Welcome to the svManager Support Home Page. This guide will show you how to install the program, how to use it and what to do if you have problems.
If you have a question about using svManager, please check the FAQ first. Chances are your question has already been answered.
svManager is supported via an online forum. Before posting a new question, please search the forum to see if your question has already been answered.
The version history shows the current version and which features have been added in each version. If you already have a copy of svManager, you can see the version number at the lower left corner of the Admin screen.
Sections of this manual that refer to earlier versions of svManager are shown in grey. If you are running the latest version then you can ignore these. If you are not running the latest version then why not upgrade?
svManager supports:
Most servers running PHP will meet these requirements. To check your server capabilities, install and run the svManager Server Compatibility Test which is available free from SimpleViewer.net.
Most modern web browsers will meet these requirements
Everything you need to run svManager is contained within one folder named svmanager. You can change the name of this folder if you wish.
Upload the folder to your web site. You can choose any location on the server that is accessible to a web browser. If in doubt, upload the svmanager folder as a subdirectory of the highest level directory accessible from the web: the web root.
If you choose to rename the svmanager folder then be careful about choosing the name. You should use only characters suitable for web addresses - alphabetic characters, numeric characters, hyphen, underscore and dot. Note that spaces are not recommended.
SvManager should always be installed in its own folder. It is not recommended to copy all the svManager files into the web root.
Once svManager is installed and you have created some galleries, then it’s not quite so simple to rename or move the svmanager folder. See the advanced section for how to do it.
Examples in this manual will assume that your site address is www.mysite.com and that you have uploaded the svmanager folder to the web root directory of your site. You will then be able to access your gallery index from your web browser as:
http://www.mysite.com/svmanager/
or you can go straight to svManager with:
http://www.mysite.com/svmanager/svmanager.php
After you have created your first gallery, it will have the address:
http://www.mysite.com/svmanager/g1
You will be able to change the gallery address after you create it.
If you are having problems using svManager in your browser:
The version number and build date of your current version of svManager can be found at the lower left corner of the Admin screen. To see what new features have been added in later versions, see the version history.
SvManager and the gallery software work together. The latest version of svManager is compatible with the current version of SimpleViewer and also with older versions. If you are upgrading your galleries from an earlier version of SimpleViewer or SimpleViewer Pro, then it’s usually best to upgrade svManager first. This will ensure that you have a version of svManager with support for the new features in SimpleViewer.
To upgrade from an earlier version of svManager:
Point your browser to http://www.mysite.com/svmanager and follow the Admin sign-in link. Alternatively, you can go directly to the sign-in screen with http://www.mysite.com/svmanager/svmanager.php. The user name is admin and the pasword is also admin. After logging-in, you will be taken to the galleries screen and there will be a reminder to change your password.
Before doing anything else, you should change your password. Go to the Admin screen and enter your current password and a new user name and password. User names can be any length (or even just a blank - so do not leave the user name entry blank unless you mean it). Passwords must be at least 5 characters long. A mix of upper and lower case characters and numbers makes for a good secure password. It is more secure to choose a different password to any others that you already use on your server, for instance your ftp password.
SvManager is basically a single-user program. If you intend to give other people access to it (for instance, your client) then you should read the section on multi-user operation in the advanced section of the manual.
Choose the kind of gallery you want to create from the drop-down list and click the Create New Gallery button. You will be taken to the edit/customize screen where you can change the name, and appearance of your new gallery.
SvManager remembers the type of gallery you created most recently and sets it as the default in the drop-down list.
New SimpleViewer galleries will default to SimpleViewer 2. If you need to create the older SimpleViewer 1.9 galleries then please see the the advanced section of the manual.
Each gallery is assigned a unique reference number when it is created. The numbers are used by svManager to identify the gallery. The numbers also serve as a record of the order in which you created your galleries. If you unlist a gallery (see below) then its reference number will be deleted and will not be re-used, so it is quite usual to see gaps in the sequence of numbers.
Selecting the title has the same effect as selecting Edit
Takes you to the edit/customize screen for an existing gallery.
Takes you to your gallery. The gallery will open in a new window or a new tab, depending on your browser settings. In most browsers, the gallery window will automatically come to the front of other windows but some browsers do not support this feature and you will need to click on the new window or tab to bring it forward.
This feature allows you to clone new galleries from existing ones. The cloned gallery will look just like its ‘parent’ but will have no images of its own until you upload some new ones. Clone works by first creating a new gallery of the same type as the parent and then copying the settings from the parent xml file.
This is a recovery feature in case any of your files has been accidentally deleted or corrupted. If your gallery is in good shape then it will have no effect. It may sometimes be necessary to rebuild your galleries after an upgrade to svManager in order to take advantage of new features. It is also useful if you have added or deleted any images via ftp rather than using the svManager uploader.
