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View Full Version : Embedding Slideshowpro/LR - I got it!!

CynthiaM
Oct-07-2009, 07:29 AM
:barb
Here's the link; give it a chance to load. Even the full screen works:
http://www.cynthiamerzerphotography.com/Test-Shots-Experiments/SSPtest4/9884410_6NDPd
And here's the code:
<html>
<center>
<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="never" allowNetworking="internal" height="600" width="850" base="." data="http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/2353088/lr_ssp2/loader.swf">
<param name="allowNetworking" value="internal" />
<param name="movie" value="http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/2353088/lr_ssp2/loader.swf" />
<param name="flashvars" value="xmlDataPath=http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/2353088/lr_ssp2/images.xml" />
<param name="quality" value="high" />
<param name="base" value=".">
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" />
</object>
</html>
In order to do this, you have to export the slideshow from Lightroom and then copy those files within their file structure to a site that will allow you to store files and create a live link. I used Dropbox (it's free!): https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTIzNTMwODg5
Change the width & height to the dimensions of your slideshow.
Anywhere you see a link that ends in .swf has to be changed to the live link for your loader.swf file.
In the xmlDataPath put the link for the images.xml file.If you can follow directions and cut and paste, you should be good to go, because believe me, I am no coding wizard!
jfriend
Oct-07-2009, 07:49 AM
Glad you got it working. So, I see that you put the SWF file and the XML file on dropbox. Where are the actual images loaded from? Are they on dropbox too? Are they built into the SWF somehow?
CynthiaM
Oct-07-2009, 08:57 AM
Glad you got it working. So, I see that you put the SWF file and the XML file on dropbox. Where are the actual images loaded from? Are they on dropbox too? Are they built into the SWF somehow?
Do you use Lightroom?
SlideshowPro makes a version that can be used from within Lightroom. When I originally looked at the site, I though I would be interested in the Flash version; about the same price as the Lightroom one. But it requries that you have Adobe Flash which is a lot of money that I couldn't justify spending. So I started playing with the Lightroom plugin demo. You use it from within Lightroom in the Web module. It sets itself up as an "engine" with its own presets.

Once you have a slideshow set up, you can do an ftp upload but I don't have anything to upload it to. Or you can export the files and it creates a whole folder for you with all the files needed to run the slideshow. On Dropbox, I could not upload the export folder per se; you have to re-create the folder structure and then upload everything that is in the folder structure. But dropbox will let you upload multiple files at a time, so to do this took all of a few minute. It looks like it is taking the images from the images.xml url; that file also gets uploaded to dropbox and if you open the album1 folder, there are subfolders with all of the images. If you look in the original post, you can follow the link to the Dropbox folder structure. Navigate out to the Public folder and the folder called lr_ssp2 is exactly what Lightroom spit out when I used the Export command.

For me, this is only a mock gallery. Now that I see it works I can put it to use, elsewhere. There are some occasions on smugmug when I want to force the viewer to a slideshow gallery and I just think that this interface is much sleeker. So I'm sure you will be hearing from me again when I need to fine tune those galleries.:wink

I tried using google sites but that just didn' work because you can't get a live url , you can't create folders within folders and you can only upload one image at a time.
jfriend
Oct-07-2009, 09:07 AM
Do you use Lightroom?
SlideshowPro makes a version that can be used from within Lightroom. When I originally looked at the site, I though I would be interested in the Flash version; about the same price as the Lightroom one. But it requries that you have Adobe Flash which is a lot of money that I couldn't justify spending. So I started playing with the Lightroom plugin demo. You use it from within Lightroom in the Web module. It sets itself up as an "engine" with its own presets.

Once you have a slideshow set up, you can do an ftp upload but I don't have anything to upload it to. Or you can export the files and it creates a whole folder for you with all the files needed to run the slideshow. On Dropbox, I could not upload the export folder per se; you have to re-create the folder structure and then upload everything that is in the folder structure. But dropbox will let you upload multiple files at a time, so to do this took all of a few minute. It looks like it is taking the images from the images.xml url; that file also gets uploaded to dropbox and if you open the album1 folder, there are subfolders with all of the images. If you look in the original post, you can follow the link to the Dropbox folder structure. Navigate out to the Public folder and the folder called lr_ssp2 is exactly what Lightroom spit out when I used the Export command.

For me, this is only a mock gallery. Now that I see it works I can put it to use, elsewhere. There are some occasions on smugmug when I want to force the viewer to a slideshow gallery and I just think that this interface is much sleeker. So I'm sure you will be hearing from me again when I need to fine tune those galleries.:wink

I tried using google sites but that just didn' work because you can't get a live url , you can't create folders within folders and you can only upload one image at a time. Thanks. That's what I thought. Everything is coming from dropbox including the images. That probably means (to protect speed) you have to be really careful about what size images you use because the SWF will have to download the entire image regardless of what size it's going to display, whereas the Smugmug slideshow can request an appropriately sized image from the server and only download that.

