Bug fixing for ImageSlideShow
Briask doesn’t get to spend as much time as he should on working with Joomla and the ImageSlideShow module, real life and real work keep on getting in the way.
One thing I do get to do every day is read the email/comments and respond to them if I have an answer or comment to make, some get held until I can actually spend time to give a considered response but they will get responded to in due course.
Today though, one comment caught my attention. It essentially said the sorting option wasn’t working! I read it with utter disbelief! No way! My code is perfect! Couldn’t be wrong! 
So I wander over to the site pointed out in the comment, had a quick look and would you believe it they were right, there was a problem! And worse still, it was in my code! One of of those painfully idiotic and “duh” type of bugs that always seem to bite when you least expect it.
And so we have an update to ImageSlideShow, some minor bugfixes, the sorting one included, but also included is the Module Class Suffix parameter which quite a few people were looking for. Go and play! Spread styles around it as much as you can.
Do let me know if y’all find any other issues or improvements that you’d like.
One item that I am working on is creating a plugin version of ImageSlideShow so that you can actually include it within articles/content. Look out for it in the next few weeks. For it to work properly I’ll have to get the image resizing and directory permissions functionality implemented and play some more with CSS so I can actually style it correctly.
Bug fix release of ImageSlideShow
You’ll find below a link to the latest version of ImageSlideShow for Joomla! 1.5 .
This release addresses some minor bugs/coding issues and adds the Module Class Suffix parameter.
You can read about why this update came about and what is next for ImageSlideShow in another post on my “blog”.
Many thanks to you all for the kind comments and interest in this module. This was just an idea I had for how to teach myself various aspects of development in the web world but seems to satisfy a need for some simple uncomplicated modules which may well give me direction for whatever future development work I do in this area.
ISS seems to have been used in quite a number and quite a variety of sites around the world. Everything from communites to volleyball teams to musical bands, love to see it being used and would love to see more sites that use it. So if you have a site that uses ISS send me a link and I’ll pop up a post here so others can see how it is used too.
Music I listen to while coding
In my real life, while I actually have to design and code for a living (C# mainly) I tend to spend quite an amount of time stuck in meetings which leaves precious little time to get real work done.
So when I do manage to grab a few hours of peace and quiet, I stick the headphones on and tune out the world around me and get down to coding.
At different times and indeed different types of coding I listen to different types of music. At the moment we have some difficult and time sensitive issues to resolve so we have an agile project underway, not quite eXtreme Programming more like scrum. The music I’m listening to now is more quiet, contemplative, indeed it is mostly classical.
At this precise time it is Charles Camilleri: Concertino No.1 For Clarinet and Strings on ClassicFM but will switch to a Bach or maybe Rachmaninov CD after this. Also find I’m revisiting Jean Michelle Jarre, Enya and even some Enigma. This afternoon looks like some boring batch file editing and discovery so will probably break out some rock, starting with Nirvana & U2, then move on to Usher and the Kooks.
Come to think of it I need to replace my headphones! Need a new set of closed ears, my current SeinnHeisers are getting a little battered and worn.
How to : Add Module Class Suffix to a Joomla! 1.5 module
This field can contain a suffix that will be applied to the CSS classes for the Module styles of this page. This allows individual Modules styling with relative ease. For example, if the suffix .foo is entered here, all CSS code elements in the CSS file within the Template for Modules will have .foo added to them. Separate entries would then need to be added in the CSS file of the Template, for each corresponding difference.
What you need to do is add the following to the module XML file and thats it!
<param name=”moduleclass_sfx” type=”text” default=”" label=”Module Class Suffix” description=”PARAMMODULECLASSSUFFIX” />
Expect to see this in the next update so you’ll be able to add all the CSS styling you could ever want to the SlideShow.
How to - Configure ImageSlideShow
Image Slide Show for Joomla! 1.5 needs very limited configuration for it to work. for most purposes the only parameters that need to be modified are “Image Directory” and the “Height” and “Width” parameters. Below are listed all the current parameters and what effect they have on ISS.
- Image Directory : Set this to the location on your website where the images that you want ImageSlideShow (ISS) to use are located. ISS will use all the images (BMP, GIF, JPG and PNG) that are located in the location specified.
- Height in pixels : Sets a common height that ISS will attempt to display the images at.
- Width in pixels : Sets a common width that ISS will atttempt to display the images at.
- Transition Delay : Sets a delay, in miliseconds, between each phase of the transition between two consecutive images. A lower value will speed up transition but utilises more CPU cycles. A higher value will slow down transition but will use less CPU cycles
- Next Image Delay : Sets the period of time, in miliseconds, that determines for how long the current image will be displayed and when the next image will start to transition in.
- Slideshow title : Sets the “alt” tag on the image so that it displays the text when the cursor “hovers” over the image.
- URL : Sets the URL to which the browser will navigate to if the image is clicked. Works in tandem with “Enable Link?”
- Enable Link? : Has 3 options, “disable” which will not allow any action whn image is clicked. “Enable (same window)” => navigate to the URL within the same browser window. “Enable (new window)” => navigate to the URL by opening a new browser window.
- Display Sequence: Determines the sequence ISS will display the images. “Disable” will display the images in the sequence that the images were read from the source directory. “Shuffle” will load the images and then place them in a pseudo-random order. Pattern will repeat once all images have been displayed. “Sorted” will load the images and then perform a “natural” sort by file name. Natural sort will sort files alphabetically as a human understand i.e. “img1.jpg” is followed by “img2.jpg” and so on.Pattern will repeat once all images are displayed. “Totally Random” is just that, random pattern of images being displayed.
- Resize Images: If enabled will resize the images in the specifed directory to the size specifed. this does not modify the original images. ISS will create a resized copy of the image in a subdirectory of the directory containing the images. The sub-directory is called briaskThumbs, this directory must be created by you and the process running Joomla! must be given permission to write to that directory. How you do that very much depends on the server environment that you are running Joomla! under and is not something I can answer in this short post.
Briask- Minor update to ImageSlideShow
- OK Computer! Just start already…
- What a to-do about what to do!
- Final Fantasy - take a listen.
- Return from Vacation!
- How to write a Joomla! 1.5 module.
- ImageSlideShow for Joomla! 1.5.x
- Image Slide Show and resizing images.
- Joomla! and more Music I Like
- Bug fixing for ImageSlideShow