Rebuild does the following:
svManager will remove the gallery from the list and forget about it. It will not delete the gallery from your server. You can re-import the gallery later if you wish.
Before you unlist the gallery, then make a note of the gallery folder name in case you wish to re-import it or delete it altogether.
Unlist will also attempt to change the file permissions to make editing easier on some servers. Advanced users who wish to edit the gallery xml file manually are advised to unlist the gallery first, carry-out the edits, test that the gallery is working properly and then re-import into svManager.
If you are sure that you have no further use for the gallery then make a note of the gallery folder name, Unlist the gallery using the svManager galleries screen and then delete the folder and contents from the server using ftp or your file management program.
Some earlier versions of svManager had a gallery delete option. This has been superseded by Unlist and you should use Unlist as above.
By default, the galleries are listed in the order of their reference number, oldest first, shown by a small triangle symbol next to the column heading. Click on the No. column heading to reverse the sort order. Click on one of the other column headings for Gallery Title or Type to sort by title or type. Click again on the heading to reverse the sort order. The setting will be remembered until you change it. Changes in the sort order of the galleries listing will also affect the automatic galleries index page.
You can change the appearance of your gallery here. Click the update button to confirm your changes. To cancel any unsaved changes, simply navigate away from the screen – you will be asked to confirm that you do not wish to save your changes.
Some gallery types display the title, others do not – but you should still set a title to help you keep track of your galleries inside svManager.
The following html tags are allowed:
<a> <b> <i> <u> <font> <br />
Example: A <b>really great</b> gallery by <br />Me
Note for experienced users: there is no need for any special syntax here. svManager will convert the html tags to a form acceptable by SimpleViewer.
Several color settings can be changed using the color picker. The color-picker pops-up when you click or tab into a color entry field in the form and it disappears again when you move to one of the non-color entry fields or click the close-box. If you prefer, you can enter a 6-character hexadecimal color number. You should not prefix the number with # or 0x and the prefix will be removed if you do. If the number you type-in is less than six characters or is not a valid hexadecimal color code then your entry will appear in red.
Example: enter 00FF00 for a bright green color.
See the gallery support pages on SimpleViewer.net and Juicebox.net for detailed information on individual gallery configuration settings.
Click on the advanced tab at the bottom of the customize screen to reveal the advanced settings. Most people will not need to use these. The advanced settings contain some powerful features; you are advised to back-up your gallery before using the advanced options.
The path from web root is the address of your gallery relative to the web root. If the web address of your gallery is http://www.mysite.com/svmanager/g1/ then the path from the web root is /svmanager/g1/
The path can be changed to give your gallery a new folder name or even move it to another folder on the server.
You are advised to backup your gallery before moving it.
The last part of the path from the web root is the gallery folder name, that is the name of the folder or directory containing your gallery. The gallery folders are initially named g1, g2 etc. You can change the gallery folder name in the advanced settings as long as you observe two rules:
Example: you can change /svmanager/g1/ to /svmanager/sporting-shots/
Changing the gallery folder name has no effect on the gallery title that shows when you view your gallery in SimpleViewer.
It is also possible to move the whole gallery on the server, simply by changing the Path from the web root entry in the advanced section of the customize screen. This is a powerful procedure and should be used with caution. Backup your gallery before moving it.
Example:
You can change /svmanager/sporting-shots to /othergalleries/sporting-shots
In order for this to work:
In versions of svManager earlier than v1.4.0, all image and thumbnail files must be inside the gallery folder to be moved and must be named images and thumbs respectively. If you are running a version of svManager earlier than 1.4.0 and have any galleries with image or thumbnail files outside the gallery folder then svManager will not be able to move the external files. In this case, you are advised to unlist the gallery from svManager, move it by ftp, edit the gallery.xml file if necessary and re-import it into svManager.
The paths to the image and thumbnail files are stored in the gallery.xml file. They are usually stored as relative paths in the form 'images/myphoto.jpg'. Relative paths are usually the best choice. In some circumstances, such as when embedding the gallery in a content management system, you may prefer to use absolute paths (/svmanager/g1/images/myphoto.jpg) or http urls (http://www.myserver.com/svmanager/g1/images/myphoto.jpg. Select the type of path with the radio button. If in any doubt use relative paths.
SimpleViewer 2 and Juicebox have additional advanced options. Overall gallery width and height can be set as a number followed by a percent size (default 100%) or a plain number for a fixed size in pixels.
