Module :: Gallery

Upcoming Gallery 03.02.05

Sun, 07 May 2006 09:00:00 GMT

The next gallery version needs to be talked about in public. I hope that with this communication it will ease some of the frustrations of the community who use this module. I also want to state at this time the next version wil require DotNetNuke Core 3.3 or 4.1 or greater. We are too much into this version to be able to back out of the dependancy on 3.3. The reason is the core file server/manager integration.

Gallery Version 03.20.05:

This will be released probably towards the end of June. (We have the DAL in vault) This release includes:

Changes/Additions:
A new DAL, replacing the exisitng xml structure.
Integration with core file server and file manager. (URLController, similar to documents module)
Simplification of the module, supporting only images for the time being.
Voting system enhanced
Comment system started, probably not implemented.
Removal of popup controls.

Future Release Roadmap:
Per User Community Gallery setup.
Friends/Buddies only sub albums.
Email notification system.
Client API slideshow, enhancements

It should also be noted that the gallery is going to simplify to not only make it easier to use, but to speed up development. We discussed the use cases of this module and considering the image module is now becoming the media module we needed to step back and think what people wanted the most. Our decision was that people wanted a true very functional picture gallery. In a sense, this new version will be a new backend and data layer but we are supporting upgrades from previous versions. This in itself is going to be a difficult task but we really needed to move in this direction for stability of the module. Its current structure does not adhere to the core as it really should, and we are correcting all of this with the next release.

Despite the slow pace of progress of this module over the past year, seeing how much we simplified it and how fast the DAL came together I feel this will no longer be the case. We are also going to consist of a full project team who knows the ins and outs of the entire module which will also speed things up.

Quick Notes

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 09:00:00 GMT

If you would like a full status report as to what is going on you may want to review my Forum blog with the same date. To add to it, Nestor has taken on the DAL setup for this module while I continue to push forward on other items currently on my plate. (As I said, see the forum blog for more details.) I will be getting together with Nes here in the next few days so we can discuss and hopefully get the team together as a whole on this major change.

Quick "In The Gallery Loop"

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 13:00:00 GMT

I received word from Tam and things are getting better with his current situation. However, Tam is still not available to us as a team therefore:

The DAL is in the planning phase w/ the team.

As a team we will collectively work on implementing the DAL to work as new, then work on migrating the existing data for upgrade scenarios.

We will test the module on both DotNetNuke versions currently the latest available at that time

We will release a beta

Overdue Update

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 10:00:00 GMT

I appologize to the gallery module project supporters, we have been waiting on an update from Tam and something personal has taken him away from us for now. We all wish him the best. Knowing this, we are forming a team meeting this week to update all of us on status and I will post some info from the meeting here after it happens.

What's Going On

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 13:00:00 GMT

Currently, we are not extremely active because we are waiting for Tam's DAL implementation. Tam has been working on this when he can and he and I have discussed it. We cannot dive into anything else until this is done because pretty much the entire module will now revolve around this. We thank those who are using the module for their patience and continued support. For me, this DAL implementation is the key to making hte module not only better, but easier to work on. I think this will get the team more involved again, plus we have Nes now.

My .NET Developers Journal Was Published

Fri, 30 Dec 2005 13:00:00 GMT

My .NET article was published here: http://br.sys-con.com/read/163749.htm

It is about this project.

Still Going

Wed, 28 Dec 2005 13:00:00 GMT

The best part of a module release is that you get feedback. I guess at times this is also the worst part about it. I have to say that even though you do get some pretty critical feedback, it is nothing compared to the verbal abuse you take when you go six months without a release :)

It should be known that getting the Gallery module to be running as smoothly as the forums module does is very important to me. If you have followed the progress of the forums module you should see there is definately a possibility of this becoming a great module soon.

With the holidays going on, not as many people are around. There is no difference with our project teams. Because of this and because of his commitment to DotNetNuke, Nestor Sanchez has been added to the project. Many of you probably know of him as hooligannes who is a moderator on asp.net forums now. Nestor is a welcomed addition to the team and has already been in communication with me on a regular basis. I think Nestor will not only improve the module in terms of being usable, but I also think he will contribute to faster release times. If you are a follower of this project, look for things to really start speeding up with this module early '06.

If you don't keep up with my Forum project blog, take a peek at: http://www.dotnetnuke.comhttp://www.dotnetnuke.com/Community/Blogs/tabid/825/EntryID/268/Default.aspx I have a couple of announcements in there.

Blog is back

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:00:00 GMT

I was unable to use the blog for 2 months because of a bug.

After reading through some of these comments, and having to delete one, I have no desire to write anything else.

The gallery project was released and the DAL for it is being worked on now, because there isn't one.

Gallery Status

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 13:00:00 GMT

I appologize for my brief absence but I have good reasons. I was sick for most of a week and then had to move. I just now got internet back at home and almost all my DNN development is done at home in my freetime.

Anyways, the Gallery module was about to release but we found a security problem. WIth me not being available until now, I haven't had a chance to fix it.

I will be looking to get this fixed ASAP now that I am back online.

Localization Testing Completed...

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 12:00:00 GMT

I received the test results from Sebastian and the results are I am going to live. Seriously, the localization test results don't look like much work we have to finish before release. He did mark a few things as bugs/questionable which will not be fixed for this release but I don't think most of you will ever notice what those things are. Not trying to pull one over on you guys, you just have to stop somewhere and push the release though. To judge we looked at what is critical and what will definately be getting worked on in the next release. These were the deciding factors in terms of what should be done. Anything that seemed trivial was also added to the 'to do' list just to get it done with. There is no real science to how we determine what is done, just seems to be common sense.

I think everything will be completed before the end of the weekend.