Create and Delete Folders? - Or upload folders?
10 posts by 4 authors in: Forums > CMS Builder
Last Post: May 1, 2009 (RSS)
I was wondering if there was any way to be able to create and/or delete folders through CMS Builder? The reason this would be useful is because I have a Flash image gallery that automatically sets up its menu and image content based on whatever images or folders are within a preset "images" folder. Currently, I have to set up a new folder and a new CMS upload for a client each time they want to add an image category. Then, they can add and remove images into that section using an upload field. But, I'd much rather allow the client complete control over the gallery so they wouldn't need to contact me in order to add new gallery categories.
As an alternative, adding a feature to CMS Builder that would allow uploading folders of items (or even empty folders) may allow the same result. But, if there's a better way to do this, I'm certainly open to suggestions.
The page containing a sample gallery is here: http://www.riopro.biz/serpa/gallery.html
The gallery I'm using is: http://www.flashnifties.com/flash_gallery.php
A bit off-subject, I thought a nice feature would be to allow adding of a new section based on an existing one, instead of having had to set up a template to base it from. This would be helpful if setting up multiple similar sections that are all identical with the exception of their names or minor details. Just a thought. (Or maybe this is already possible and I just missed it.) :-)
Thanks!
Jeremy
As an alternative, adding a feature to CMS Builder that would allow uploading folders of items (or even empty folders) may allow the same result. But, if there's a better way to do this, I'm certainly open to suggestions.
The page containing a sample gallery is here: http://www.riopro.biz/serpa/gallery.html
The gallery I'm using is: http://www.flashnifties.com/flash_gallery.php
A bit off-subject, I thought a nice feature would be to allow adding of a new section based on an existing one, instead of having had to set up a template to base it from. This would be helpful if setting up multiple similar sections that are all identical with the exception of their names or minor details. Just a thought. (Or maybe this is already possible and I just missed it.) :-)
Thanks!
Jeremy
---------------------------
Dwelling Productions
www.dwellingproductions.com
Dwelling Productions
www.dwellingproductions.com
Re: [dwelling] Create and Delete Folders? - Or upload folders?
By Dave - October 6, 2008
Hi Jeremy,
Unfortunately there's no way to create/delete folders through CMS Builder like you describe.
The best alternative I can think of would be to use a flash gallery that lets you specify a list of images as an XML file. Then you could create different XML files for different groups of images. eg: image-list.xml.php?category=general.
For duplicating sections, you can copy a section schema file from /data/schema/ to /data/schemaPresets/ and it will show up in the list of "predefined" section types that you see when you go to add a section.
Hope that helps!
Unfortunately there's no way to create/delete folders through CMS Builder like you describe.
The best alternative I can think of would be to use a flash gallery that lets you specify a list of images as an XML file. Then you could create different XML files for different groups of images. eg: image-list.xml.php?category=general.
For duplicating sections, you can copy a section schema file from /data/schema/ to /data/schemaPresets/ and it will show up in the list of "predefined" section types that you see when you go to add a section.
Hope that helps!
Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
interactivetools.com
Re: [Dave] Create and Delete Folders? - Or upload folders?
Thanks! I hadn't thought of that for duplicating sections. I'll definitely use that technique.
As for the photo gallery, I had been using an xml version, but making updates to the xml file proved to much to manage for the client. So we switched to an automated one that just pulled images from folders automatically. But, I guess I could try incorporating variables into the xml file. I've never done this before, but I'm always up for a challenge. In doing this, would I need to actually create a php file which would generate the xml file (since the variables need to be called from a PHP page)?
Thanks again!
Jeremy
As for the photo gallery, I had been using an xml version, but making updates to the xml file proved to much to manage for the client. So we switched to an automated one that just pulled images from folders automatically. But, I guess I could try incorporating variables into the xml file. I've never done this before, but I'm always up for a challenge. In doing this, would I need to actually create a php file which would generate the xml file (since the variables need to be called from a PHP page)?
Thanks again!
Jeremy
---------------------------
Dwelling Productions
www.dwellingproductions.com
Dwelling Productions
www.dwellingproductions.com
Re: [dwelling] Create and Delete Folders? - Or upload folders?
