Web page generation

[Lyn and Malcolm]

What a great piece of programming George, way beyond me how you do this programming.

I have read the postings about web page generation, and have managed to create some pages, not online yet 

A couple of questions if I may please.

Having generated and published the pages, if later the Plant type/colour etc is added to or altered in the main database. The next time the web pages are generated, will the plant type/colour be automatically updated on the web pages in GA032

Where can I alter the "change photographer" description in GA032

I already have three sub domains on our webspace, one for the garden,one for our digiscoped pictures of birds (one of our hobbies during the winter) and a holiday section.

I am thinking it would probably be best to put what would be a plant list of the garden, created by IG pro in another sub domain, and link to it from the garden site to get the plant list.

Back to playing with GA032 to see what I may have missed 

Malcolm

[ideasguy]

Malcolm, you are picking this stuff up really fast! You didnt even ask a question!
I cant believe you've managed that already 

I'd like to say "its quick and easy", but its not. Theres a lot of work behind the scenes to get all the detail about plants and photos.

I'm excited to see your first web set on-line!

Answers (gosh, cant hold you up - you're on an express train!)
RE:

Having generated and published the pages, if later the Plant type/colour etc is added to or altered in the main database. The next time the web pages are generated, will the plant type/colour be automatically updated on the web pages in GA032

Good news - Yes

RE:

I am thinking it would probably be best to put what would be a plant list of the garden, created by IG pro in another sub domain, and link to it from the garden site to get the plant list.

That would be a good idea, since the folder structure and sub folders become part of the URL. Your idea may keep the URL shorter.
I'd suggest you make a folder, lets say 'xxx' (you can think of a name'
and put your WPG folder into that.
You can do as many WPG projects as you lke, by simply building more reviews in GA032, and clicking Web.
You can put each WPG project into folder 'xxx' to keep things neat and tidy (and manageable)

RE:

Where can I alter the "change photographer" description in GA032

Add a new Gardener profile. e.g. click any ww button beside Gardener pop-up (e.g. in GA004, GA037 etc)
Is that the answer to your question?

RE:

What a great piece of programming George, way beyond me how you do this programming.

Well,shucks...  it was just one of those ideas 
It took a "wee while" to put it all together,but believe me,it makes it all very much worthwhile when I see the web sites on the .net website.

[Lyn and Malcolm]

Thank you george for those answers, and the gardener profile was what I wanted to alter, so now ok.

Have now got 400 plants on the web pages, ready to publish, have made another sub domain, but it can take up to 24hrs to become active, so may get something on line over the weekend.

I was concerned the web pages and pictures would take up a lot of webspace, having looked at the folder with the 400 pages and pictures in, it only occupies 12mb, so no problem there, and we do have 1.5gb of webspace, and only 7% is taken with the existing sites 

I wonder if our website and yours will get a higher ranking with the search engines, as 1000 pages with our websites addresses on will be online.

Had some more rain this evening, BBC GW still due to come tomorrow about 12.00.  And then a photographer and writer together on Friday am, they are writing/illustrating a book on Dorset gardens.

From a bleak Dorset, and dressed in winter clothes.

Malcolm

[ideasguy]

Well, first of all, good luck tomorrow, and I hope you get a decent day.
What an exciting day that will be!
I look forward to your posting tomorrow to tell us how it all went.
Very best wishes!!

My goodness, Malcolm - a WPG project with 400 plants!
How on earth did you manage that ? The higher the numbers of plants, the more confusing it gets!
Is it all in one project (review)?
Personally, I would have broken it up into smaller, more manageable projects.
If you managed 400 plants in one project - well, you're the top of the class!

Yes, the search engines will have a field day!! Already, some of the WPG pages are on page 1 of google searches.
Try this one:
Polystichum 'Lady In Red'
Takes you to Toms website (Dalcross)
When I searched just now, it was No 1 on Page 1

and this one:
Azalea 'Barbecue'
Takes you to Sherwood Gardens
Weve dropped to No 4 on Page 1 (tee hee)

Not bad, eh?
It may be all change tomorrow of course. NOBODY can predict Google!

Expect to get hits on your web site! Yes, hopefully it will be mutually beneficial.