Deselecting the 'Use Flash' checkbox in SimpleViewer 2 will force the browser to show the mobile version of the gallery. This is probably most useful for testing how your gallery will look on a mobile device such as an iPad or smartphone.
The Pro Screen allows you to change the additional options available in Juicebox Pro, SimpleViewer Pro and TiltViewer Pro. For instructions on how to install the pro viewers see Using svManager with a Pro Viewer in this manual. The Juicebox Pro and SimpleViewer Pro screens are divided into sections, click on the header to reveal each section. Pressing any of the Update all buttons will save changes in all sections.
For more information on the Pro options see the individual gallery support pages on Juicebox.net and SimpleViewer.net
The Add images screen allows you to upload jpeg (.jpg), png or gif images to your gallery and create thumbnail images automatically. A new html5 uploader was introduced in svManager version 1.8.6. Users of older versions are recommended to upgrade.
The features available in the uploader depend on the browser and are listed on the right of the upload screen. If you do not see the feature you want, for instance drag and drop or support for large images then try another browser.
Thumbnails will be created by svManager and stored inside your gallery folder.
It is possible that a compressed jpeg image will be small enough to upload but too large for your server memory allocation once it is expanded to its full size. In this case, svManager will give you a message to say that the thumbnail for this image cannot be created. The images screen and (in the case of SimpleViewer galleries) the gallery itself will show a cross image instead of the thumbnail but everything else should be ok. See the advanced section of the manual for more information.
Versions of svManager prior to 1.8.6 used a java uploader. When you visit the screen for the first time, you will be asked to confirm that you want to use the embedded Java Applet. The uploader supports drag and drop on Windows computers and copy and paste on Macintosh. To use copy and paste first copy the images to the clipboard. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) inside the file box on the left of the svManager Add images screen. A Paste button will pop up. Click the button. Images can also be added and removed with the uploader buttons. The maximum upload limit is set by your server. See the advanced section of the manual for more information. When you have finished adding files to your upload list, press upload and wait for the upload to complete. A progress bar is shown and when the upload is finished the screen will reload and show an empty upload list. On slow servers you may have to wait a few moments for the page to reload.
Juicebox, TiltViewer and SimpleViewer 2 give you the option of storing your images on Flickr. If all your images are stored on Flickr, there is no need to upload them again to svManager. However, if you are using the automatic gallery index page generated by svManager then you can upload one image for each gallery to provide a thumbnail for the index page.
Image resizing can be turned on or off with the link on the upload screen. Turn resizing on or off before adding your images to the uploader. The setting is remembered for the duration of the browser session and then reset to off. Images are resized to fit the maximum image size settings on the customize screen. The frame width is taken into account. Small images are uploaded without resizing. The image resizing takes place in the browser before upload.
If your TiltViewer gallery shows overlapping images or if you are having problems with browser memory then check that the image size setting in the customize screen corresponds to the actual size of the images. Or use the resize before upload option and the images will be correctly sized for you.
The images screen has options for editing image data such as captions and for deleting images. Your changes will not be permanent until you press the Update button.
The image sizes are given as (width x height) in pixels under the file name.
Titles, captions, descriptions and url links (if supported by the gallery type) can be added or changed one at a time by entering text in the box to the right of the thumbnail image. There is no need to select the checkbox. The checkbox is used in conjunction with the Set button to set several items at once (see next section).
There are two special codes that can be entered into titles, captions and descriptions:
{count} is translated into a sequential number when you press the update button
{file} is translated into the image file name.
These two codes are most useful in combination with the Set button explained in the next section. They must be entered exactly as shown between two brace characters in lower case without spaces.
The image data will be saved when you press the update button.
The Set button copies everything in the bottom text box to all selected items, overwriting anything that is already there. So, for instance:
Juicebox support most html tags. Other viewers are more restricted and if the tag is not allowed then svManager will remove it. See SimpleViewer.net for supported tags or just try it and see.
There is no need for any special syntax when entering html code. Simply type-in your html tags and svManager will convert them to a form acceptable by the viewer.
Select the checkboxes for the images that you want to delete and click the update button
The default sort is drag and drop - just drag the thumbnails around and press the update button to save the sort order.
If you choose one of the other sort order options from the drop-down list then this will override the drag and drop sort.
Your sort order will be remembered until you change it again.
The first image will be used as a thumbnail for the gallery in the automatic galleries index page. Do not use the browser back button to get back from the galleries index to the sort screen or it is possible that your galleries will be sorted twice – use the link at the top right of the galleries index instead.
The sort screen operates on images stored on your server. It has no effect on images stored on Flickr.
The import facility is provided for people who already have galleries installed on their web site and would like to manage them using svManager. Import adds an existing gallery to the svManager gallery list but does not move the gallery itself, so any existing hypertext links will continue to work. However see the note on added files below if you want to have full control of your gallery from svManager.
