SlideShowPro News

02.28.05 | Small Random / Start Mode Bug

Just found a small bug in 1.0.2 and 1.0.1. If you set Start Mode to "Open", and set Image Order to "Random", images will not load. It is the "Start Mode" set to "Open" that is causing the problem. If you want your images to play in Random order, for the time being please set "Start Mode" to "Closed" and you'll be fine. This has already been fixed locally and will be included in the next update.

SlideShowPro Flickr Group

A new SlideShowPro Flickr Group has been created and is open for all to be a part of. It's a good place to post photos, discuss SSP, and share links. If you're a Flickr user, jump in!

02.27.05 | SlideShowPro 1.0.2 Released

Hot on the heels of the first update comes 1.0.2. A few bug fixes, behavioral changes, and a couple of new editable properties added. To see what's new in this release, see Version History. Also see "How to Update" if you didn't upgrade to 1.0.1.

Login to your account to download the update.

02.26.05 | SSPAdmin

Developer Brad Daily has released SSPAdmin -- a $5 PHP/MySQL software package built especially for SlideShowPro that handles all your album administration and XML creation. Check out the site for more details.

02.25.05 | Flickr changes in 1.0.2

Great news for Flickr fans -- the next update to SlideShowPro will load the full-size version of Flickr's images instead of the medium sizes that are currently used. Permission was obtained directly from Flickr to modify their RSS feed (on the SSP side) to accommodate this popular-user request, and the difference is truly stunning.

A required change will be made to OPML documentation, and everyone currently loading Flickr content will need to update their file. I'll have more details when 1.0.2 comes out (including details on what else has been added), but the change is pretty small. More soon. Nevermind - no modifications to existing OPML documents required.

02.24.05 | Tutorials section added

A new Tutorials page has been added to the site to provide SSP users with a centralized index for all "how-to" walkthroughs and tutorials published on this site. And to kick it off, a new tutorial by guest author Massimo Fiorentino titled "PHP XML Generator for SlideShowPro" has been added. It's an excellent beginners-guide for using PHP to automatically create XML data on-the-fly. Just instruct PHP where your images are, and update the directories with all the images you want without having to re-open your XML document. A very worthy read for those with PHP. Thanks Massimo!

02.23.05 | Static text / language question

In working on the next update to SSP, I'm weighing options on how to best implement edits to the static text fields. Swapping out the actual text isn't that big a deal, but in areas where words are mixed with dynamic data it could be an issue.

The text fields I'm speaking of are "Previous Screen", "Next Screen", "Screen [n] of [n]" and "Image [n] of [n] from [album name]". I could enable the alteration of every non-dynamic word in the aforementioned, but (when edited) would the sequence of items still work in non-English languages? Or would the order of static to dynamic items need to shift to be grammatically correct in a particular language? If anyone has a thought on this, please drop me an email.

02.21.05 | SSP with Video?

Yep, you read that correctly. This technique is officially unsupported, meaning that the current build of SSP wasn't necessarily built to incorporate this type of media, but because Flash treats video as an object like any other object, it's not only possible, but pretty easy to set up. Check out this video demonstration featuring an FLV movie trailer and photos from the upcoming movie Sin City. If you are a registered user of SSP, you may login to your account and download the source files used to create this. My thanks go out to Flash developer Paddy Keane who came up with the very clever method to implement this. (And for the record, I have nothing to do with this movie. I just thought it would look better than some junky home movie).

How to embed fonts / sound effects help document

I've received numerous emails from SSP users asking how to import and embed fonts and/or sound clips in their movies, so I wrote a new help document that provides a walkthrough of the process. See How to embed fonts / sound effects.

02.19.05 | SlideShowPro 1.0.1 Released

What better way to spend a cold day than squashing bugs indoors? I'm pleased to report that SlideShowPro 1.0.1 has been released; containing a number of bug fixes, tweaks, and two feature request additions. To see what's new in this release, see Version History. Also see the new "How to Update" document for instructions on how to install the new update and update your existing content.

This update also kicks off a new Users section of the site, which allows purchasers of SSP access to all component-related downloads. If you are a purchaser of SlideShowPro, check your inbox for an important email with instructions on how to sign-up and obtain access to the update. If you didn't receive the email, or had issues with the sign-up process, let me know!

Note: all new purchasers of SlideShowPro on or after 2/19 automatically receive 1.0.1 when purchasing. No additional updaters are required.