Next on the agenda (perhaps), you can sell advertising on the "Get Listed" section. Nurseries and Garden Centres may sponsor pages.

Have a nice day tomorrow!

[Lyn and Malcolm]

Web page generation, well here is the link for the 998 plant list, have just uploaded it and had a quick look, I can see I am missing a couple of pictures in the Phlox listing, looks like I may have missed them out with the upload. And I can see I have some plants in the wrong type section.

The list is not finished, I need to find some more pictures in my collection, and of course add more details to the plants.

http://www.plantguide.lynandmalc.co.uk/

I didn't want to split the list George, I will replace our old list on our website with the new one.

Today dawned with rain, quite heavy for over an hour, then no wind to dry the plants, fortunatley they had an extra three quarters of an hour to dry, as GW phoned to say they would be  late. They had been in Axminster Devon to see another garden.

They were impressed with the garden when they arrived, then there followed approx a 1/4 hour for each of us doing a tour of both of our gardens, with a camera rolling all the time, and being asked questions as we went. No time to compose an answer.

They were here for about an hour and a quarter. The test video goes back to the producer, and she decides if it should go further, if it does then a film crew will come down.
They did say that the garden deserved filming, but of course the way we came over counts as well. So have to wait and see now, they could come back very soon, or next year, or not at all. With the weather as it is at the moment, I can't see the Phloxes etc lasting much longer, we normally have no problems with the garden lasting well into September.

Time to rest my eyes, after staring at the computer screen for too long

Malcolm

[ideasguy]

Gosh Malcolm.
How DO you manage to squeeze SO much into one single day!!

Getting the garden ready for the film crew would count as a days work for most people.
Getting spruced up to face the cameras  then the filming, answering questions off the cuff (wot - no script??) - well after all THAT, most folk would have taken the rest of the day off.
Then the ultimate - publishing a web site with NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY EIGHT PLANTS   

ALL IN ONE DAY.
I dont know what you're on Malcolm, but If you can let us know, I'll give it a go 
Absolutely incredible.

I'm absolutely astounded that youve done this. It is absolutley manifique!

Ive clicked a few dozen of the plants, scrolled down AWAY to the bottom and clicked a few there.
I brought my wife in to have a look. We are astonished (I'm running out of words!!)
OK, a couple more - Simply BRILLIANT.

One wee thing - you can put the link to your web site in the Gardens : Where to see this Plant: section of each page showing a plant.
Theres a quick way to do it.
In Screen GA032S04, click Step 6
In screen GA032S09, Under Gardens where this plant can be seen, click Add
In screen GA032S07, and click Add
Back in screen GA032S09,click Global
Use the pop-up to select Gardens URLS
Click on your URL link in the list on the left
Now Multi select in the plants list on the right
Then click the Arrow Right button at the bottom middle of the screen

Over the weekend, I'll update the Web Files, so you can have rollover effects in the plants list, using a Style sheet.
You (and others of course) can download this.

Now, I'm off to have a look at that web site. Wow!!
P.S. I love the colour scheme - youve mastered the lot!!

[Lyn and Malcolm]

Thank you George

I dont know what you're on Malcolm, but If you can let us know, I'll give it a go 

Must be the Brugmansias.

I did the wee thing you said about the web address, works fine, so much you have hidden in there we don't know 

Can you please explain what will happen with a rollover effect in the plants list, that you said you might be able to do for us.

GW rang back today, quicker than we thought, yes they want to come back within two weeks with the big cameras, to put together something for GW.
So we can't rest yet, still got to keep the garden pretty and rehearse our lines.


The photographer and writer both came this morning, they have got two publishers interested in there forthcoming  book entitled Dorset Gardens, so looks like that may go through for next year.

Malcolm

[ideasguy]

Thats great news Lyn and Malcolm! Congratulations is definitely in order. 
I'm looking forward to seeing you both on TV. Isn't that exciting 
To be honest, I'd have been very surprised if they hadn't made that decision. Your garden is out of this (Gardeners) World.

Well, the euphoria must have worn off real quick - I could already see that you'd republished the whole WPG project, complete with the link to your web site.

Ive been clicking through it every time Ive had a wee break today.
I have to say Malcolm, your photos are really top quality. That web site is a joy to explore.

