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3rdPlanetPhotography

I know lots of people have many applications that interface with smugmug.

I'm also working on one. It's written in C# and is a Windows desktop application. I've been working on it as I've had time and will be a long time coming but here is a (rough) look at the album screen I'm working on.




It's got a ways to go.. but coming along.

Go Smugmug!
kc7dji

rainforest1155

I see really interesting feature there! Does this mean I'll be able to export a csv or txt file with filename and imageID?
Also the modifying of album options looks great as I don't know a tool to do it without visiting the site!
Where do I sign up for a beta test??

Thanks for the hard work,
Sebastian

3rdPlanetPhotography

RainForest.... I can add any kind of feature you wish so the CSV isn't a problem. On thing I'm fighting though is the application seems slow compared to any regular desktop application because it's making round trips to the smugmug site.

I should be ready for beta in a couple of weeks. Once I get closer to a "version" product I'll put up a webpage for this application and will then ask for testers. When I do I'll repost here.

Thanks for the interest.

Scott
kc7dji

rainforest1155 wrote:

I see really interesting feature there! Does this mean I'll be able to export a csv or txt file with filename and imageID?
Also the modifying of album options looks great as I don't know a tool to do it without visiting the site!
Where do I sign up for a beta test??

Thanks for the hard work,
Sebastian

rainforest1155

kc7dji wrote:

RainForest.... I can add any kind of feature you wish so the CSV isn't a problem. On thing I'm fighting though is the application seems slow compared to any regular desktop application because it's making round trips to the smugmug site.

Sounds great - I'll come back to the invitation when you're in beta testing.
Yeah, speed heavily depends on how your connection to SM in such applications. Maybe you find parts where you can exchange more things at once (caching) instead of polling for every little detail separately. You could also try to keep things multithreaded so the user can do other things while the program gets some data. This could help keeping the user busy so he doesn't notice the waiting time.

Looking forward to it,
Sebastian

PS: If you need any help or just a second opinion on something in your pre-beta alpha phase, just drop me a note!

3rdPlanetPhotography

One thing that it's currently doing is loading up a list of the Albums, Categories, and Sub-Categories when the application starts. This should stay in sync unless the user goes to SM while the application is running and creates other stuff. I'll also include an "application refresh" feature that will do just that.

I think I'm going to attemp the multi thread on the Upload portion. This way the user can Upload while doing other things. The only problem is "other things" will slow down due to the connection being used by the upload process.

If you have msn messenger my ID is kc7dji@hotmail.com

kc7dji

rainforest1155 wrote:

Sounds great - I'll come back to the invitation when you're in beta testing.
Yeah, speed heavily depends on how your connection to SM in such applications. Maybe you find parts where you can exchange more things at once (caching) instead of polling for every little detail separately. You could also try to keep things multithreaded so the user can do other things while the program gets some data. This could help keeping the user busy so he doesn't notice the waiting time.

Looking forward to it,
Sebastian

PS: If you need any help or just a second opinion on something in your pre-beta alpha phase, just drop me a note!

rainforest1155

kc7dji wrote:

I think I'm going to attemp the multi thread on the Upload portion. This way the user can Upload while doing other things. The only problem is "other things" will slow down due to the connection being used by the upload process.

So the program also allows you to upload pictures? Haven't had figured this yet. Maybe you should put a short feature list in your first post to attract people's attention. When first viewing your thread I was confused what your planing to do. Took me a little to analyse the screenshot.

Concerning the upload. If you're planing to integrate an upload I would like it to have some sort of bandwith control. Even with the biggest connection the upload is always the bottleneck. I always have lots of stuff running parallel and I'm not the only one using the connection, so I would like to have some control over my upstream.
This should also improve the responsiveness when using multiple threads.
I already request a bandwith control in Nik's ( ) S*E (Star Explorer) and I couldn't live without it!

Sebastian

3rdPlanetPhotography

Hmmm bandwith control. That will require some research . I've never tried that before but I'm sure we can accomplish it somehow.

rainforest1155 wrote:

So the program also allows you to upload pictures? Haven't had figured this yet. Maybe you should put a short feature list in your first post to attract people's attention. When first viewing your thread I was confused what your planing to do. Took me a little to analyse the screenshot.