It is good practice to make a backup copy of your gallery before importing it to svManager. In any case, svManager will backup your gallery.xml or config.xml file during the import process - see section on added files below.
svManager will not recognise some older gallery versions. If you have older galleries then you will need to upgrade them to the latest version first or simple create them again using svManager.
Enter the path of the gallery that you want to import and press the input button. The path should be relative to the web root.
Example: if you want to import the gallery at http://www.mysite.com/galleries/landscapes/ then the path is /galleries/landscapes/
The svManager program must have read and write permissions for the gallery folder to be imported and its contents.
If you are using the automatic index page then a link to the new index.php file for your imported gallery will be added automatically.
There are sample galleries inside the svManager folder that you can use to test-out the import facility. You will find them at:
svmanager/avsamplegallery/
svmanager/jbsamplegallery/
svmanager/pvsamplegallery/
svmanager/svsamplegallery/
svmanager/tvsamplegallery/
The import program backs-up your existing gallery.xml or config.xml file to a new file named gallerysvmbak.xml in the same folder. If gallerysvmback.xml already exists it will be overwritten.
Juicebox and SimpleViewer galleries will already have a thumbs folder. For other galleries, import will attempt to create a new folder: thumbs inside the gallery folder. If this folder cannot be created then the gallery will not be imported.
The import program adds two more files to your gallery folder: preferences.txt and index.php. If these files already exist they will not be overwritten.
preferences.txt is used to store…you guessed it…your preferences for the gallery, such as thumbnail sort order.
index.php is a replacement for your existing index file - typically index.htm or index.html. If you have your own web site navigation links, then you should change your hypertext links to go to the new index.php file rather than the old index.htm or index.html. Note that if a hypertext link points to the folder containing an index file, rather than the index file itself, then most servers will give priority to index.html or index.htm before index.php. If you continue to use the old .htm or .html files then some of the settings in the customize screen will have no effect on the appearance of your gallery.
The file index.php in the main svmanager folder automatically generates an index for your galleries. The thumbnails are created from the first image in your current sort-order. To change the thumbnail, change the sort order in the sort screen. If your gallery does not have any images then a thumbnail showing an ‘X’ will be shown. If you have recently upgraded from a version of svManager earlier than 1.2.0 then you may need to go to one of the edit screens for each gallery and press the Update button to see the thumbnails.
When you change sort order, the new thumbnail may not show immediately because of cacheing in your browser (or occasionally in your server). Clear the browser cache and reload the page.
The automatic index is provided for your convenience - you can remove it if you have no use for it without affecting the operation of svManager. Keep a back-up in case you change your mind.
You can change the appearance of the index page by editing the source code and the size of the thumbnails can be set in the constants file (see the entry in Advanced Topics).
Juicebox, TiltViewer and SimpleViewer users who store their images on Flicker can upload one image on the upload screen. This will provide a thumbnail for the galleries index.
The easiest way to show a number of galleries in your web site is simply to create a link from your home page or from your navigation system to the automatic index page provided by svManager.
You should back-up your galleries regularly. To backup, copy the whole svmanager folder to a safe location.
[Please note that customizing some of the Pro viewers requires Adobe Flash authoring software. Check the Pro requirements for your viewer type.]
Note that the locations of the master files are not the same in some earlier versions of svManager. Upgrade to the latest version of svManager before you upgrade the Pro Viewer.
The clone feature offers a more convenient workflow, particularly for Juicebox Pro and SimpleViewer Pro users. Clone will create a new gallery with no images and then copy the settings in the gallery.xml file from the parent into the clone. Note that it is the xml settings that are being cloned. The clone will take any other files it needs from the appropriate master copy inside the plugins folder, not from the parent. In most cases the master files will be the same as the parent files unless you have edited them since you created the parent gallery.
It is possible to set all the Juicebox and SimpleViewer 2 pro options in svManager but if you are designing a gallery from scratch, you will probably find it more convenient to do the initial design work in JuiceboxBuilder or svBuilder on your local computer. You can then use svManager to clone the gallery and tweak the settings on the server without needing to go back to the builder.
Twan van Landschoot has written a tutorial on how he achieved seamless integration of svManager and a WordPress theme. Some technical familiarity with WordPress is assumed.
svManager is designed to be easy to use for people with limited technical knowledge. If you are in this category then you probably don’t need to read this section. Advanced users who are familiar with file paths, html, css and possibly php should read on…
Whenever more than one person is updating a web site or any kind of computer code there is scope for confusion and in rare case on some servers it is possible for files to become corrupted. A few simple precautions will keep you out of trouble. Consider for example the scenario where you create an svManager installation for your client:
The latest html5 uploader will attempt to upload large images by breaking them into chunks and reassembling on the server. If this is not supported on your browser or if you are using the older java uploader then a file size limit will be displayed. The limit is calculated from the values of two configuration directives in the php.ini file on your server: post_max_size and upload_max_filesize. The memory limit is the lesser of these two values.
