Phoca Forum

Hello Phoca! Let me start by congragulating all those who have been working to deliver these great and useful extensions...
I found PhocaGallery by mistake and I've been very impressed by the features and the options...it has answered my needs for displaying photos, yet I have come across some odd results when working with the software...

I'll try to be as brief and concise as I can (hopefully without negative repercussions for clarity)...
...let me begin by describing my configuration:

- I have created a folder (parent-category) within phocagallery folder, which contains no photos, but two folders (subcategories) which carry 43 and 118 photos respectively
I have created an article and within that article I have used the phocagallery button to generate code to display a categories view of the two subcategories.

...the glitches/issues I have come across are the following:

1) although the initial view/layout of the categories I come accross when viewing the article is as configured through parameters, when I press the "back to categories view" button - having first entered a subcategory gallery - I do not get the same view, that is of a category list / "categories view"...
...instead I am lead to a "category view" of the subcategories....I have tried this so many times that I'm certain that the "back to categories view" button (NOT the back to parent category button) does not work...
Pressing "back to parent category (category view)" and "back to categories view" gives me exactly the same result...


2) The regular modal box popup and the Highslider detail view lead to 404 error page....on the contrary the "Modal box popup - only images" and "Highslider - only images" work perfectly...


3) the configuration settings for the category view (thumbnails / images) and the category view (categories) seem to be confused, producing a variety of odd results [...I asure you, I have read the documentation carefully...]

...I have been trying to find a consistent way to configure the display of the "back button" (to parent category) and the "back to categories view button"
As you surely know, the same settings exist in two different places, and what would seem logical in configuring them renders illogical results...

These results are actually quite strange, and I could be very descriptive of these issues I have come across, however, I will try to codify them, hoping that I will still be clear enough....
To save space and time I will be referring to:
- Back Button as BB
- Categories View Back Button as CBB

I will classify the data on the basis of the Parameter settings' Classification...that is, by the respective "Category view (Images)" and the "Category view (Categories)"...

Example: "

Yes - Yes / Yes - No" = both BB and BCB

means that when setting, first in Category View (Images) the options "Display Back Button" and "Display Categories View Back Button" to YES and YES, and the same options in Category View (Categories) to YES and NO respectively, then both of the buttons are displayed in the Gallery...

Hopefully I've not lost you, so let's move on to the codified data:

1) Yes - Yes / Yes - Yes = both BB and CBB
2) Yes - Yes / Yes - No = both BB and CBB (the last option is discarded, that is, setting NOT to display the "Categories View Back Button)
3) Yes - No / Yes - Yes = both BB and CBB (the second setting is discarded in the results, since the "Categories View Back Button is displayed)
4) Yes - No / Yes - No = both BB and CBB (the same setting has been entered in both sets of options - Category View (Images) AND Category View (Categories), not to display the BCB and yet, the "Categories View Back Button" is displayed in the Gallery
5) No - Yes / Yes - Yes = BB: not displayed, CBB: displayed (setting the first of the same pair of options to "No" makes the "back button" disappear, which alters the impression created by the previous results that the same pair of settings should have an identical setting)
6) No - Yes / No - Yes = neither BB nor CBB (that's one of the strangest results, because setting the "back button" not to display in both sets of options, makes both the "Back Button" AND the "Categories View Back Button" to disappear
7) No - No / Yes - Yes = No BB, CBB displayed (here setting the "Categories View Back Button" Not to appear in the first pair has no result, the Categories view Back Button is displayed...
8 ) No - No / Yes - No = No BB, CBB displayed (another very odd result...setting "Categories View Back Button" NOT TO Appear in both sets of settings makes it appear properly and hides "Back Button" for which there is also a double "Yes" setting...the opposite of the set options applies...
9) No - No / No - Yes = none displays (even though CBB is set to display, the combination of the other three settings prohibits it from doing so
10) Yes - Yes / No - No = BB displays, No CBB (each pair of same settings has opposite value, yet the first set of the two - the settings in Category View (Images) apply their own settings to the overall result
11) No - No / No - No = both BB, CBB display (the first and last of the settings combinations are the most logical)


So what do you make of it?

- On a sidenote, if I wish not to display the subcategories/folders BOTH in Category View - as Thumbnails or large Folders AND as Category lists above the proper images at the same time, then I have to set the "Display Categories in Category View" option to "No", and the "Display Subcategories on each page" to "Nowhere" on the set of options of the type of view I wish to discard...otherwise both layout appear at the same time...
...a list of subcategories above the images and folders in the same size as photos....


I hope these issues can be fixed soon...If you believe I've missed some configuration, please let me know...

Hi,

1)
the plugin is only some kind of plus addon to support the component. You should display your images with component. If you will use plugin most of feature will be used from component - e.g. displaying detail window with click in article will link to the component (to detail view) the same with back or forward links - the links will be linked to component. It is not possible to do all the features working in article, this is the reason to display them in component.

If you link from article to component, the component as defauclt cannot know frow where you are comming, because while programming a component the developer don't know in which article ids the links will be stored - as there is unlimited count of categories levels, saving the first link somehwer in session is in fact impossible.