Concerning the upload. If you're planing to integrate an upload I would like it to have some sort of bandwith control. Even with the biggest connection the upload is always the bottleneck. I always have lots of stuff running parallel and I'm not the only one using the connection, so I would like to have some control over my upstream.
This should also improve the responsiveness when using multiple threads.
I already request a bandwith control in Nik's ( ) S*E (Star Explorer) and I couldn't live without it!

Sebastian

rainforest1155

kc7dji wrote:

Hmmm bandwith control. That will require some research . I've never tried that before but I'm sure we can accomplish it somehow.

If you don't know where to start maybe Nikolai can give you some tips.

Forgot to write this before: Have a look to your left at the 3 icons under my post-count. MSN is the one I don't have. Tried it once, but somehow I couldn't get it to work. And 3 IMs are already enough - good that I've got them all in one program that's very resource effective and not so bloated like their original software. It's the opensource, too - Miranda IM

Sebastian

PS: I'm running Win2000 here and hopefully will be for a long time being - as more and more software pops up requiring XP I just wanted to mention that.

flyingpylon

I would definitely like to see a CSV export of album and image data. I created Smugmug Exporter simply because nobody else had developed a desktop app to do the same thing. I'm a scripter, not a programmer, but I needed the functionality so I did it the way I knew how.

I would also be interested in knowing more about your plans for this app. Will it be filling a currently unmet need or is it more of a programming exercise?

gus

Good on you KC..very nice

How about a big red "pause" button thrown in ? In the event of a big load & you need some fast net access after you start it.

Gus

3rdPlanetPhotography

I can easily create the CSV Export. I do have that in the plans.

This is more of a programming exercise project for me. I've been programming for about 13 years but am new to the C# and .Net environment so I was looking for a nice project to learn with. What better to program to then something I like the most.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I hope to get a beta out to everyone soon.

kc7dji

flyingpylon wrote:

I would definitely like to see a CSV export of album and image data. I created Smugmug Exporter simply because nobody else had developed a desktop app to do the same thing. I'm a scripter, not a programmer, but I needed the functionality so I did it the way I knew how.

I would also be interested in knowing more about your plans for this app. Will it be filling a currently unmet need or is it more of a programming exercise?

3rdPlanetPhotography

Humungus... a pause button? yes yes I will surely look into that one. I upload photo for my exwife to "shutterfly" and they have a great handy pause button. I'll surely lookin into it because I use that thing... even today I've used it.

Thansk for the suggestion.
kc7dji

Humungus wrote:

Good on you KC..very nice

How about a big red "pause" button thrown in ? In the event of a big load & you need some fast net access after you start it.

Gus

Nikolai

SM Image Data locally (CSV export, and such)
Not to steall KC's thunder, but with the latest S*E (starting v.131) you can now get pretty extensive image info stored in your local access database. Exporting it from there (or just using it there:-) is a no brainer for anybody who ever dealt with access-like databases or excel-like spreadsheets.
I guess Sebastian already has some first-hand experience with this feature
HTH

3rdPlanetPhotography

Nikolai... thanks for bursting my bubble... naww just kidding. We are all in this together to create the best Photogs site on the globe. I enjoy the fun and will happily trade the secrets. You are ahead of me my friend. I'm working on V.001 .

kc7dji

Nikolai wrote:

Not to steall KC's thunder, but with the latest S*E (starting v.131) you can now get pretty extensive image info stored in your local access database. Exporting it from there (or just using it there:-) is a no brainer for anybody who ever dealt with access-like databases or excel-like spreadsheets.
I guess Sebastian already has some first-hand experience with this feature
HTH

rainforest1155

How is it going? The thing I like best about your program is that it seems to have a build in UI for editing the gallery settings without browsing through my page. Haven't seen this in another tool yet.

Looking forward to see the first version!
Sebastian

3rdPlanetPhotography

We are getting there. Slowly but we are getting there. I've been out for surgery so slow to get back on my feet.

Hopefully soon!

rainforest1155 wrote:

How is it going? The thing I like best about your program is that it seems to have a build in UI for editing the gallery settings without browsing through my page. Haven't seen this in another tool yet.

Looking forward to see the first version!
Sebastian

rainforest1155

kc7dji wrote:

We are getting there. Slowly but we are getting there. I've been out for surgery so slow to get back on my feet.

Ooh, I didn't knew that. Hope that you're alright! Take your time with the coding and be sure to rest enough.

All the best,
Sebastian