A new version of php was released in December 2009 with a new way for the server to limit the number of files uploaded at one time. This is set in the php.ini file by max_file_uploads and the default setting is 20 files at one time. Some other security features on your server such as Suhosin may limit the number of files in a single upload.
If you have access to the php.ini file then you can increase the values of these directives or you can ask your web host to change them for you. If you are changing them substantially then you may also want to increase the value of max_execution_time and max_input_time to prevent your script from timing-out before it hits the maximum file size limit. Time-out errors will show as a server error during the upload process and the upload will be cancelled.
SimpleViewer had a major rewrite between versions 1.9 and 2.0. Support for both gallery types was added in svManager version 1.6.0. The default is for svManager to create SimpleViewer 2 galleries. If you need to create the older-style v1.9 galleries then edit the file svmanager/plugins/simpleviewer/settings.php and locate the line:
define('SV_CREATE_NEW', false);
Change this to:
define('SV_CREATE_NEW', true);
An additional option for SV1 will appear in the drop-down list in the svManager galleries screen.
If you are using the option to generate automatic caption links but you don’t want the captions to be underlined in SimpleViewer then edit the file svmanager/plugins/simpleviewer/settings.php and locate the line:
define('SV_UNDERLINE_CAPTION_LINKS', true);
Change this to:
define('SV_UNDERLINE_CAPTION_LINKS', false);
If you are using the option to generate automatic caption links but you don’t want the captions to be underlined in SimpleViewer then edit the file svmanager/includes constants.php and locate the line:
define('UNDERLINE_CAPTION_LINKS', true);
Change this to:
define('UNDERLINE_CAPTION_LINKS', false);
SvManager always creates the largest crop from each image to create the thumbnail. You may wish to create your own thumbnails so you can define the crop. Create the thumbnails in an image editing application such as Adobe PhotoShop and upload them to the thumbs folder inside your gallery folder. Each thumbnail must have the same file name as the corresponding image.
By default, new thumbnails will be created when you use the gallery rebuild option. Since svManager version 1.2.0, this can be changed. If you do not wish your custom thumbnails to be overwritten on rebuild then edit the file svmanager/includes/constants.php and locate the line:
define('OVERWRITE_THUMBNAILS', true);
Change this to:
define('OVERWRITE_THUMBNAILS', false);
Developers who are setting-up galleries for their clients may wish to hide some of the features of svManager. Since version 1.2.0, a custom style sheet has been provided for this purpose. Edit the file svmanager/custom.css. By default, this style sheet does nothing since all the content is commented-out. To hide part of svManager, remove the comments /* and */. For instance, to hide the Unlist link on the galleries page locate the line:
#actionunlist {
/* display: none; */
}
and change to:
#actionunlist {
display: none;
}
The Unlist link will still exist in the html code but will not show on-screen. Replace the comments and the link will reappear.
If you want to embed the gallery in your own web page then the easiest way is to use an html <iframe> tag
Create the gallery first in svManager and note the name of the gallery folder, say g1. Create an html web page to your own design and insert an iframe tag at the point where you want the gallery to appear. Set the src attribute of the iframe to be the relative url from your web page to the index.php file inside the gallery folder. Set the width and height attributes in pixels to suit your page design. The iframe code will look something like this:
<iframe src="svmanager/g1/index.php" width="800" height="600" frameborder="0" scrolling="no">You can put a message here which will show in a browser with no iframe support.</iframe>
See this example page for an illustration of the technique in action.
The file svmanager/index.php provides an automatic index to your galleries. Links to new and imported galleries will be added automatically. The visual design is deliberately simple so you can edit it to your own requirements.
Since svManager 1.6 it is possible to change the size of the thumbnails. Edit the file svmanager/includes/constants.php and find the following lines:
define('INDEX_THUMB_WIDTH', 65);
define('INDEX_THUMB_HEIGHT', 65);
Change them to the height and width in pixels that you require.
You can also change the number of columns of thumbnails. Look at the source code of svmanager/index.php in a text editor (not from a browser) and you will see a basic html and css layout with several short section of php code, identifiable by their php start and end tags <?php...?>. The default setting is for the php to generate an html table with two columns. You can change the number of columns by editing the following line:
$columns = 2;
If you set the number of columns to zero then instead of a table, the program will generate a series of divs - useful for css layouts.
