Solved Need help with manageing the media files/objects

Bonjour !

After several weeks away from my ancestors (don't ask !), I decided to gi another try to webtrees, since I very much like everything I saw. I dealt with my hosting company and tadaaaa ! It works ! I imported a GEDCOM of 1500+ individuals and all runs OK.

Well, not really all... I'm having trouble with media files and objects. I uploaded, for testing purposes, a dozen of JPEG pictures related to a specific ancestor, in a directory called webtrees/data/media/SMITH John (1863-1945). Then, on the page of John SMITH, I used the [Add new media object] link twice, to display a picture of him and a picture of his birth record. But I didn't specify a title for the pictures, so they are displayed with an horrible name, 6 miles long : SMITH John (1863-1945)/18630425 SMITH John - AN Ex. 1927. Not really sexy, and takes up a lot of space on the pages.

I didn't find any place to change the title of the picture. Did I look in the wrong places ?

Then, I tried to redo the upload :

1. Media management : delete the media
2. FTP : delete the files
3. Add the new media once again

But things are not going the way I'd like :

1. The pictures are on the server, in the right directory : webtrees/data/media/SMITH John (1863-1945)
2. Under the Media management page, they are displayed as « unused » (inutilisés, in French), but not anywhere else. Not local, not external.
3. On John SMITH's page, when I click on the link to add a new media, these 2 files are not displayed in the list of files to be added.

I would like some help, please :

1. to know how get these 2 files back in the list of files to be added,
2. to understand why these 2 files are only displayed in the unused files list, even where they were actually used (only with a crappy title)
3. to know how I can re-arrange a list of pictures in John SMITH's album and choose which peicture is the "default" one to be displayed at the top of the guy's page

And, by the way, what's the difference between a media file and a media object ?

All advice, suggestions, remarks and criticism will be more than welcome !

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope !

François
 

> And, by the way, what's the difference between a media file and a media object ?

A media file is something like the JPG file you uploaded to your server.

A media object is a record in your GEDCOM/genealogy that contains the filename, and also information about the file. Including things like a user-friendly title for it.

> I didn't find any place to change the title of the picture. Did I look in the wrong places ?

Go to the page of the media object. For example, there is a menu item for "Media list" where you can see all your media obects.

> Under the Media management page, they are displayed as « unused » (inutilisés, in French), but not anywhere else

An "unused media file" is one that isn't referenced by any media object.

Unused files are shown in a drop-down list when you go to create a new media object. (Or you get the option to upload a completely new file).

If you think the files are actually used, dispite being in this list, then you might have encountered a known bug.
Go to the family tree settings, and change the media folder from the default "media/" to "media2/" and click save. Now change it back and click save again.

> how I can re-arrange a list of pictures in John SMITH's album and choose which peicture is the "default" one to be displayed at the top of the guy's page

If the individual has more than one media object, then you'll have an option "re-order media objects" in the "edit" menu for the page. Move your prefered one to the top of the list.

Merci, I'll try all that at once !

F

OK, it seems that everything is starting to behave better !!

A media object is a record in your GEDCOM/genealogy that contains the filename, and also information about the file. Including things like a user-friendly title for it.

Well, the pathnames an filenames are not and cannot be the same on my local computer and on the server : my genealogy software runs on Wine on a Linux machine. If I put alle pictures in it, it will behave like the Titanic and eventually hit an iceberg. I only have small pics of the individuals, when available.

> I didn't find any place to change the title of the picture. Did I look in the wrong places ?

Go to the page of the media object. For example, there is a menu item for "Media list" where you can see all your media obects.

Done and OK !

> Under the Media management page, they are displayed as « unused » (inutilisés, in French), but not anywhere else

An "unused media file" is one that isn't referenced by any media object.

Unused files are shown in a drop-down list when you go to create a new media object. (Or you get the option to upload a completely new file).

OK, I'm back on the road !

> how I can re-arrange a list of pictures in John SMITH's album and choose which peicture is the "default" one to be displayed at the top of the guy's page

If the individual has more than one media object, then you'll have an option "re-order media objects" in the "edit" menu for the page. Move your prefered one to the top of the list.

Got it ! I'm sorry, I didn't look hard enough !

Thanks for everything !

François

> the pathnames an filenames are not and cannot be the same on my local computer and on the server

If you put the files in folder data/media of webtrees, then the media object will contain a simple file name without path, and thus it all should be portable.