02.18.05 | Firebox PHP thumbnail and xml file generator

Andrew Jones of Firebox Studios has contributed a set of open-source PHP scripts that will scan through a folder of full-size images, generate a SSP XML document, and optionally create a folder of thumbnails automatically. You can download them for free from the Scripts page. Thanks to Andrew for the fine work.

Update on the way

A quick note about the next update to SSP, which will be version 1.0.1. It will mostly be a bug-squashing patch, with updated help documentation. Most of the updates have already happened locally, but I'm holding off on releasing it until a new user-authentication space within this site is created. SSP users will be able to create their own login and password, manage their contact information, and easily download product updates and other content. Once the 1.0.1 update is finished and the user-authentication system is in place, I'll be sending out a mass email to all SSP users. Expect it (hopefully) early next week.

I've been asked how future SSP point-updates will affect existing user movies. The good news is that you will be able to update your existing swfs with the updated component without having to re-enter all your modifications in the Component Parameter panel. Here's how it works -- 1.0.1 will be distributed just like 1.0, as an Extension Manager file. When installed, Extension Manager will ask if you want to replace the (older) 1.0 version. After clicking yes, all your SSP help documentation (and of course the component itself) will be updated. You would then open any FLA containing the 1.0 version, open the Components panel, and drag a new copy of SSP into your movie. This will update the version of SSP (1.0) that's in your document's Library, as well as the instance on the stage. You would then delete the second copy of SSP you dragged in, and publish a new swf. Your movie will then contain the updated 1.0.1 version.

02.17.05 | PHP auto-XML generator script added

Developer Brian Sweeting was nice enough to offer a PHP script he wrote to automatically publish an XML document containing all the necessary elements and attributes from a directory of images. Script is documented, straightforward, and should be a big timesaver for those with PHP. Grab it on the new Scripts page.

Got scripts?

If you're a PHP, Perl, ASP or ColdFusion master, and would be interested in contributing source for other SlideShowPro users to download and use when creating their own galleries, drop me an email. You would receive full credit for your contribution, and it would be freely available to anyone to download and use. I'm especially interested in scripts that can automatically take a directory of images, parse out matching thumbnails at a smaller size, place them in the proper directories, and create an XML doc with all the necessary links. But anything that speeds workflow would be welcome. If interested, let me know!

02.16.05 | Two caption-related bugs

There is a small issue in SSP 1.0 involving caption attributes in your XML. If you create a caption attribute for the first image in your album, and then leave out a caption for the following images, and you have "Show Captions" set to "If Available," the caption information will 'stick' to the first image's data and not change. As a temporary workaround, set "Show Captions" to "Always" -- if your image doesn't have a caption, it will automatically display "No image caption".

The second bug comes into play if you set "Image Scaling" to false, load an image that is wider than SSP, and have a caption associated with the image. The 1.0 build of SSP draws the caption text field too wide. As a temporary solution, set "Image Scaling" to true.

Both of these issue have been fixed, and will be included in the next point release.

02.15.05 | ActionScript issue

If you choose to modify the properties of SlideShowPro using ActionScript instead of the Property panel, there's an issue in 1.0 that will cause the AS values to be ignored. This will be fixed in a cleaner manner in the next update, but for now, here's a way to force your AS values over the panel properties. After all of your property changes, add: instanceName.setSize(width,height);. Subsitute the width and height with whatever width and height you want SlideShowPro to appear at (this will override your manual transform on the stage). If you call this method after all your properties, they will push through. This is a temporary fix for 1.0 that will be resolved soon.

Another OPML help document typo

Another small typo in the OPML document (must have been late at night when I wrote this one -- groan). Previously, it noted to use xmlURL as the attribute for your RSS feed. This attribute should actually be xmlUrl (note the lowercase R and L at the end).

startHere attribute not working

Not sure how this wound up broken, but the special startHere album-attribute override you can use to force SlideShowPro into starting with a different album than the first isn't functioning as it should. As a workaround, I suggest changing the order of your albums in the XML so that the album you wish to start with is first in order.

This issue has been fixed will be included in the next point release.

02.14.05 | OPML help document typo

There's a small (but important) typo in the documentation installed in Flash's Help panel concerning the creation of OPML documents. The example should include an <outline element name before the xmlUrl attribute. This will be updated in the next component update, but for now the online help document has been fixed.