Album templates

dougc · 2016-10-20 00:25:15

Is it possible to change all of the album templates under a given Album Set at once or does it need to be done one album at a time?

rod barbee · 2016-10-20 00:28:28

Album templates are individual. So if you need to change them, you need to do so one at a time.

But I'm not sure I'm clear on what you're asking. Do you have albums using different album templates? If so, then yes, you'll need to change each template.
But if your albums are using the same template, then changing that one template will change all the albums using that template.

Matthew · 2016-10-20 01:10:11

If you delete the template, you can switch all albums using that template to a new one in a single command. On deleting the template, you will be prompted to reassign your albums. If you want to keep the old template around, then just clone it first. So, for that process ...

... Have the old template.

... Prepare a new template.

... Click the name of the old template in the template list to access the actions menu.

... Clone the template; name it "[Something] Backup".

... Delete the template.

... When asked, reassign the template's albums to use your new template.

All done.

dougc · 2016-10-20 01:11:18

Thanks Rod. I suspected that was the answer. Just wishful thinking on my part!

I did the CE4 to Backlight migration on my web site and all went well. I suppose with better planning I could have forced my preferred template to have been the one used by the migration utility (maybe by renaming my template to "Standard Album Template"?), but since I have two different album templates (I changed my format some time ago, so I have an older and newer album format), I would have needed to change about half my album templates manually in any case.

Maybe it would be possible for Ben to change the migration utility so that users wanting to migrate from CE4 to Backlight could choose the Album Set and Album templates they would like to use in the migration.

Doug

rod barbee · 2016-10-20 01:24:26

Matthew wrote:

If you delete the template, you can switch all albums using that template to a new one in a single command.

Oooh. I forgot about that gem.

dougc · 2016-10-20 03:08:44

Thank you Matt! That significantly reduced my work load. I think the site is almost ready for prime time.

Ben · 2016-10-20 05:27:14

We have a page for assigning templates for all albums and sets.
Visit Backlight > Publisher > Top-Level Galleries, then click on Albums followed by Assign Templates.

Matthew · 2016-10-20 11:38:59

Ben wrote:

We have a page for assigning templates for all albums and sets.
Visit Backlight > Publisher > Top-Level Galleries, then click on Albums followed by Assign Templates.

You see, Ben hides gems even I don't know about ... =P

Ben · 2016-10-20 12:37:19

Matthew wrote:

You see, Ben hides gems even I don't know about ... =P

"It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'."
- Douglas Adams

Seriously though, this is covered at the end of the page on CE4 to Backlight album migration: http://backlight.theturninggate.net/doc … _backlight

Daniel Leu · 2016-10-20 16:05:48

Ben wrote:

We have a page for assigning templates for all albums and sets.
Visit Backlight > Publisher > Top-Level Galleries, then click on Albums followed by Assign Templates.

I used this in the past... but the moment I wanted to publish, I first had to open the Album Settings in order to avoid a publisher error message. Don't remember what it said.

Ben · 2016-10-20 16:21:05

Hi Daniel, was that a while back? The assigned template propagates to the album in Publisher when edited.

The previous behaviour was to use the template assigned in LR, which as you found could have been the old template if the album wasn't edited after reassignment on the server. I changed it a while ago to instead use the template in the database on the server.

Daniel Leu · 2016-10-20 23:51:32

Ben wrote:

Hi Daniel, was that a while back? The assigned template propagates to the album in Publisher when edited.
The previous behaviour was to use the template assigned in LR, which as you found could have been the old template if the album wasn't edited after reassignment on the server. I changed it a while ago to instead use the template in the database on the server.

Hi Ben,

Not that long ago. I noticed it when I migrated my site over to Background with Publisher 3.0.5.

dougc · 2016-10-21 03:01:29

Hi Ben, et al,

I did follow Matt's suggestion (clone, rename, delete, reassign...). The template to which I reassigned did propagate through in LR to all of my albums. However, when I tried to republish the photos (with the upload metadata only switch set in Publisher) in order to get my photo captions to show, I received an error message about not finding the template. Sorry, I did not take note of the specific wording of this error message. I think this is probably the same error message than Daniel mentions above.

To resolve this error, I found I needed to right click every album, select Edit Album... (my new, correct, template did already show), then just click Edit to close the dialogue box. My process was to do this for every album in an Album Set, select the Album Set, then choose select all for the photos in the Album Set, then select Mark to Publish, then click Publish. The republishing then proceeded without error and my metadata seemed to propagate successfully.

Even though my site has 35 Album Sets, 289 Albums, and more than 15,000 photos, this entire process only took a couple of hours.

