Re: [Ginp-developers] Version 0.2 is released

[Doug C. <do...@cu...>]

>     I was thinking last night about killer features for ginp that 
> would make it much more popular and I decided that they cannot be done 
> without a database.  One example of a great feature would be to show a 
> random picture.  If you had thousands of pictures keeping these all in 
> memory or doing directory traversals of meta data would be 
> ridiculously slow.

You may well be right.  Are we trying to make an application that can 
cope with thousands of pictures? (Why not)

> Another would be rating pictures and being able to view the highest rated.

I think that this could be very cool.  Every time a big version of a 
picture is requested a date/time stamp is logged.  We could then sort by 
most popular this month....  Been in my ToDos for a while but did not 
know HowToDo.

>   Again, xml does not scale for this.  We could index the pictures via 
> MD5 hash of the file so even if you moved stuff around the database 
> could realize that the picture was the same one from earlier and find it.

That would be great but what happens if I crop my picture using gimp?

> We could make the database optional and just say that if you want 
> these extra features you have to have a database.  

That is a great Idea.  I think that it is horses for courses.  The basic 
ginp does what it dos now without storing data.  It is a picture viewer 
and navigator.  If you want to get cleaver then install mysql and add 
data to the presentation and have the extra features like searching....

> I could add a page to the setup that would let people put in their DB 
> info.  

Makes sense.

> I have a lot of database app knowledge so I'll be able to get this 
> moving along pretty quickly.

I too have a lot DB Web Ap knowledge and my own tools but they are not 
GPL so I would have to start from the beginning, which is maybe a good 
place to start.

>
> Regards,
>     Justin
>
Ok lets flirt with the idea of a database.  I will go for it but I do 
not think that I want to program a file manager and a picture editor.

"
What ginp is not?

ginp = Ginp Is Not a Picture manager
ginp = Ginp Is Not gimP <http://www.gimp.org>

The management of the files is NOT part of the application because there 
are better tools for copying renaming and moving files.

Editing the photos is NOT part of the application because there are 
better tools for editing images.
"

I still think this is a good design brief.

Bad Ideas...:
- If we do a webdav interface we could intercept file moves and saves 
and correct the database references.
- We could do a admin web interface to fix broken links with files.
- We could put the files in the database like every PHP/MySQL picture 
gallery.
- We tell users once files are there do not move or rename them, but you 
can edit them with your favorite picture editor.
- We tell users once files are there do not edit them, but you can move 
them with your favorite file manager.
- We index the file system and read xml data stick it in a database, for 
extra features.  After data is jpg and xml data is moved or changed the 
admin user clicks the re-index button, and the data is reimported.

Have you got a good idea or do you like one my good ideas?

All the best,

Doug

-- 
Doug Culnane
do...@cu...
www.culnane.net