RE:

so much you have hidden in there we don't know 

Yip, theres a few more wee things yet, but you are doing REAL good with what you have there.
Aw, shucks, OK then, heres one more!
If you'd like to throw in a general view of your garden every here and there, heres how to do that:
In GA032S04, click Step 5, Web pages
Takes you to screen GA032S08
Now, lets say you have a photo in which one of your plants is dominant.
Click, as if to edit the text for THAT plant
Now click the More button
Two new buttons appear.
Click on the Garden Photo button
Dialog Box GA032S12 appears
Click Make new thumbnail and find and select your Garden Photo
Edit the details for the web page in the normal way.
Now, by default, the Click Link shows as Garden Photo
If you click on it, you can edit the text to something more appropriate
Just play with that by Generating and viewing the web pages the WPG creates and things will be more clear.

Rules:
The Garden Photo is arranged sequentially ABOVE the Plant you associate it with.
Thus, it can be like an "introduction" to a close up photo of a plant.
You can have more that one Garden Photo for each plant.
When you have more that one garden photo for a Plant, you can shuffle the listing order of the GARDEN photos.
You cant shuffle a Garden Photo away from the plant you associated it with (not yet at any rate    )
Examples on this WPG site:
http://www.ideasforgardens.net/nash/springbank/
Focus on Garden Area Q
23 is a Garden Photo, associated with the Plant below it (24)

The Garden Photo doesn't HAVE to include the plant below it of course.
e.g. See Garden Area H - The Pond
Garden Area in photo 16 is associated with Plant in 17
That trick allows you to throw a whole lot of garden photos into the project, as in the case of the web site I created using Lyndas photos below.

Examples of Rollover etc:
http://www.ideasforgardens.net/LyndaAdlington/SunkenTerrace/
Gosh, I forgot to add that to the list on http://www.ideasforgardens.net
Sorry Lynda, will do ASAP.
Also, have a look at Lauries web sites

Another tip:
I see some plants don't have photos yet.
If perchance, thats because you didn't save your TEXT after creating the Thumbnail, then the Thumbnail will be in the web folder.
Now, rather that go hoking through 1000 photos in there, you can do this.
Treat linking the photo as if you were adding a new plant.
Go through the steps of Creating a new Thumbail.
The program will ask if you want to overwrite.
Say Yes, and make sure you click Save.

Ive lots of questions about your fantastic plant collection. You have all my favourites in there e.g. those lovely Veronicas.
but... we'll save that for another posting. I think you're going to be "busy right now" 

[Lyn and Malcolm]

The rollover looks good George, and especially usefull with a long list.

Thanks for the explanation of how to add garden views to the reviews, I havent had time to do any yet, but certainly will.

The reason some plant  pictures are missing, is because I havent identified them yet from the 15000 pictures on disc. I had never named them all, so caused a big problem. This will be ongoing, as soon as I take or find some, I will update the review.

Are there many plants on our list you don't have on your master database? I will leave it a bit longer before sending you a cd with the database on, I need to get as many pictures on the database as I can.

I must set up a link from our main garden website to the new plant review now.

A bit of rain at the moment, but should be dry down here for the next week. There was some heavy rain showing in N Ireland on the radar today.

Malcolm

[ideasguy]

RE:

The reason some plant  pictures are missing, is because I havent identified them yet

Well, thats a relief! I was worried in case it was a little bug.

RE:

Are there many plants on our list you don't have on your master database? I will leave it a bit longer before sending you a cd with the database on, I need to get as many pictures on the database as I can.

Yes - lots of them, Malcolm. No rush on the CD. Mind you, I'm really looking forward to playing with THAT! It will be such a treat.

In Erins green isle, we had a lovely a.m. and I got a lot of things done outside. When the rain came on, I worked on the computer.
Theres more IG pro updates on the way, and they have taken longer than expected (seems to be like that faaaaar to often!)
So, theres plenty to do, no matter what the weather.
I'll be looking for volunteers to do some testing, perhaps tomorrow folk 

This evening 6 to 9 pm, I had to go to my day job in Belfast to support my Sports System on its first live session. I upgraded it to run on Visual Foxpro 9, just like IG Pro etc. The system allows leagues to be set up for multiple sports, then entry of fixtures, then entry of results and then finally output (Results and League Tables) to an Editorial System for publishing in our newspaper on Monday morning. It worked without a hitch! Heres my work link:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
I'm very proud of my Sports System. It was my first job when I joined the Tele, way back in 1994. I was a football manager in those days, so it was so nice to get paid for something you also did in your leisure time.
First it worked on a Mac, then it was upgraded to work on PC's, then this latest upgrade.

