[Gramps-devel] Image/object gallery proposal

[Don A. <don...@ho...>]

First off, I want to thank all those who sent me comments and ideas on
how to handle the galleries. I've been thinking about this for a long
time (since July, when I had a long discussion and got a lot of ideas
from my father). With the comments I've received, the following is my
current thinking. This is not set in stone, and any more comments on how
to improve it would be welcomed.

1. Change my terminology. I don't plan to refer to photos or images
anymore, because that is a limiting term. I prefer "objects", because I
plan to expand the galleries to support nearly any format. This could be
PDF files, word processor documents, photos, MP3s, etc. I will probably
tie into the gnome MIME system to understand object types (so that
clicking on a PDF brings up Acrobat reader or XPDF, clicking on a .abw
brings up abiword, and clicking on an MP3 contacts the FBI so they can
come and arrest you for violation of the DMCA).

2. Have a central repository of objects. Each gallery would refer to the
actual object in the central repository. You will still be able to add
an image to a gallery as you do now, but gramps would really add the
image to the repository and add a reference to the gallery. This central
repository would probably exist as another top level display in the
gramps main window (like sources, places, person list, family view,
etc.)

3. The each object would have a description, a list of attributes, a
note, and a list of sources attached to it. Each reference would have
its own, separate note. This would allow to add information specifically
related to the particular gallery. (In Aunt Martha's gallery, you can
have a reference to a reunion photo, and add the note like "Aunt Martha
is the third person on the left")

4. Currently, gramps allows images to be either external or internal to
the database. Internal images are stored in the database directory,
external images are not. There are advantages each way. If you have an
external image, you only have one copy, and you can organize them in any
way you desire. If the images are internal, gramps has its own copy, and
you can move, delete, or edit the original without affecting the image
that gramps has. Creating and managing thumbnail images is much easier
for gramps with internal images because the thumbnail image can be
related directly by name to larger image. With external images, this is
more difficult, since two different images can have the same name.

Moving to objects adds to the complexity, especially if gramps needs to
organize thumbnails in smaller directories to speed file access. It may
be necessary to store a reference to the thumbnail in the database.

What this really means is that gramps will do its best to efficiently
manage the objects it has control over (the internal objects). External
objects are the responsibility of the user. gramps will do its best to
optimize thumbnails for external images, which will be kept in the
database directory. I personally get really annoyed with nautilus, the
GIMP, and electric eyes all creating thumbnail directories all over the
place.

5. Provide a drag-and-drop from one gallery to another or from the
central repository to the gallery. The drag-and-drop would add a
reference to the target gallery.

6. It will be necessary to save the database before images can be added.
This does not mean you need to save it every time, just that it has to
be saved once, so that a directory exists for the images and thumbnails.

Sorry for being long winded. I hope this makes since. Anyway, let me
know if you have any comments.

Don

-- 
Don Allingham
don...@ho...

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