Troubleshooting

Problems

The base directory cannot be determined from the display page

The normal method of using Dezoomify is: 'python dezoomify.py http://www.site.org/gallery/zoomify_page_1.html C:\file.jpg'

This will search for a piece of HTML on that page for something reading 'zoomifyImagePath=/url/goes/here'. This will tell Dezoomify where the base directory is.

However, not all usages of Zoomify are that simple, and some have a complex URL that doesn't get parsed properly by Dezoomify. Others use a modified Zoomify Flash applet that super-imposes markers or other information. Either way, Dezoomify cannot find the base directory correctly.

In these cases, the best solution is to determine the base directory manually and use that instead of the normal URL (use the -b switch, e.g. 'python dezoomify.py http://www.site.org/img/xyz/ C:\file.jpg -b').

The server refuses to serve Dezoomify

Sometimes the server refuses to serve clients which have incorrect HTTP referrers, user agent strings or cookies. In this case, you may be able to spoof them as needed to fool the server into thinking Dezoomify is a "normal" browser.

Workarounds

Determine the base directory manually

Easy, fallible way

If you need to determine the base directory manually, the first thing to do is check the page source and search for "zoomifyImagePath". This might reveal a relatively simple base directory location that Dezoomify couldn't work out.

For example, the page http://www.hampel-auctions.com/en/A84/78010029/onlinecatalog-zoom/ has the following code: zoomifyImagePath=/img/auktionen/A84/z/78010029xml&zoomifyClickZoom=1&zoomifySlider=0&zoomifySplash=0

However, the actual Zoomify base directory is http://www.hampel-auctions.com/img/auktionen/A84/z/78010029, but Dezoomify wouldn't be able to guess that the xml suffix doesn't belong.

Harder, works-every-time way

The harder but reliable way is to check the outgoing HTTP requests sent by your browser for the files that the Zoomify applet is demanding from the server. This sounds very techy, but it isn't that hard.

If you are using Firefox, open the Browser Console (Ctrl+Shift+J) and make sure the "Net" switch is on. If you are using Google Chrome / Chromium open the JavaScript Console (Ctrl+Shift+J) and select the "Network" tab. Now reload the page containing the Zoomify object and look for URLs ending with /ImageProperties.xml or /TileGroup#/#-#-#.jpg. From that you can get the base directory easily (just remove the ImageProperties.xml or TileGroup#/#-#-#.jpg from the end).