By Dave - October 6, 2008
Yes, it's pretty much exactly the same as with an html file, just with xml tags instead. Have a look at this tutorial on creating an XML RSS feed with CMS Builder to get you started:
http://www.interactivetools.com/docs/cmsbuilder/rss_feeds.html
It's the same idea.
Hope that helps!
http://www.interactivetools.com/docs/cmsbuilder/rss_feeds.html
It's the same idea.
Hope that helps!
Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
interactivetools.com
Re: [Dave] Create and Delete Folders? - Or upload folders?
Thanks Dave! I'll definitely look it over.
One other related question. In the future, could a feature be added that allows uploading an entire folder containing multiple files, rather than just a single file? Or, is that something that is not even possible? That would be helpful in my situation, but not sure if it would mean anything to anyone else. Just wondering. :-)
Thanks again!
Jeremy
One other related question. In the future, could a feature be added that allows uploading an entire folder containing multiple files, rather than just a single file? Or, is that something that is not even possible? That would be helpful in my situation, but not sure if it would mean anything to anyone else. Just wondering. :-)
Thanks again!
Jeremy
---------------------------
Dwelling Productions
www.dwellingproductions.com
Dwelling Productions
www.dwellingproductions.com
Re: [dwelling] Create and Delete Folders? - Or upload folders?
By Dave - October 7, 2008
Uploading multiple files isn't possible with basic HTML forms. You need a Java or Flash component to do that and they can have their own list of complications.
We are interested in coming up with a slicker upload system in future though. So it's on the list for things to research. There's no easy solution that we've found yet though.
We are interested in coming up with a slicker upload system in future though. So it's on the list for things to research. There's no easy solution that we've found yet though.
Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
interactivetools.com
Re: [Dave] Create and Delete Folders? - Or upload folders?
No problem. Thanks for the info!
Keep up the great work!
Jeremy
Keep up the great work!
Jeremy
---------------------------
Dwelling Productions
www.dwellingproductions.com
Dwelling Productions
www.dwellingproductions.com
Re: [dwelling] Create and Delete Folders? - Or upload folders?
By benedict - May 1, 2009
I've used the same FlashNifties gallery in about 6-7 CMSBuilder projects which has worked great. But, as described above, it can't automatically do the folder creation required to generate the menu items for each folder.
So we create a section for each gallery which works, but fills up the sections navigation pretty quickly. This really highlights the need for the ability to "section off" sections in the navigation with "dumb" headings like "Raw Table Data", "Products" & "Galleries". I know I have requested this feature-addition before (making it just like the "Header Bar" feature you already have), but 80% of clients now seek this, not for themselves, but they're basic trainee users.
Thought I'd just chuck my 2 cents in...
So we create a section for each gallery which works, but fills up the sections navigation pretty quickly. This really highlights the need for the ability to "section off" sections in the navigation with "dumb" headings like "Raw Table Data", "Products" & "Galleries". I know I have requested this feature-addition before (making it just like the "Header Bar" feature you already have), but 80% of clients now seek this, not for themselves, but they're basic trainee users.
Thought I'd just chuck my 2 cents in...
Re: [dwelling] Create and Delete Folders? - Or upload folders?
By ross - May 1, 2009
Hi Jeremy
Thanks for posting!
With your flash gallery, have you tried embedding it right into your content field with the WYSIWYG editor? That way I don't think you'll need to worry about the folders. You'll have to give it a shot and let me know how that goes. If it doesn't work, we'll take another stab at it.
With the bunch of sections that all use the same fields, I have an idea for you there as well.
Instead of setting up a bunch of different sections all with the same fields, setup one multi record section with the fields you need and then add each page as a new record. Once you have that setup, you can create a bunch of new files (based on the template) and pull in a specific record with code I'll show you once we get to that step.
Does that sound like it would work? Let me know :).
Thanks for posting!
With your flash gallery, have you tried embedding it right into your content field with the WYSIWYG editor? That way I don't think you'll need to worry about the folders. You'll have to give it a shot and let me know how that goes. If it doesn't work, we'll take another stab at it.
With the bunch of sections that all use the same fields, I have an idea for you there as well.