Overall, from when I purchased and downloaded Backlight, Pages, and Theatre, it took me about two weeks to completely roll my site from CE4 to Backlight, probably spending no more than a couple of hours a day. This was, in my opinion, a very easy transition, especially compared to going from CE3 to CE4, for example. So far I am delighted with the power and ease of using Backlight, Pages, and Theatre. When I've made a few more tweaks, I may post a link to my site on the Backlight Showroom forum. However, I feel like my site should not be viewed in the same context as the beautiful sites of Daniel Leu, Jon Evans, Tom Owens, and others, including, of course, Rod Barbee's.

Thanks for all the help I have received on this forum. It made this transition relatively easy and fun for me.

Doug

Ben · 2016-10-21 09:11:08

Hi Doug and Daniel,

I've found a flaw in the logic that I am a bit annoyed about. Publisher has code to work around this very scenario. The logic should be that if the template name passed from publisher is a number, to use that (a numeric template identifier indicates this is most likely a Backlight template). Otherwise, use the template stored in the database. The flaw is that my code checked that if the template name *contained* a number then use that. Based on that, if your CE4 template was named like "my-template", then this error shouldn't have arisen. If it was named like "my-template2" then it would have failed.

(The template from the database can not be universally used, as there are other scenarios in which the numeric template set in Lightroom is correct and different from that stored in the database).

Did your CE4 templates contain numbers within the names?

You shouldn't have needed to have made all of those manual changes.

Ben

dougc · 2016-10-21 14:21:30

Ben,

Thanks for taking the time to explain what went "wrong" with my migration from CE4 to Backlight, requiring me to spend a bit more time to get my site the way I wanted it. Yes, my CE4 (and my Backlight) templates contain numbers. I am in the habit of preceding names (names of templates, albums, etc.) with numbers, typically 00-..., 01-..., etc. I find this particularly helpful in Lightroom with Album names because I can force the Albums to appear in my desired order online by naming them sequentially 01-..., 02-... , etc., then sorting by the slug in Lightroom.

For example, if you look at my Album Set for our trip to Australia in 2008 ( http://collinsnet.us/galleries/travel/2 … australia/ ), the albums are in the order in which we visited the various cities or regions of your country. Maybe that is not the best way to do it, but it works for me. By the way, we had a wonderful trip. My wife and I loved Australia and the Australians we met were wonderful and welcoming!

In any case, I hope my and Daniel's experiences were helpful in your troubleshooting of the problem, and I want you to know that I very much appreciate the help you have given me over the years for all of the TTG Publisher versions I have used. I think I started with the very first TTG software for Lightroom and have used every version since then. In spite of this particular glitch, this has been the easiest transition yet. I think what Matt and you do is amazing, especially considering you must work within the constraints of Lightroom. I am also very grateful for all of the help Rod has given me over the years. It seems to me that at least one of you is awake and monitoring the forum 24 hours a day!

Thank you!

Doug

Daniel Leu · 2016-10-21 14:38:21

Ben wrote:

Hi Doug and Daniel,
Did your CE4 templates contain numbers within the names?
You shouldn't have needed to have made all of those manual changes.
Ben

Yes, the template name was gallery-2015. This wasn't a big deal and I didn't even consider it to be a bug. Otherwise I would have notified you.

Matthew · 2016-10-21 16:42:18

Thanks, Doug! Geography and Rod's generosity are advantageous in covering the forum; when Ben and I are asleep in our part of the world, Rod is usually awake and helping us out tremendously. Daniel and others as well. We're immensely fortunate to have such a wonderful little community here.

markh · 2016-10-21 19:51:41

Ditto on Matt's comment! Best forum on Earth and the other planets.

admint · 2016-10-22 03:56:14

I also have to give credit to the wonderful support here. Great job

Community @ The Turning Gate

#1 2016-10-20 00:25:15

Album templates

#2 2016-10-20 00:28:28

Re: Album templates

#3 2016-10-20 01:10:11

Re: Album templates

#4 2016-10-20 01:11:18

Re: Album templates

#5 2016-10-20 01:24:26

Re: Album templates

#6 2016-10-20 03:08:44

Re: Album templates

#7 2016-10-20 05:27:14

Re: Album templates

#8 2016-10-20 11:38:59

Re: Album templates

#9 2016-10-20 12:37:19

Re: Album templates

#10 2016-10-20 16:05:48

Re: Album templates

#11 2016-10-20 16:21:05

Re: Album templates

#12 2016-10-20 23:51:32

Re: Album templates

#13 2016-10-21 03:01:29

Re: Album templates

#14 2016-10-21 09:11:08

Re: Album templates

#15 2016-10-21 14:21:30

Re: Album templates

#16 2016-10-21 14:38:21

Re: Album templates

#17 2016-10-21 16:42:18

Re: Album templates

#18 2016-10-21 19:51:41

Re: Album templates

#19 2016-10-22 03:56:14

Re: Album templates

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