I do use Lightroom so I may check it out. It may also be possible to hand modify the XML file (to point to Smugmug image URLs) so that the images can come from Smugmug too (though you still have to manage the sizes carefully).
CynthiaM
Oct-07-2009, 10:42 AM
Thanks. That's what I thought. Everything is coming from dropbox including the images. That probably means (to protect speed) you have to be really careful about what size images you use because the SWF will have to download the entire image regardless of what size it's going to display, whereas the Smugmug slideshow can request an appropriately sized image from the server and only download that.

I do use Lightroom so I may check it out. It may also be possible to hand modify the XML file (to point to Smugmug image URLs) so that the images can come from Smugmug too (though you still have to manage the sizes carefully).
Lightroom exports them at reduced size. For example, if you look in the album1 folder, the fs (for fullscreen) folder, has jpegs that at 240 ppi are only like a 2x3 inch image. And now that I am getting more familiar with the interface, I think you can control the size of the images that get exported. What would be really nice is if you could set up the slideshow to run on a gallery feed. I think that is what jerryr does but you may need the flash version of SlideshowPro to do this. With regard to your concern as to hte loading speed and larger images, you may need to feed from a gallery that has reduced images. Just guessing.

If you figure this out, PALEEESSE let me know.

Regards,
CharlesSA
Oct-24-2009, 09:44 AM
Lightroom exports them at reduced size. For example, if you look in the album1 folder, the fs (for fullscreen) folder, has jpegs that at 240 ppi are only like a 2x3 inch image. And now that I am getting more familiar with the interface, I think you can control the size of the images that get exported. What would be really nice is if you could set up the slideshow to run on a gallery feed. I think that is what jerryr does but you may need the flash version of SlideshowPro to do this. With regard to your concern as to hte loading speed and larger images, you may need to feed from a gallery that has reduced images. Just guessing.

If you figure this out, PALEEESSE let me know.

Regards,

Hi Cynthia

I had to chime in and congradulate you for figuring this out. You have lead the way for many to make drastic improvements to their galleries and presentations. I am busy restructuring my smugmug website with the help of the gurus here. I provide online slideshows to many of my clients but unfortunately receive too many complaints that the photos in the slideshows do not load in equal sizes. (You may be aware of this bug that the smugmug team is working hard at resolving). This is forcing me to have to find a temporary solution and that is why in the last 3 days I set to do some research and then stumbled on your posts here. When I saw your gallery with the SSP embedded I just knew that is what I want. So thank you for persisting and finding a solution. It is very motivating... I may drop you a pm if I need some guidance on any of the steps:)

Once questions I do have so far is:
- How long does it roughly take to make the edits to the code so that the gallery embed becomes functional?

Thanks again Cynthia!
CharlesSA
Oct-25-2009, 04:26 AM
Hi again

Cynthia, thanks to your efforts and willingness to share the required steps invloved I have a working test smugmug gallery HERE (http://www.active-exposure.co.za/HOD/test/10052284_7XUom)with an embedded SSP gallery object. The only area I am experiencing a hiccup which I hoped someone here may be able to help with is:

In IE, there is a thick black border around the entire object area. In FF however, there is only black behind the header area.

How can I get rid of this black altogether? I have made sure it is not a setting in SSP. I even added a html tag into the description where I paste the code making the background white. This made no difference?

Please can someone help with this?

Many thanks!
CynthiaM
Oct-26-2009, 08:24 AM
Once questions I do have so far is:
- How long does it roughly take to make the edits to the code so that the gallery embed becomes functional?



Assuming you have everything set up correctly and that you are using right urls in the code, the slideshow should embed immediately. It may take a little time to load.
CynthiaM
Oct-26-2009, 09:19 AM
The only area I am experiencing a hiccup which I hoped someone here may be able to help with is:

In IE, there is a thick black border around the entire object area. In FF however, there is only black behind the header area.

How can I get rid of this black altogether? I have made sure it is not a setting in SSP. I even added a html tag into the description where I paste the code making the background white. This made no difference?

Please can someone help with this?

Many thanks!

I can't even get your slideshow to load in IE and I have no clue as to why.

On Firefox, the full frame slideshow does not work. Make sure you upload the entire folder that is exported from Lightroom. You can download dropbox to your computer, then when you export from Lightroom, export to the folder that dropbox creates (it should be in your documents folder) and then it will update automatically with your account on dropbox.

As for the black background?? There are several places in the SSP template that can affect background color. Play with them, I'm not sure which one you need to change, but they are Albums background color, Content area background color, Content Frame, and under Color Palette check what you have for html background. I don't think the addition of html tags is going to affect this; I think it is controlled somewhere in the SSP settings.

Let me know if this helps.