Now? I'm gonna have a beer and watch the footie on telly.

[ideasguy]

Ive updated the Files to allow you to to get those rollover and Visited effects

2 downloads:

Updated fileset:
http://www.ideasgenie.com/updates-igpro/IGPro-Fileset-ENDE.exe

and updates Web Set
http://www.ideasgenie.com/updates-igpro/webfiles-dl.exe

When those are installed:
1) For starting NEW projects, you don't have to do anything.

2) However, for your existing WPG projects you need to copy the new file into the correct location.
Get into this folder:
c:\igdata_sets\web
Find and copy the file
plantlist.css
to the folder
c:\igdata_sets\web\xxxx
where xxxx is the folder where your generated web pages are located.
(BEWARE: DONT MOVE IT, be sure to use use Copy):

Then simply go ahead and generate and view.

Notes:
Ive made the Style sheet colours (in the plantlist.css file) suitable for your colour scheme Malcolm (I hope!)
If it doesn't look quite right, we can easily edit the colours in plantlist.css to something better.
Ive made it a compromise for both your colour scheme and the default colour scheme.
Next task is to provide a new screen where the user can pick their own colours for the "effects", using the same type of buttons you used to pick your web site colour scheme (step 7)
 

[Lyn and Malcolm]

So you have been burning the midnight oil again George.

I have carried out the updates as you have posted.

After generating the pages again I can report that the rollover effect is working on the Next and Previous buttons, but not on the list of plants, the memory effect does work. I have not ftpd the pages yet, so don't look on our web pages to see.

I reckon the colours of the pages are as I had changed them too, thank you. I tried to keep them something like our main website pages.

Rain during night but clear blue sky now.

Malcolm

[ideasguy]

RE:

the memory effect does work.

Please explain. On which links?

The new style sheet should only have changed things in the Plants List, Malcolm
Things to check quickly on your side Malcolm.
Are you sure you did both downloads?

The plantslist.css is copied into the web folder by default in the download.

Then you had to copy it into your WPG Project folder (your 998 plants).
When thats done, you have a copy in the Web folder AND your WPG Proect folder

NEW:
See my new posting today under "Whats New" in IG Pro
It will allow you to change the colours in your style sheet

[Lyn and Malcolm]

The memory effect does work on the list of my 999 plants, but there is no rollover effect.

Have checked plantlist.css is in both folders Web and Project.

I did download both folders. I guess it wouldn't hurt to download both agan, would it?

The rollover effect should work on the generated page view shouldn't it. I haven't ftpd the pages to try "Live" as I wanted to see if all was ok before doing that.

Malcolm

[ideasguy]

No need to download again Malcolm

Please read over the new posting I did today on editing the style sheet.
(under Whats New in IG Pro)

See if the changes you make to your .css file make a difference

Important:
Any changes you make are seen locally
You dont need to FTP up to see what youve done (isnt that a relief!)
In GA030S04, Simply click Generate, then View

[NightHawk]

George, what I seem to be finding is that when installing those two new files, it is creating two style sheets in the 'web' folder - vidstyle.css and plantlist.css.  As you know, vidstyle.css was the previous style sheet.

However, when generating web pages the style sheet vidstyle.css is being used and not the new one.

I've tried this several times with same result.

I tried this procedure.  After installation of the new files I go the folder c:/igdata_sets/web and manually delete the vidstyle.css file, leaving the new plantlist.css file there.  Then I go to the folder where the new files are to be created and copy plantlist.css there.

When the new web pages are generated I get a message box saying I do not have the correct files to complete that procedure and need to download "webfiles-dl.exe" to continue.

Re-installing the two new files again puts vidstyle.css back in the 'web' folder, along with plantlist.css.

Generating new web pages again works, but it is using vidstyle.css again.

I'm assuming I may have missed a step here, but I hope this explanation might mean something else.

Laurie.
 