2) see:
https://www.phoca.cz/documents/16-joomla ... -in-joomla

3) see:
https://www.phoca.cz/documents/16-joomla ... -in-joomla

Settings in Joomla! is assigned to menu item id, so all depends on Itemid parameter.

otherwise both layout appear at the same time

Yes it depends on user (administrator) which view form will be used. Why to limit the option if this can be easily set in parameters. If I will limit it (and there is no reason to do it) in some days some user will write to the forum, why it is limited, why there is no option to display both

Jan

2) see:
https://www.phoca.cz/documents/16-joomla ... -in-joomla

I did away with the article integration and now use the component and menu link only...the modal box /highslide issue is now gone, thanks...
...on another note, the documentation contains repeated mistakes...it refers to the "menu manager" and "menu link" as module manager and module...which makes no sense, because it uses it both wrongly and in the right sense in the documentation article...

1)
the plugin is only some kind of plus addon to support the component. You should display your images with component. If you will use plugin most of feature will be used from component - e.g. displaying detail window with click in article will link to the component (to detail view) the same with back or forward links - the links will be linked to component. It is not possible to do all the features working in article, this is the reason to display them in component.

If you link from article to component, the component as defauclt cannot know frow where you are comming, because while programming a component the developer don't know in which article ids the links will be stored - as there is unlimited count of categories levels, saving the first link somehwer in session is in fact impossible.

I am using the component now, and yet, I get the exact same behaviour..

...initially, I am led to the properly set "categories view" form where I chose a category to view...
The category's pictures are also properly displayed as chosen in parameters in category view...

But when I click on the back to categories view button I am instead led to a category view of that folder containing the the subcategories, the latter displayed separately-above from the images (if there were any in that folder)...
Which means that "back to categories view" and "back to parent directory (category view)" buttons function the same way when either is clicked from within a given category...

3) see:
https://www.phoca.cz/documents/16-joomla ... -in-joomla

Settings in Joomla! is assigned to menu item id, so all depends on Itemid parameter.

otherwise both layout appear at the same time


Yes it depends on user (administrator) which view form will be used. Why to limit the option if this can be easily set in parameters. If I will limit it (and there is no reason to do it) in some days some user will write to the forum, why it is limited, why there is no option to display both

I don't think you got me there...

...my problem is that the settings are all mixed up, giving results even contrary to those chosen to be displayed in parameters...
Please read my first message again concerning this...
The double settings in parameters seem to cause the trouble (check the reported results of playing with different pairs of those four settings...

I don't think you got me there...

Hi, I don't spent my freetime here to get someone, I am here to help people or to clarify why some features was added to the extension and why some of them work like they are working (in fact for my needs the Phoca Gallery 1.0.0 was great, since this version all other features was added because they were requested by users - and it is very difficult, becauce if you add some feature into the system, other users will write, why this was added and ... and...)

Maybe I don't understand the behaviour you described correctly. For now I don't understand what you mean with double settings. If you mean that parameters are saved in global configuration and can be overriden by parameters component in menu link, than this is a Joomla! rule, it is a feature of Joomla! ... Parameters are displayed and managed in Menu Manager (Joomla! component) or in Global Configuration (Joomla! component). I have only written an article to explain it because such system which has a lot of advantages is a little bit confusing (but powerfull)

But as I wrote maybe I don't understand the problem you have correctly so maybe more explanation will help

Hi, I don't spent my freetime here to get someone, I am here to help people or to clarify why some features was added to the extension and why some of them work like they are working (in fact for my needs the Phoca Gallery 1.0.0 was great, since this version all other features was added because they were requested by users - and it is very difficult, becauce if you add some feature into the system, other users will write, why this was added and ... and...)

I believe there are two general distinguished uses in english of the "getting someone" phrase...
1) to understand what someone is saying...e.g. to "grasp", to "apprehend"
2) to win over someone in an argument, to catch someone trying to pull something off

I used it in the first sense, in that we didn't manage to communicate the meaning of our words adequately...

Maybe I don't understand the behaviour you described correctly. For now I don't understand what you mean with double settings. If you mean that parameters are saved in global configuration and can be overriden by parameters component in menu link, than this is a Joomla! rule

No I'm not talking about the Global Parameters set in Phoca Component on one side, and the settings that can be set specifically for a particular gallery when working with the Menu Manager...

I am talking only about the Parameters in the Component...
Within these, there are two pairs of settings that are found twice, once in the A) Category View Settings( List of Images) and then just underneath that in B) Category View Settings (Categories above Images)

The particular settings that are found twice are the ones concerning the display of the two kinds of buttons that are available when one is viewing a gallery:
1) Display Back Button
2) Display Categories View Back Button

Now, 1)"Back Button" is the large button one can see within the proper category, that is meant to lead someone back to parent category and to display that parent category
2) "Categories View Back Button" is the smaller button that can appear above the proper gallery and is meant to lead someone back to a "Categories View" of the given Categories...

