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HTMLHelp Forums _ Graphics, Flash and Multimedia _ Create slideshow from source folder

Posted by: joeseppe69 Aug 15 2019, 01:09 PM

Is there a way to have a slideshow of all the photos uploaded into a specific folder?

I can create a simple slideshow in HTML but I would need to list each of the photo file names within the code.

If possible, I would rather the code be static and simply look to a specific folder where all the photos are stored and create the slideshow for all those images.

Like that, if I wanted to change the photos in said folder, refreshing the page will the make the slideshow with the new photos and the core HTML code does not need to be edited.

Posted by: CharlesEF Aug 15 2019, 01:20 PM

In Javascript, No. But it can be done server side. (PHP, ASP, ...)

You can use server side code to generate a list of all files in the folder, encode it as JSON and send it to the client (which Javascript can then use).

Posted by: Christian J Aug 15 2019, 05:52 PM

QUOTE(CharlesEF @ Aug 15 2019, 08:20 PM) *

encode it as JSON

Or just let the server-side script print out the javascript part containing the file names...

Posted by: joeseppe69 Aug 16 2019, 12:56 AM

Never used PHP or ASP before.

I am just trying to create a simple dashboard for school Reception area.

Just using HTML to layout the screen and content, without actually having a web server.

Any advice on best way to proceed.

Posted by: Christian J Aug 16 2019, 04:31 AM

Will the finished page be run from a web server? You'd need one in order to run server-side scripts. But it's not possible for (client-side) javascript to view the files of the client computer, for security reasons.

Maybe there are Windows programs that can generate a list of files as well (and then you'd just manually copy that list to the slideshow script code).

Posted by: pandy Aug 16 2019, 07:59 AM

QUOTE(Christian J @ Aug 16 2019, 11:31 AM) *

Maybe there are Windows programs that can generate a list of files as well (and then you'd just manually copy that list to the slideshow script code).


Some text editors even. wink.gif

Or, available on every Windows PC. Bring up a command prompt and in the directory in question and type...
CODE
dir /b /a-d


Or if you want to pipe the list to a file...
CODE
dir /b /a-d > list.txt

The list may include the name of the text file too.

Posted by: joeseppe69 Aug 31 2019, 04:03 AM

QUOTE(Christian J @ Aug 16 2019, 10:31 AM) *

Will the finished page be run from a web server? You'd need one in order to run server-side scripts. But it's not possible for (client-side) javascript to view the files of the client computer, for security reasons


My idea was to have the HTML page running on a PC connected to a large screen in the entrance area of the building.
It is a Windows machine so I could install IIS web server and point to localhost. Do I still need PHP or just JavaScript?

Posted by: pandy Aug 31 2019, 09:02 AM

Yes. You need something server side, not necessarily PHP. Unless you generate the file list beforehand as Christian suggested. But that's not a good idea if the images are going to change over time since you would have to update the the list each time you added or removed images. If they won't change or change very rarely it could work.

Note that if you go the server side way you also need to install the programming language you want to use, e.g. PHP. At least if you choose Apache. With IIS I don't know. I think it comes with ASP, but I'm not sure what it can do.

Posted by: joeseppe69 Aug 31 2019, 11:11 AM

I’ve not done anything with Apache or PHP before, may need to be a longer term project.

Thanks for replying.

Posted by: pandy Aug 31 2019, 11:37 AM

Well, if you aren't going to change pictures very often there's always the other option. Nothing wrong with static pages.

Posted by: Christian J Aug 31 2019, 01:42 PM

QUOTE(pandy @ Aug 31 2019, 04:02 PM) *

Note that if you go the server side way you also need to install the programming language you want to use, e.g. PHP. At least if you choose Apache.

Or you could install XAMPP, which contains both.

Posted by: pandy Aug 31 2019, 06:34 PM

Several programs in a bundled package are still several programs. tongue.gif

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