To make other changes to the appearance of the page you will need some knowledge of html and css. You can change any of the html or css outside the blocks of php code. The generated html is provided with css ids and classes so you have a lot of control over appearance. Look at the page with the view source option from your browser and you will see the generated html with its ids and classes.
You could also copy and paste the php code into your own page - you will need to give it a .php file suffix.
If you move the automatic galleries index file outside the svmanager folder, you must edit the following line in the index.php file:
$pathToManager = '';
Set the $pathToManager variable as the relative path from your gallery index file to svmanager. For instance, if your gallery index url is http://www.mysite.com/index.php and the url for svManager is http://www.mysite.com/galleries/svmanager, then change the code as follows:
$pathToManager = 'galleries/svmanager';
You will also need to tell svManager where to find your index file. Edit the file svmanager/includes/constants.php and locate the line:
define('INDEX_URL', 'index.php');
Change this to the url for your index file. For instance:
define('INDEX_URL', 'http://www.mysite.com/index.php');
You can also use relative or absolute links here, for instance '../../index.php' or '/index.php'.
With svManager there is usually no need to edit the gallery.xml file or the config.xml file manually. However, if you have a special requirement that cannot be handled by svManager then instructions for editing the xml file can be found via the SimpleViewer.net support home or Juicebox support pages.
The recommended procedure for galleries that are being managed by svManager is as follows:
The paths to the images and thumbnails folders are stored in the gallery.xml or config.xml file. By default, when svManager creates a new gallery, the xml file will contain paths that are relative to the svmanager folder. This is usually the best and simplest option.
Since svManager 1.7.1 there is an option in the Customize screen advanced section to change the type of paths
In earlier versions of svManager if you need to create galleries with absolute paths then you can change a setting in the settings.php file which is located in svmanager/plugins/simpleviewer or in svmanager/plugins/tiltviewer or the corresponding folders for the other gallery types.
For SimpleViewer, locate the line:
define('SV_PATH_SCHEME', '');
and change this to the url or web root path to your svmanager folder, for instance:
define('SV_PATH_SCHEME', 'http://www.mysite.com/svmanager/');
(note the upper-case letters and the trailing slash)
or
define(SV_PATH_SCHEME',
'/svmanager/');
(note the upper-case letters and leading and trailing slash)
The procedure for other gallery types is similar except that the path scheme constant has a different name, e.g. TV_PATH_SCHEME.
Since version 1.5.2, the paths will be updated immediately you log into svManager and choose the Edit option for a gallery. In earlier versions the paths will only be updated for new galleries and when you move a gallery using the customize screen.
It is possible to move galleries on the server by changing the gallery path in the svManager customize screen. You should always back-up your gallery before moving it.
All galleries created by svManager place the image and thumbnail files inside the gallery folder and name the folders images and thumbs respectively. This will not necessarily be the case for galleries that you have created yourself and imported into svManager.
SvManager versions 1.4.0 and later are able to move galleries even if the image and thumbnail files are not inside the gallery. If you have a version of svManager earlier than 1.4.0, then do not use svManager to move galleries with external image or thumbnail files. Instead, you are advised to use the Unlist option on the galleries screen to remove the gallery from svManager, move it by ftp, edit the gallery.xml file if necessary and re-import it into svManager.
Do not simply rename or move the whole svmanager installation on your server. This is how to do it safely:
If you are creating a lot of similar galleries then you can clone them from an existing gallery (svManager 1.6.2 and later) or you can change the default settings that appear on the customize page when you create a new gallery.
Since svManager version 1.3, default settings for individual gallery types are stored within the plugins folder, for example in svmanager/plugins/tiltviewer/settings.php. Edit this file to change the defaults, for instance to change the number of image columns for TiltViewer galleries, locate the following line and change the number:
define ('TV_COLUMNS', 5);
The default settings for Juicebox and SimpleViewer 2 are handled differently to the other viewers. They are stored in svmanager/plugins/juicebox/settings.ini or svmanager/plugins/simpleviewer2/settings.ini. Instructions for overriding the default settings are contained in the settings.ini file.
In svManager version 1.1 and 1.2 all defaults were stored in the svmanager/includes/constants.php file.
First, check on the admin screen that you are running svManager version 1.1 or 1.2.
Next, look inside the svmanager/svmaster folder for two files named preferences.txt and gallery.xml. These files are not needed in version 1.1.0 and later. One or both may be there as a leftover from an earlier installation. Rename them to preferences.bak and gallery.bak or delete them. Do not delete any files of the same name in other folders.
