Photo Gallery not loading pictures...

[Sphinxumr]

I am pretty new to this stuff, but I am having a horrible time getting my flash album to work on my site. I the flash file to work by its self, but when I add it to my site, it seems like it will not read the XML file that it references. I was hoping that someone could take a look at this and suggest what may be wrong. Thanks in advance!!

Here is the the site where the album is at:

http://www.crew4christ.org/SLCM.htm

http://www.crew4christ.org/NCSP_09.htm

The idea was to have several different pages with different flash galleries and separate xml files. This way I can link all my albums back to one page. Thanks again for the help.

[Eye for Video]

Problems where the file works on your local machine but not on the server almost always have to do with pathing. In this case the path from the page the album is on back down to the Flash .swf file is:
<object data="Photo Gallery/SLCM/polaroid.swf"
so if the xml file is in the same folder as the .swf, then the path relative to the new position of the .swf, back down to the xml file should be:
Photo Gallery/NCSP09/myfile.xml
Most likely in the original Flash .fla it currently is not because when you where creating the ablum the two files had a different relative relationship. The path could have just been:
album.load("myfile.xml");
and the album worked just fine. But when you pull the .swf out and move it 2 folder levels above the .xml file, the relative address changes.
When building and testing Flash ablums etc. it's useful to create any folders that will eventually be used on the site so that all the relative URL addresses can be properly checked and tested.
And a note about naming folders... it's probably best not to use a space between Photo and Gallery. Sometimes your Web server may have trouble with that, better to use an underscore "photo_gallery".
Best wishes,
EfV

[Sphinxumr]

Thanks for the reply! I will check this when I get home. I think I see what you are saying, but would that path be referenced in the swf file then?

I will also add an underscore for those folders. Thanks for the tip.

[Eye for Video]

Yes, the path used in the .swf has to be the path relative to the location of the .swf file after it is placed on the html page. This is usually a different path than the one used during creation of the ablum (unless you plan ahead and build in the same folder structure as used on the site).
However, the .swf file is not really editable, you'll need to make the changes in the Flash .fla file. If your album is a template and you don't have the .fla file, they you need to put your .xml file in the same folder as the html page (so relative to that location, there are no folders between them). This may also apply to the photos themselves. The path to the photos, relative to the location of the html page with the .swf on it, is a couple of folder levels below, so be sure to add those folders in the urls on the .xml file.
Best wishes,
EfV

[Sphinxumr]

Thanks again! You are a very helpful person!!!

I will try this when I get home tonight. I should have asked this question on here like 4 months ago... lol.

[Sphinxumr]

Still a no go... in fact when I messed with it, I think I made it worse. lol. So here is the funny thing, when I use the readme file that came with it, the xml file is read just fine, but when I publish it in my website, then it goes to crap. Below is the link to the readme file that seems to work, but just can't embed the flash object. I have to be doing something wrong here.

http://www.crew4christ.org/Photo Gallery/SLCM/readme.html

[Sphinxumr]

The swf file and xml file and the _pics folder are all in the same folder. The readme file seems to be working just fine, but when I put it in Web Expressions, it flakes out. Any ideas?

[Eye for Video]

Yeah the problem is that all three of those files are in the same folder, but the html page is not. So when you take the .swf out of that folder (in effect), by placing it on an html page two folder levels above, the paths to the xml and the photos, do not work. To test this, create a test html page and place the album on the page, and save that page into the same folder as your swf and xml files. If that works, it varifies a pathing problem on the original page.
According to the Read Me, you can also use a var to access a different xml file (or url path).
You can pass along the variable "xmlURL" if you wish to load a different xml-file than the default "photos.xml"
So in your code used to place the .swf on the page, try something like this (but use your xml file name):
<param name="xmlURL" value="Photo Gallery/SLCM/my_xml.xml" />But again, now the path back down to the photos has changed, so the xml file may need to be edited to find them.
If you are still having problems getting this to work, you may just want to put the html page down in the same folder as the xml and photos. But of course, then you'll need to change any links to and from that page.
Good luck on this one!
EfV

[Sphinxumr]

Great thanks, I will try moving some files around tonight or tomorrow!

[Sphinxumr]

GOT IT WORKING!! Thanks for the tips... however, now the menu on the left is not working. Should I change the path location for the menu and make a new flash menu now and store it in each photo gallery folder? Thanks again!

[Eye for Video]

Just remember that the path (for the menu or whatever) is relative to the location on the html page on which the menu, or slideshow is placed.
So you may need to change some things to reflect that.
Best wishes,
EfV

[Sphinxumr]

Thanks for all of your help! Looks like you have been doing this for a while now. It's people like you that we need more of on the majority of these boards that are out there!