import from photopost

[turbo S]

hello, I have a few questions regarding the XMG addon.

I installed the media gallery and did the import (no errors reported) however it seems not all the files were imported (of the 8 GB of media only about 3.5 GB was imported). none of the video files were imported (mpeg, qt, mp4, etc). Do I need to setup allowed file types somewhere prior to import?

when running the import do I always have to start from scratch? if I rerun the import will I have duplicate media content?
If I first deinstall the add-on will the media be deleted from the file system and the XMG related tables dropped from the database?

in photopost, in addition to any admin defined categories, there was also a "members area" category (setup by default) where you could see each users uploaded files. in XMG I was not able to find a way to do this as no members area category was created. Any user albums (sub-folders under the members area) are however visable. so Im not able to navigate by username to see only their files.

 

[turbo S]

Hello

these are the file types im trying to import and configured these in XMG prior to photopost import:
png jpg jpeg jpe gif
pdf xls doc zip
wmv mov mp4 mpeg mpg avi asf mod

I installed a test forum and started from a clean database (with xenforo, minus XMG). installed XMG, ran photopost import. The PDFs and video files were not imported.

Im also not able to upload a PDF or any video file to the gallery (video hosted on server, not embedded). Only looking to be able to download the video file from the server, not streaming.
Quotas are disabled and file limits set to "unlimited".

In this link from May 2013, I found a comment that video and other file types will supported in the future. Im not sure if Im doing something wrong or if the feature has not been implemented yet?
Xen Media Gallery (Media Gallery for XenForo) [Paid] [Deleted]

If this feature is planned for the future, I would like to go ahead and install XMG on the live server. But not sure how I would import the missing media files later. Running the import again would duplicate all media files that are already in place?

 

[Chris D]

We only support image uploads and embedded media at the moment. PDFs, video files and others won't be imported.

 

[turbo S]

thank you for your answer. I also had a question re partial import and import of these files later? is that easy to do e.g. re-run import at a later time from the old database without duplicating existing content?

is support for other media file types in the near future realistic?

any possibility to provide a simple custom "hack" (paid) to allow simply storing these files in the gallery (i have a dedicated category for documents and for videos)? I dont need any special processing of these other files types other than being able to upload them and then download them from a link (basically that is all that photopost does with these file types). dont need any special thumbnails etc.

I really like your gallery and would like to use it. When I purchased XMG the important part to me was that it could import from photopost without any particular media type restrictions, and I didnt see any mentions of any restrictions.

 

[Chris D]

I don't know what will be happening with additional media types or when or what will happen with regards to importing that in the future.

There are no specific mentions of those restrictions in terms of the import process as it ought to be rather clear from using the demo and details of the product that only images and embedded media are supported at this time.

Suggestions and custom development requests can be made in the appropriate forums.

 

[VW Derf]

Sorry for bringing up a super old thread, but it seems that XMG still only allows images and embedded media. I was wondering how others in the past have dealt with other file types such as DOC and PDF files. I have about 2000 files like that in photopost and just trying to figure out the best way of importing them into Xenforo whilesomehow keeping the old links working. Before re-inventing the wheel, figured I'd check if someone already solved this.

 

[DragonFlames]

I was wondering how others in the past have dealt with other file types such as DOC and PDF files.

This all caused a major problem for me too. I had a full range of media types on all my old systems over the years. Audio files, video files of many types, PDF files, Word documents and so on. I too am awaiting a media system upgrade so that it handles all types of media and offers options for things like full image thumbnails and so on. At present like many others I have thousands of files I can't add to the media system.

One way I found around putting up some files I really wanted was to simply add them to the XF Resource system. With say an audio file or a PDF when the user clicks the download button in Resources and chooses Open from the options then shown by Windows then Windows will simply play the sound or the video or display the PDF and so on. Everything I have tried has worked fine that way. If the user chooses save they simply get a copy of the file to open or work with locally. This is just a work around but it is all I could think to do for now.

I'd love a much more advanced media system that handled all types of media and serious photo/media site needs like thumbnails. A pro version for twice the price or whatever would be fine by me.

Steve

 

[Chris D]

I don’t think we’ll ever be adding those media types to the gallery so you would likely be better off having a custom importer made by someone to have them imported into the Resource Manager.

 

[DragonFlames]

Chris,

That wouldn't really help. People all over the World want to share their media files and serious photographs, so we need a full professional looking media system and not just one that seems limited to really only properly handling square images well at present.

Just about all current cameras and phones and computers create media, almost none of it square. That may be audio clips, videos of various types and formats, PDF files, TXT files, DOC files, and of course photos of various types. Obviously all of those need to be catered for within a good media system that presents them and their thumbnails in the best way possible.

Even decades old Photopost that is talked of in this thread could handle just about all types of media and without needing all the conversions and delays and special server setups demanded by XFMG. The way they did everything seemed incredibly simple and I never have understood why XenForo has not attempted to have a fully fledged media system that uses similar methods.

If creating a professional type media system to handle all types of media isn't the aim at XF are their some packages made by others that can be bolted into XF that you can recommend?

One last thought - merging the resources software and the media software and adding a few small extra abilities would probably allow you to offer one high quality media system that handled just about anything and everything, if it was done right. People don't expect to have to go to a resources area for videos and PDF and sound files and so on, those are all media.

Steve

 

[Alpha1]

Audio is media and belongs in XFMG. Audio is supported for XFMG2. For XFMG1 I had an addon built to support Audio.
XenForo doesnt really have a File Management System suited for PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PTP, etc. You can abuse XFRM for it, but it falls short on a lot of points and as a result you can expect a significant drop in activity. But as it stands exporting to XFRM is the best option you have.

