives from the API into a seperate log file.

Help menu

I integrated a help menu from which you can launch the html help document.

Multiple users

JCpg now supports multiple users by creating seperate files for each user. In these files, all the necesarry information JCpg needs is stored.

Final Evaluation ... passed!

That's right! According to my mentor I did a good job during this Google Summer of Code and therefor I passed the program. It has been a while since I posted my last message. This is because I am now taking a small break before a new year of school starts. Then I will continue working on JCpg so we can release a stable version soon.

New menu item: add user

Today I added a new menu item where users can add new users. An activation email will then be send to them.

GSoC coming to its end

August 20th at 19:00 UTC is pencils down time. This means I will be evaluated based on the code produced until that time. JCpg isn't fully completed at the moment so more work is required. And of course, I will continue working on it after the SoC ends. I just did a complete code structure and comments check and am now in the process of taking a backup because the current code's state must be sent to Google in the following weeks.

Extending synchronization

At this point I'm finetuning the synchronization process:

First all the not yet uploaded components are sent to the server
Then, all the components on the server not yet saved locally are downloaded

Introducing scrollbars

The explorer and edit windows now use scrollbars so it's also possible to work with large pictures.

Major picture cellrenderer bug fixed .. finally

After searching for this for quite some time, I finally managed to solve this bug. Before the fix, pictures were repeated and weren't always clickable and this all caused nothing but problems. Now it's fixed and each picture has a nice border now.

Infinite subcategories and subalbums

Categories can now have an infinite number of subcategories and the same counts for all these subcategories and so on. All this information is now correctly saved and loaded when necesarry.

Resize handlers have mouse connect points

The resize handlers now have little squares on them which the user can use to control that side of the rectangle with his mouse.

Blogger software problem

I again had problems with my blog software so I turned to Blogger.com for some help. Their software works great and they are from now on hosting this blog.

Resize handlers more userfriendly

The handlers used in the resizer are now bigger and therefor more handy to use.

New previewer

The new previewer is bigger and all black.

Resizer now uses handlers

The resizer is now using handlers the user can drag with his mouse to resize the picture.

Menu for accessing all the API features

I've begun the development of a 'manage' menu from which the user can access all the API features.

Complete API transition

I just completed the complete API transition. JCpg currently only uses the Coppermine API for its communication with the user's Coppermine Gallery site.

First steps in integrating the API

Today the first steps to integrate the API are taken. The login process now fully uses the API. Because of this, the login code is much more stable, faster and shorter. JCpg now only has a user manager, the server manager has become obsolete.

Better crop editor

It's now possible to drag the crop selection rectangle with the mouse.

Coppermine configuration

The offline button is disabled when JCpg is not finding a local configuration. So before using JCpg, it's necesarry to connect to your Coppermine site so it can get its configuration.

New features

It's now possible to add an album aswel as a category to the main gallery. A category can now also have subcategories and albums.

Complete XML transition

JCpg is now only using one big XML file to store the current state of the gallery on the disk. So it's not using Java's ObjectWriter anymore.

Early testing

At the moment, JCpg is going through some early testing by my mentor Aditya Mooley. He pointed out some problems and I'm now in the process of dealing with these.
JCpg will, from now on, only use xml files to store all it's data instead of using the internal Java ObjectWriter.

Implemented previewer

It's now possible to preview albums. With the slider the user can set the time between 2 images.

Thumbnails are being made correctly now

I fixed a heap memory bug when a thumbnail was being made. JCpg now first reads the Cpg configuration to check which width to use for making thums. The height is then calculated so the same scale remains.

Image preview when adding pictures

I'm back from being very busy with some big examens for a while. Now I'm fully concentrating on JCpg again. Today I added an image preview to the image adder screen. This way, users can actually see what they are adding.

Crop Editor advancing

I find this to be one of the more difficult parts to do. Here are some new results of the work I've been doing besides studying for my exams. A red square is drawn on the picture, the user can make it smaller or bigger and change its place by dragging it with the mouse. This part can then be cut out of the original.

Small UI changes

Again I've made some small changes to the UI:

* I deleted some unneeded labels like the 'My Albums' and 'Current Server' label
* The UI should now be 100% resolution independent

GSoC Week1 Report

Because Coppermine asked me to do a weekly report about what I've been doing for that particular week, I today posted my first report.
It refers to the already existing features together with some more recently added like the updater and the changes to the Cell Renderer.

New add image view

I changed the way people can add pictures to an album. In previous versions it was possible to add one picture a time. In this version, a user can add unlimited pictures with just one click. I use a filechooser where multiple files can be selected. As you can see in the background, I'm also changing the way how pictures are shown in the explorer. But this is not yet finished.

Btw: the JCpg sourcecode can be viewed at http://coppermine.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/coppermine/branches/cpg1.5.x/JCpg/

Gentlemen ... start coding NOW !!

Today the Google Summer of Code takes its real start: everybody should start coding for his / her organisation. I've uploaded my code to the Coppermine Photo Gallery SVN Repository so anyone can take a look at the code.

Server problems

After some major server problems yesterday and today, I had to change my blog software. Everything is returning back to normal now. (phew)

Automatic update

I've added a feature for automatically updating JCpg: the program contacts the update server, checks if a new version is available and downloads the update when needed.

Mega explorer view

The mega explorer view is a major change to the UI. In the major explorer view you have the tree on the left and on the right is just one big list with all your photo''s in the currently selected album. If you select a photo, you are taken to the edit view.

Offline mode added

I recently added an offline mode so the user can choose to either work online, directly connecting to the database or work offline and sync his gallery later on.
When working online, the usual procedure is followed: connect to the database, update the local state and the user can start.
When working offline, only the local state is read from harddisk. When the user wants to sync, he again gets this dialog to make a connection or continue offline.

Synchronisation

At the moment I'm expanding the synchronisation capabilities. The program must be able to handle all different situations and must always be as much synchronised as possible.
Therefor the current state of the (offline) gallery is saved to the local disk after each change. When syncing, this state is combined with the online state.

New effect: rotation

I've started the development of a new effect: rotation.

Small UI changes

I made a small change to the UI by introducing a JSplitPane allowing the user to choose the width of the tree view and the explorer where the selected picture is shown.

User- & Servermanager

The last few days I've been busy implementing a user and servermanager. In a servermanager, users can store their server's config. Multiple configs can be made, saved, deleted.
In the usermanager you can select such a serverconfig, and then type in your Coppermine photo gallery username and password. This config can also be saved.

Photo editing

Today I started the implementation of the basic photo editing features. I've made two screenshots to show you some early work.

More recent screenshots

The screenshots I posted yesterday are from way before April 19th. I just waited to post them until yesterday. These screenshots show where the program stands today.






I also made a thread on the Coppermine Development Forum so people can give me ideas for additional features I can put into JCpg.

Early screenshots

Because I just couldn't wait, I started coding a few days ago. Here are some screenshots of the result.