Edit the file svmanager/includes/constants.php. For instance, to change the default background color, locate the following line and change it to the color you require:
define('BACKGROUND_COLOR', '0x181818');
'0x181818' can be changed to any valid hexadecimal color code.
In version of svManager before 1.1.0, most settings were stored inside svmanager/svmaster/gallery.xml.
See the troubleshooting section for some background information on permissions.
On some servers, the files and folders created by svManager cannot be edited by the ftp user. When you choose the Unlist option on the galleries page then, if the server allows it, svManager will change the file and folder permissions to facilitate editing. The default is to attempt to change the folder and file permissions to 0777.
This level of permission may not be appropriate for some servers. You can control it with a setting in the svmanager/includes/constants.php file.
Locate the lines:
define('DIR_MODE', 0777);
define('FILE_MODE', 0777);
and change these to the permissions you require.
Note that there are no quotes around the 0777 and the leading zero is required.
The Import option does not make any changes to permissions. After editing your gallery files and optionally re-importing the gallery into svManager then you may wish to use ftp to change the permissions back to what they were before unlisting.
This feature was introduced in svManager version 1.2.0
When svManager creates a new gallery, the folder permissions are set by the server. This is usually the best option but you can change the permissions on new gallery folders as follows:
Edit the file svmanager/includes/constants.php and locate the following lines:
define('NEW_GALLERY_CHMOD', false);
define('NEW_GALLERY_DIR_MODE', 0755);
define('NEW_GALLERY_FILE_MODE', 0644);
Change the first line to:
define('NEW_GALLERY_CHMOD', true);
Change the second and third lines to give the permissions you require, for instance:
define('NEW_GALLERY_DIR_MODE', 0777);
define('NEW_GALLERY_FILE_MODE', 0777);
Note that there are no quotes around the 0777 and the leading zero is required.
If you have just installed svManager and something is not working then try the following first:
The most common problems are caused by having the wrong permissions on files or folders. If you are not familiar with this topic you could read-up on the basics at Wikipedia.
Permissions on most Unix servers can be changed by ftp. The suggested permissions for svManager are given below, first in octal notation and then in the alternative symbolic notation. Note that setting permissions on a folder does not necessarily change the permissions on the folder contents - you may have to go over all the files, changing them one by one or there may be an option in your ftp program to set them all ‘recursively’. Many ftp programs have a setting called ‘Set permissions on upload’ or something similar. This can be a time-saver so it’s worth searching through your ftp program help files to see if this feature is available and how it works.
Set all folders to 0755 (rwxr-xr-x)
Set all files to 0644 (rw-r--r--)
These permissions are sufficient for most web servers. Specifically, they should work on servers where the ftp user that uploads your files has the same name as the web user that runs svManager.
If you are still getting error messages, try the following:
Set all folders to 0775 (rwxr-xr-x)
Set all files to 0664 (rw-rw-r--)
The 0775/0664 permissions should work if the ftp and web users are different but in the same group.
If the 0775/0664 permissions don’t work on your server then you’ll need to change the permissions on some folders and files to
0777 (rwxrwxrwx)
The minimum files that need to be set to 0777 are the following:
- the svmanager folder itself
- the svmanager/data folder
- all the files inside the svmanager/data folder
The 0777 setting will probably work but it is less secure. You might want to check it out with your web server administrator or helpdesk.
Windows servers vary in their means of setting permissions so it’s not possible to give comprehensive instructions. You may need to consult your service provider or system administrator. Basically, you are trying to achieve the following:
svManager normally traps any php error messages and produces its own messages. It is possible to bypass the error-trapping and see the full error messages from the php system which may contain more detailed information to help you trace the problem.
To set debug mode, first locate the file svmanager/includes/constants.php. Open this file in a text editor and find the line that reads:
define('DEBUG', false);
change this to:
define('DEBUG', true);
Note that DEBUG must be in upper-case letters.
Do not change anything else in this file - it might be a good idea to keep a backup! Upload the file to your server to replace the existing one.
When you have finished debugging, you should reset the contents of this file back to the original values - debug mode can give too much information away to any would-be hacker - and anyway, it just looks messy!
A totally blank screen is usually the result of one or more .php files becoming corrupted when you unzipped them on your computer or when you uploaded them to your server. Try re-installing svManager. If you enable svManager Debug mode you will probably see a message telling you which file is affected.
This type of message is usually caused by incorrect permissions.
Messages similar to this one indicate that something is wrong inside the xml file. The problem is usually caused by special characters in file names. Check your image file names for special characters like question mark, correct them and rebuild the gallery. It’s best to stick with numbers, letters, underscore, hyphen and dot for all file names.