 

[VW Derf]

While I realize that many of us have different wants and needs for media system in Xenforo, I guess what escapes me is why a simple addition of a "Other Media" can't be added alongside "Image Options" and "Video Options". The "Other Media" would just bypass the extra processing done by the image and video section and be available for a download and show a stock thumbnail with the filetype in it. I'm sure there may be good reasons for that that I'm not aware of, but it still seems like a simple and easy to add option.

Chris,

People don't expect to have to go to a resources area for videos and PDF and sound files and so on, those are all media.

Steve

I totally agree with this statement. While many mention that XFRM is where these other file types should go, I agree it is a useful tool in many respects, but if one just wants to store a file for download its a bit of overkill and adds complication.

Audio is media and belongs in XFMG. Audio is supported for XFMG2. For XFMG1 I had an addon built to support Audio.
XenForo doesnt really have a File Management System suited for PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PTP, etc. You can abuse XFRM for it, but it falls short on a lot of points and as a result you can expect a significant drop in activity. But as it stands exporting to XFRM is the best option you have.

Perhaps Alpha1 has expressed what some of us are truly looking for in Xenforo? A media system that also works as a File Management System? I believe with effort XFRM could work for the PDFs, but as Alpha1 stated above the extra steps will lead to a drop off in use. To me that makes sense as there would extra steps to add that PDF file, search and eventually download. This is especially if there is a large volume of those files.

Again, just adding the "Other Media" tab seems simple to me. While probably not perfect, perhaps it would be enough.

Fred

 

[Chris D]

I agree it is a useful tool in many respects, but if one just wants to store a file for download its a bit of overkill and adds complication.

How is it overkill or complicated? The Resource Manager is specifically for storing files and making them available to download...

 

[VW Derf]

Hi Chris,

Perhaps I'm biased to the nice integration XMG has with posts. All the files that a user has uploaded in the past (and even ones that they want to upload when adding a post) are easy to get right on the page they are posting on. This then integrates into the message.

While this can be done as an attachment as well, the attachment is not easily shared or easily linkable and usable later on. To use XFRM, the user needs to go and upload a new resource first before making their post if I'm not mistaken.

If I'm mistaken on something above, please let me know.

 

[Alpha1]

The Resource Manager is specifically for storing files and making them available to download...

The Resource manager is essentially a software storage manager which has not received many enhancements. AFAIK it is not designed as a Documents & Downloads Management System. To give an impression, here are some features that I encountered in documents & download management systems for vbulletin:

• Item types: documents, sheets, slides, forms, tables
• Document embeds: Prezi, Google Docs, Office 360, scribd, GitHub, issuu, google books
• download bandwidth permission in mb per day
• file type permissions
• file type icons
• multiple files per download
• duplicates check
• validate files
• DOI
• Mimetype
• Downloads slider
• Category Image
• Import off site files
• download delay
• block leeching
• block/ban scrapers from downloading
• periodically check dead links
• periodically check broken files
• Agree to conditions for downloads
• bookmarks & favourites
• item fields related to authors and documents
• item fields search
• search file type
• document authors (not the uploader)
• document author pages
• similar documents
• off-site hosting
• profile widgets for favorite/bookmarked documents.
• batch update files
• mass import files
• mass upload files

As you see the XFRM is a long way from a document management system. The XFRM has functionality related to software hosting which can not be turned off. Like versioning, support URL, etc.
When suggesting documents hosting functionality for the XFRM it has been stated by XF staff that the XFRM is not intended or designed as such. Which is fair enough. This is also why the above functions are not posted as suggestions.

But if in your post above you seem to represent the XFRM for this purpose. Or am I misunderstanding you? IIRC I have seen similar posts before. This confuses me. Could you please elaborate on this?
Would it be useful to post suggestions for XFRM such as the above functionality?

 

[DragonFlames]

Audio is media and belongs in XFMG. Audio is supported for XFMG2. For XFMG1 I had an addon built to support Audio.
XenForo doesnt really have a File Management System suited for PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PTP, etc. You can abuse XFRM for it, but it falls short on a lot of points and as a result you can expect a significant drop in activity. But as it stands exporting to XFRM is the best option you have.

I put a few files into the resource system but have always felt they were hidden there. We have some great historical media items and it seems so sad not to be able to display them and have people find them on Google etc. as they could for decades. We used to get millions of file views per year on our previous system.

We haven't moved to v2 as I'm not aware of any gain for us from doing all the work involved. I can see others saying they are in the same boat on here.

To go with the great XenForo forum system we mainly need a powerful professional quality media handling system that has new features being constantly added. I can't really understand why that doesn't seem to be happening.

From way before the Internet we had great forum systems that handled all types of media superbly, they were called Bulletin Boards back then and it amazes me that they seemed to do so much more than many current systems. Those forum systems had everything from Calendars to displaying a very wide range of media and member maps and so on, and that was over 30 years ago.

I don't understand why people don't seem to want to make their millions by providing such systems these days. We used to pay higher prices for our software back then than we do now and I can only think that we need some much larger teams working on such things with the prices of these Pro software offerings set at a level to make it all highly profitable and worthwhile.

Personally I think the Internet is in its infancy and that there is a huge amount of money to be made developing new and better systems. Most of the major apps around at present seem to be little more than toys that people will get bored with down the line, the same as they did with the ones that were around before them, My Space, Friends Reunited, and so on.

Forums are a great way to keep in touch with everyone else in the World.. but they obviously need to have interesting things like calendars, quality full blown media systems and so on built in to create a fully fledged truly useful system. Without great abilities built in they have to start to be seen as dated and incomplete offerings.

The first person building constantly improving forum software that I can remember meeting was Jim Harrer the CEO at Wildcat! in the US. He went on to do all sorts of great things. Last I heard was that after running some major US firms he was now in charge of a team at Microsoft.

Steve