PHP web gallery

Make a web site with album gallery, in which albums are edited with desktop application and then published to web site. Albums have templates which define position and size of display elements. Desktop application sends an ZIP file to the web service that extracts appropriate files for the album and then generates HTML files for the album. ## Deliverables Key features and requirements * user has desktop application for editing albums (is already done) * desktop application has the same graphic resource information as a web server where galleries are published - resources are now limited to fonts and background information * editor application only comunicates USER data to the server - strings and images * galleries use static files when displayed. everything that is dynamic is done on album upload * album is uploaded with the .zip file, in which there is a xml file describing the album data, and images that are relevant to the album * upon receiving the zip file, web service on gallery web site creates .html files for the album that are later available for static display * each album has its unique identification number - guid - that is defined once editor (desktop app) is installed * albums can be stored on various physical web servers * web service has 3 methods that are exposed: * [login to view URL]: shows the album that is stored on the server by means of redirecting browser to proper .html file. parameter: guid of the album defined by the client application; the editor. service maintains the list of all guids that are sent to it and has servers that are associated with each guid * * [login to view URL]: shows the album that is stored on the server by means of redirecting browser to proper .html file. parameter: guid of the album defined by the client application; the editor. service maintains the list of all guids that are sent to it and has servers that are associated with each guid <!-- --> * [login to view URL]: returns the address of the current upload service and stores guid with service address, that map is used with first method to later retrieve server address by guid <!-- --> * [login to view URL]: does actuall work of making an album when zip file is sent to the server. it opens the file, reads xml file contained and generates .html files that will be displayed for the user. if the guid for the album is already used, service will update album currently displayed. since each album has a list of people that should be notified of it's existance, service puts email into the queue for each user that is on the list * when album is generated, it has some predefined text blocks that are defined on the server and are included in each album page * album page layout is defined in picture attached * each album should be stored on the server in the original .zip file, in case that album pages need to be re-generated * web server should send e-mail notifications, handling e-mail formatting and queueing (web host has a limit of few hundred mail recipients/day) Added on 16.6.2008 Some questions and answers are provided here: Q:Are templates/mockups for the pages that need to be generated already done? A:There are some placeholder templates that are used for application development, and final ones are in the process of being completed. Q: Is the desktop application finished? A: Desktop application is in it's beta stage, and can be made available to PHP gallery developer. Q: Including the interface to connect to the PHP application? A: Yes, interface is completed, by means of having ZIP file with XML and pictures in it. Concrete implementation can be slightly changed, as to accomodate hosting issues. Q: Can the album be modified once uploaded? A: Yes. Each album has unique GUID that is used to identify it. If there is an album with same GUID, old album is overwritten instead of new one being generated. Q: Does this bid include the email queuing system? A: Yes, bid should include e-mail queuing system. Q: Also, is the email information for the album sent from the client software, or provided somewhere else? A: E-mail adresses and other information is sent from the client itself. Q: Is it possible for the .zip file to contain non-image file formats? If so I would need an explicit list of what files you are willing to accept, extract, and post to the gallery. A: ZIP file contains only images and one XML file that describes the album; its pages and elements of the pages; position and size of labels and pictures, also with theme description. Q: If there are other formats in the .zip, should they be uploaded to your images directory regardless, or ignored? A: There will be no more files inside the ZIP file other than those stated above. Q: What is the desktop application written in? Is it an executable or web based? A: Desktop app is .net 2.0 based, and it's entirely executable which need to be installed on the user machine. Q: Furthermore, would you willing to bypass the desktop app and keep everything server side? Or would you prefer to use the app? A: For now, I need desktop application, mainly because I want picture editing (zooming, cropping) to be done on client, because there can be lots of LARGE image files, and this way only processed (small) images are sent. Also, I included in a ZIP file complete application for album generation. It's still somehow 'rough' but main operation can be clearly be seen. When "Publish" is pressed and all information inside the dialog box filled, you will be able to see folder being generated inside the "My Documents\ImageAlbum" folder with the zip file in question. Please examine it to see file/document structure.