Instead of setting up a bunch of different sections all with the same fields, setup one multi record section with the fields you need and then add each page as a new record. Once you have that setup, you can create a bunch of new files (based on the template) and pull in a specific record with code I'll show you once we get to that step.
Does that sound like it would work? Let me know :).
-----------------------------------------------------------
Cheers,
Ross Fairbairn - Consulting
consulting@interactivetools.com
Hire me! Save time by getting our experts to help with your project.
Template changes, advanced features, full integration, whatever you
need. Whether you need one hour or fifty, get it done fast with
Priority Consulting: http://www.interactivetools.com/consulting/
Cheers,
Ross Fairbairn - Consulting
consulting@interactivetools.com
Hire me! Save time by getting our experts to help with your project.
Template changes, advanced features, full integration, whatever you
need. Whether you need one hour or fifty, get it done fast with
Priority Consulting: http://www.interactivetools.com/consulting/
Re: [ross] Create and Delete Folders? - Or upload folders?
Ross,
Actually, the gallery we use from flashnifties.com automatically detects any folder inside the gallery's "images" folder, and creates a new category for the images based on the folder name. Then, when you select an automatically generated category, all the images in that folder (category) show up in the gallery, with thumbnails, all automatically. It's a great gallery. And benedict's post gave me a great idea on this since uploading to a custom location with CMS builder creates folders when they don't exist. So, that could be used to create new categories (folders).
But, his second point is valid. I've been wishing for the same thing. I already do use the method described by Ross when the pages in that section will all have the same information. However, more often than not, each page within a certain section will all have different formats and information that do not connect with each other enough to be a part of the same "multi" section.
I think it would be great if you could organize groups of "single" or "multi" sections so that they could all appear under a common heading. This would be similar to the idea of placing like files in the same folder.
Right now, to ease organization, I simply create a "dummy" section and call it something like "------- CONTACT -------" and put all the pages that fall under that "contact" category, for example, below the dummy title. I delete all the fields associated with it and it merely serves as a type of visual "separator" to make it easier for the client to find the page they wish to edit. (This is for sites with large amounts of pages to edit.)
A great feature, though, would be if this "dummy" category could actually contain the associated sections, as to merely having those sections appearing under the "dummy" category separator. So, for instance, you would only see "CONTACT", and then when clicked, it would expand, revealing all associated sections. They could even be indented slightly to give more visual aid in seeing what items could actually be edited within that category.
I'm not sure if I'm explaining that well, or not. But that would be a WONDERFUL enhancement to an already wonderful program.
Thanks guys!
Jeremy
Actually, the gallery we use from flashnifties.com automatically detects any folder inside the gallery's "images" folder, and creates a new category for the images based on the folder name. Then, when you select an automatically generated category, all the images in that folder (category) show up in the gallery, with thumbnails, all automatically. It's a great gallery. And benedict's post gave me a great idea on this since uploading to a custom location with CMS builder creates folders when they don't exist. So, that could be used to create new categories (folders).
But, his second point is valid. I've been wishing for the same thing. I already do use the method described by Ross when the pages in that section will all have the same information. However, more often than not, each page within a certain section will all have different formats and information that do not connect with each other enough to be a part of the same "multi" section.
I think it would be great if you could organize groups of "single" or "multi" sections so that they could all appear under a common heading. This would be similar to the idea of placing like files in the same folder.
Right now, to ease organization, I simply create a "dummy" section and call it something like "------- CONTACT -------" and put all the pages that fall under that "contact" category, for example, below the dummy title. I delete all the fields associated with it and it merely serves as a type of visual "separator" to make it easier for the client to find the page they wish to edit. (This is for sites with large amounts of pages to edit.)
A great feature, though, would be if this "dummy" category could actually contain the associated sections, as to merely having those sections appearing under the "dummy" category separator. So, for instance, you would only see "CONTACT", and then when clicked, it would expand, revealing all associated sections. They could even be indented slightly to give more visual aid in seeing what items could actually be edited within that category.
I'm not sure if I'm explaining that well, or not. But that would be a WONDERFUL enhancement to an already wonderful program.
Thanks guys!
Jeremy
---------------------------
Dwelling Productions
www.dwellingproductions.com
Dwelling Productions
www.dwellingproductions.com