In my first message, when I wrote the example, e.g. Yes, Yes / No, Yes, to name just one possible combination, I was referring to the settings that one can choose for the display of the two kinds of buttons in two different parts of the Parameters...those two places are the ones I mentioned above, namely A) Category View Settings( List of Images) & B) Category View Settings (Categories above Images)

I had two main problems with these settings
a) These settings do not properly control the display of these two buttons...in fact the result can be the opposite of that set in these settings in Parameters

b) Both kinds of buttons work the same way, although they should work differently from each other
- What they do: They both lead to a "Category View"
- What they should be doing: Button number 1 (Back Button) should lead to a "Category View" of images and subfolders, which it does, but the subfolders should be displayed as Thumbnails (folder like or Icon like) within the proper gallery, but they are displayed above the proper gallery...
and Button numer 2 (Categories View Back Button) should lead to a "Categories View" of subfolders (and images I guess), which it doesn't, instead it leads to "Category View (Categories above Images" like the button number one...

A third problem
c) A problem related to the first one is that it doesn't matter how I set these two same options in the two different places in Parameters, both display a "Category View (categories above Images) display...


And this is another thing I am adding here...but I am not sure this is a problem but a feature issue...
I may wish to have my website viewers see two of the, let's say, 3 categories that I have...although I can control this when setting up the menu link for the initial display, a "Category List" button is always displayed when the user moves from the inside of the gallery back to the categories that were presented to him, so the viewer can see all the categories available...
So although I can hide some categories when setting up the menu for the initial display, when moving upwards from the inside of categories to the set of galleries initially presented, in that second step the "List of Categories" button is displayed, thereby annulling the initial preference....that is the "hide categories" setting does not work when one moves from inside of categories set to be visible, to these categories again...

I used it in the first sense, in that we didn't manage to communicate the meaning of our words adequately...

Great to hear it, thank you for the explanation and sorry for misunderstanding. It is very hard for people like me (who start to learn English with help of Google search outcomes or Google translator ) to correctly understand English.

A) Category View Settings( List of Images) - this was the main displaying of images, subcategories and button to parent categories

B) Category View Settings (Categories above Images) - this feature was added after users wanted to add such feature. After discussing we have decided (I and users who wanted to add such feature) that enabling this part of view should not limit the A) and should be independent on A ... Yes, this can be confusing but this is mostly if you have a lot of different features. This is why Phoca Galler have lost a lot of users. There were a lot of users who loved the Phoca Gallery 1 as it was very easy without so much parameters.

I had two main problems with these settings

a) yes this is common problem of using a lot of parameters. Then so many different combination can be done, so sometimes it does not make any sense. Nice example is Phoca PDF, you can set there different combination of parameters so the output will end with blank page. But should be remove the option so beginners cannot get blank page but experts will have limited possibilities ... but yes I understand, this can be confusing and not really right.

b) It is hard to explain, but the buttons needs to have the same behaviour not different. Because it is only design issue not function issue. It is the choice of administrator of the site which design he/she likes - buttons over images or buttons as a part of image list. Joomla! is not so easy, so it can happen that you don't have any categories view, so limit some desing (e.g. A to only categories view) make then the button not useful. Etc. There are much more dependencies and different limitations like settins loaded by menu item id settings, etc.

c) maybe this is related to menu items settings in Joomla! - menu items settings is not related to categories or category view, it is realated to menu link item id (e.g. disable sef and check the itemid). Itemid displayed on the site says which parameters are used. E.g. you have set parameters for two menu links and in one menu link you have set settings for categories view but if the link get the menu item id (itemid) from other link, then the settings of categories view are set by the other link ... depends on Itemid ... but this is the question on Joomla! developers as this behaviour and settings are Joomla! rules not Phoca rules.

So try to set the SEF to off and try to check Itemids ... if settings of Itemid is really correct

Jan

Since I messed with Phoca Gallery settings once again I have again bore witness to the necessity of the settings for "Category View (List of Images)" and "Category View (Categories above Images)" to be brought together in a single configuration.
The present separation not only causes confusion, but also makes the setting not to operate properly, giving paradoxical results...
this is true for
1) the "back button" displays, see above for details
2) for the display of subcategories in category view...regarding this second one, it is indicative that even if one has set the subcategories not to appear as thumbnails, one also needs to set the choose "nowhere" with regard to pagination for them not to display.

I observed this, having set the subcategories to appear above the thumbnails, not inline with them, and having disabled their display as thumbnails.
Even though there is no pagination set in my gallery, the subcategories displayed as thumbnails, along with the chosen display above the thumbnails, even though this was disabled, and even though there was no pagination in the gallery.
I have a category which has no images and two subcategories that have images. The subcategories displayed as thumbnails when I pressed the "back" button from the Category view of the images and was led to the parent category which contains no images, but only the subcategories. They stopped being displayed there only after I set them to appear "nowhere" in Parameters, a setting that only has to do with pagination.

Also I observed two other problems

- In shadowbox, the image title is displayed even if I set the setting to "No"
- (more of a question) I have installed greek language pack and set the shadowbox language setting to "el" I still don't get greek language in the front-end for the shadowbox functions.

Hi, I think, shadowbox does not have greek language as default, so such needs to be loaded into shadowbox folder.

Jan