[ideasguy]

Thanks for that Laurie
Ive discovered the problem in my install executable.
Corrected now.

Please do this download again
http://www.ideasgenie.com/updates-igpro/IGPro-Fileset-ENDE.exe

Then Do Generate and View in GA032S04

Fingers crossed!

[NightHawk]

Okay, I tried that.  After installation of the new .exe file I checked the 'web' folder and only the file plantlist.css was installed, and not the vidstyle.css.  So far so good.

However, when I restarted IG Pro and tried to generate the web pages I got the same message box saying I did not have the correct files.  After clicking OK on this box it still took me into the screen GA032S04, but Steps 8 and 9 (Generate and View) buttons are greyed out so I couldn't go any further.

Laurie.
 

[NightHawk]

George, one additional step I tried here.  I manually copied the file vidstyle.css into just the 'web' folder (not the folder for web page creation).  Running GA032 I was able to get to GA032S04 and the Generate and View buttons were available.
I was able to create web pages but when viewing them, they were still using the vidstyle.css Style Sheet.

Somewhere along the line, the program still seems to be expecting to see vidstyle.css to work.

I hope this helps.

Laurie.

[ideasguy]

Thanks for the feedback, Laurie. I'm sorry about all this confusion. I hope this explains:

vidstyle.css is for the Introduction page, not the plant list.
The new plantlist.css is for the plant list
Thus, BOTH are required to be in your WPG Project file, otherwise (as you have found) the program will "complain" with that message you reported.

Everything is OK per the original set of instructions.
The download has been corrected.
Ive done the download myself and it works for me.

More info:
Each time you start a NEW WPG project, the program (GA032) copies the required files from the Web folder:
c:\igdata_sets\web
into your WPG project folder.
Its automatic.

You'll be pleased to read that this exercise with the updates is only required to apply the style sheet changes to Existing WPG projects

[Lyn and Malcolm]

And now I have rollover effects George, thanks for finding the problem.

Have just done a ftp to add some more pictures, will do it again to publish the rollover effects 

Malcolm

[ideasguy]

Thats great, Malcolm. Hopefully it will be OK with Laurie as well.

In re-publishing your plant list, you've answered a question before I asked.
I was showing your web site to a colleague last night, and he enquired why you'd stopped at 998, and was there a problem if the user hit 1000.
When I got home, I checked and found (sigh of relief) it allows 4 digits, so if you need to, you can publish 9,999. If you get to that number, let me know (tee hee)

However, I hadnt tested it with 1000 + plants, so I was going to ask you if there was a glitch.
I see you are now up to 1001 and it seems to have coped OK.

Looking forward to seeing it all with that style sheet applied!
 

[Lyn and Malcolm]

Yes 1001 was reached after we bought a few hole fillers yesterday.
The list is now on line with the rollover working fine.

Takes a while to ftp the 1001 pages, plus about 5 other files, I dont resend the pictures, just add to them as and when.

Most of the pictures are taken with a Sony F717 bridge camera, digital but must be 4 years old now. Just 5mpx, but plenty for web work. Have got other cameras 10mpx plus, but the Sony much better for close up work. I don't own a digital SLR.

I did a photo shoot for a lady that has a National collection of Clematis Montana. She wanted pictures of Buds and Blooms of the Montanas.
Lyn and I went to the garden about 5 times to catch most of them. See the pictures here

http://www.clematismontana.co.uk/gallery_flowers-buds01.html

I didn't do the website

Malcolm

[ideasguy]

Good news all round! Ive visited your web site and all looks real good!
It was a good days work!

Thanks for the Clematis montana link.
I have a question for you to ask your friend.
National Collection holders were trained up in a software package called Demeter, all as part of the NCCPG.
I'd love to know if she is using it, and if so, how is she getting on with using the software and doing all the record keeping.
I was disappointed that the NCCPG didnt give my software a try. I sent a copy for evaluation, but they said the software (now known as Demeter) was already being written elsewhere.

Their link back to your web site is out of date, Malcolm. Still showing the Freeserve URL.

[ideasguy]

New Web Projects:
I need to do an update to GA032.
I'll do that ASAP - watch this topic for announcement when complete.

Status:
The plantlist.css isnt being copied automatically into new project folders.
Needs to be copied manually until I do the update.