Re: cthumb docs?

Terry Gliedt <tpg at nospam dot hps dot com> wrote:
> Carlos Puchol wrote:
> Here are a list of things I've modified. If you are interested in any of
> these, let me know -- and HOW you want them (diff from original version
> 1.16 or what)?

from the list you send, they seem really good ideas actually!

the best way is to send context diffs against the cvs tree.
that is the most up-to-date.

	cd cthumb
	cvs diff -Ncp > your.patch

i think it is time for a new release as arthu pointed out very recently
in private.

> (1) The default extension which is hardcoded all over the place (shtml)
> is a poor choice IMHO.  Not all servers support server side includes
> (none of the four that I use do). I added an option HtmlExtension and it
> defaults to 'html'. About all the code does is add the option and use
> the variable everywhere that shtml was hardcoded. This should also allow
> you to support people who want .php extensions.

very good idea indeed. in fact several people asked for this.
i think this is great.

> (2) Added support for -H to dump the internal @options table. E.g.
>   ~> cthumb -H
>   These are valid cthumb keywords:
>     Theme: theme
>       Data type: 'string'  Default value: 'neat-round.theme'
>       Allowed in .cthumbrc, .album files,
>       NOT allowed in theme files
>     AlbumTitle: title of album
>       Data type: 'string'  Default value: 'Undefined Title'
>       Allowed in .cthumbrc, .album files, theme files
>     etc

great!
 
> (3) Drop the -q option on the diff command. It is not valid on all Unix
> systems (Solaris for one), nor is it necessary.

ok. good.

> (4) Allow commentary for a picture to span more than one line. Also
> means titles for pictures are limited to 50 characters. For example, you
> can code:
>    - land_rover1.jpg
>      On break. We drove around in this Land Rover. \
>      Notice how open this is. It can get v-e-r-y cold \
>      after the sun goes down!

this is good.
i recall someone requesting this a long time ago. i think we even maybe got
a patch for it (but if it is not there it's probably because of the usual
excuse: i tried it under several cases and it probably did not work well
in some cases).

> (5) InlineFiles didn't work as near as I can tell. I can't see how the
> code could ever have worked. So I made some changes so it worked for me.

great!

> Folowing the code is still way too tedious. After seeing those GOTOs, I
> had to be hospitalized :-)  I'd consider a complete rewrite, but there
> is so much I don't understand about how it might work, I'm reluctant to
> even attempt it. Rather than screw around reading from ALBUM, the file
> should be read into an array/string at the start and then parsed so the
> important things can be extracted.

wholeheartedly agree. the program has outgrown it's initial goal well
beyond what's admissible. the problem (and the blessing) is perl, in my
opinion. i have not learned yet how to use modules in perl to make things
more modular.

> The rules for .cthumbrc etc are hardly clear. I tried to use it for
> something and could not get it to work, so I gave up and editted the
> several dozen files I had.

i think this was straightened at some point recently, actually. maybe it is
not working well yet.

> An AutoSlideTime of 1500 is a poor default choice IMHO (3500 seems a
> better default to me). If your pictures are moderately large or you are
> on a slow connection, the timeout happens before you get to see the
> pictures.

this is a default/custom settings issue. we should make it easier
to make .cthumbrc defaults.

> Rather than suggesting people do the 'mkdir thumb', I think cthumb
> should create it. It keeps the directories much cleaner. I see no
> downside and it's far easier for the user to clean up.

i also agree (!!! :-) 
i think now it is a good idea.

> Anyway, ignore this as you will. I'll be glad to send the code I've
> done, just ask and tell me how you want it.  I now have to prepare a
> course for Perl for a local community college, so I'm going to get real
> distracted again.

please do send the code!

if you have it separated by patches for better reading, that's best, if not,
that is ok, we'll deal with it. please share it with the list so that everyone
can read it and comment on it.

i just used cthumb a few days ago (for an album to sell my house) and i liked
oak.theme very much. i forget who submitted it, but it has a nice feature
(not sure how it's done!!) of having no 'rectangular effect' on pictures that
don't fit the thumbnail exactly. consider the north america image here

	http://cthumb.sourceforge.net/ex22-oak/page1-1.shtml

and here

	http://cthumb.sourceforge.net/ex04-neat-square/page1-1.shtml

or any other theme for that matter. it is quite cool.

thanks,

-c


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