Backup your whole svmanager folder to a safe location. Delete the file svmanager/data/gallerydata.txt. Your galleries will not show in the gallery listing but will still be there. Use the import screen to re-import your galleries one-by-one.
The uploader in the Add images screen is a java applet. Most problems will be resolved by installing the latest version of the java runtime environment (JRE), available available free from www.java.com. Windows computers sometimes have problems because older versions of the JRE are still present on the computer. You can remove these older versions in the Windows Control Panel.
On a Macintosh computer, you just need to ensure that your operating system software is up to date and this should update the java virtual machine automatically.
You may learn more about any java problems by looking at the log messages in the java console. Instructions for enabling the java console on a Windows computer are on the java web site. For a Mac it’s Applications > Utilities >Java Preferences > Advanced tab > Show console
There may also be some useful troubleshooting information in your server transaction logs (the detailed logs that show the response of the server to every browser request). You will often find a logs folder in the root of your web site. Each log entry is time-stamped, so look for error messages that occur at the time you tried a file upload.
The Java Tester web site will tell you what version of Java is running on your browser and also has a lot of useful background information.
If you get this message immediately after installing svManager then re-upload the following two files with your ftp program in binary transfer mode:
svmanager/uploader/myuploader-source-signed-v19.jar
svmanager/uploader/labels.jar
Most ftp programs offer a choice of three transfer modes: binary, text and auto. You must ensure that these two .jar files are uploaded in binary transfer mode. Images should also be uploaded in binary mode. All the other files should be uploaded in text mode. Ftp programs should do this automatically but sometimes they get it wrong.
The server memory allocated to php is set independently of svManager in the php.ini file. Some servers will have more generous memory allocations than others.
Before trying to create a thumbnail, svManager checks if your server has adequate memory. If not then it will not create the thumbnail and will give you a warning. If you have access to the php.ini file then you can increase the value of the memory_limit directive. Otherwise, you could ask your server administrator or service provider to increase the memory limit.
The default memory limits for the latest versions of php5 are higher than for php4. svManager is fully-compatible with php5 so if you have the choice, then go for php5.
If you cannot increase the server memory allocation then your only options are to create your own thumbnails in a program such as PhotoShop and upload them by ftp or simply to use smaller images!
If you forget your password or you are having any other problems logging-in, then upload the password file from the original zip distribution provided by SimpleViewer.net.
Note that if you have upgraded your installation then you might have both auth.txt and user.php on your server. This is not a problem, svManager will use the appropriate file and ignore the other one.
This message or a similar one does not come from svManager, it comes from Firefox Password Manager. Firefox attempts to remember your web site passwords so that it can fill them in automatically when you are logging-in. Sometimes Firefox gets confused and pops-up a message like this one. It can happen with any web site, not just svManager and it does not affect your ability to log-into the site.
You can delete stored passwords in the Firefox preferences under Security>Show Passwords. If you delete all of Firefox’ stored passwords for a web site then it will ask you again if you want to store the user name and password next time you log-into the site.
Of you could just turn-off Password Manager in the Firefox Preferences.
Other browsers may show similar behaviour.
SvManager cannot import some outdated gallery versions. If you have older galleries then you can find upgrade instructions on the SimpleViewer.net web site but it is usually easier to create new galleries in svManager.
Other import problems are most likely caused by incorrect folder and file permissions for the gallery you are trying to import. svManager must be able to read the gallery folder and its contents and also write to the gallery folder.
During the import process svManager will make a copy of your gallery.xml file and store it in the gallery folder as gallerysvmbak.xml. You can restore your xml file by first deleting or renaming the gallery xml file and then renaming gallerysvmbak.xml to config.xml (Juicebox) or gallery.xml (other galleries). Backing up your xml file only happens automatically during import so if you have made a lot of changes then it will rapidly get out of date.
SvManager uses session variables to keep track of a user after the user has logged-in. A few servers are not set-up to support sessions. They will give an error message similar to the following as soon as you try to log-in to svManager:
Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: open(/var/php_sessions/sess_cd4351b20419e4b1e7d8c39d21c6ba7d, O_RDWR) failed: No such file or directory (2) (auth.php, line 44)
The details of the message will vary but look for session_start.
Contact your server admin or help desk and tell them you have installed a php application that is trying to start a session and quote your error message. They should be able to fix it or give you instructions to fix it yourself.
In new galleries created with svManager v1.1.0 and later, the gallery web page title (the html title tag) is the same as the gallery title set in the customize page. Previous versions set the web page title for all galleries to ‘SimpleViewer’. If you have created galleries using an older version of svManager and you want to replace the old ‘SimpleViewer’ title with the gallery title then you will need to do the following: