[Discussion] New Photo App in Nextcloud 18

anon9582441 · May 23, 2020, 12:23pm

Yea, it was a poor choice to remove the old Gallery app before new implementation was finished.

One other thing is that three preview files are genereated, but only one preview is actually used

in preview folder I get these files: 1862-1200-max.jpg 256-165.jpg 256-256-crop.jpg
But looking in dev-tools only the 256-256-crop.jpg is loaded using the src https://domain.com/core/preview?fileId=2039859&x=256&y=256&a=false&v=xxxxxxxxx. When opening the preview full screen it actually loads the original jpeg, not the preview-max file.

I’ve been used to the preview-generator app, but now the previews seems a little different. What sizes should be used now, if I were to use the preview-generator?

Sanook · May 25, 2020, 3:23am

Does only work if Photo Sphere Viewer 1.0.8 is disabled. Otherwise photos were still downloaded. (NC 18.0.4 with official Fotos App).

alfred · May 25, 2020, 8:27am

Then a bug report here would be appropriate (it seems like the app would need a bit of dev activity anyway):

chrisnc · May 26, 2020, 12:38pm

I’m also so disappointed in the upgraded NC18 not supporting the old “/index.php/apps/gallery/s/tgdF3ix…” and redirecting to NC Login! This is very bad if you shared a lot of those links publicly.

The only unsatisfying way is to resend/edit all those links to “/index.php/s/CiBy…” folder views if that is even possible (it is virtually impossible to remember all links send by messerngers or email)

Downgrading to NC17 or doing a Gallery App hack seems not worth doing it. I really hope this will be available again in upgrades soon as I really have low understanding if functionality in main Apps (even if not true core) are dropped without BIG! warning before upgrade is proposed. This is not good for my feeling for NC as a real and fine replacement of the Big Corp. Clouds.

alfred · May 26, 2020, 5:45pm

Something like a transitional period and prior announcements seems to be necessary to fix such problems.

Sanook · May 27, 2020, 12:43am

Now you know why i have switched to Synology DS220j with Photo Station and DS photo for Android.

Sanook · May 28, 2020, 12:33am

R0Wi · May 28, 2020, 3:16pm

This is fixed with files_photospheres version 1.0.9. Please also update to at least NC 18.0.4 to receive the corresponding viewer-app patch. See https://github.com/nextcloud/files_photospheres/issues/47 for more information, cheers.

Ferdinand · June 1, 2020, 11:00am

Thank you @guddl, for the instructions - it worked like a charm.

Like @sz22 said, a github discussion seems to rule out support for external storage anytime soon.

Respectfully, this led me to wonder how you guys use Nextcloud?

I’m all new to Nextcloud and is wide open for suggestions and comments, but after a little bit of pondering, I ended up with a split personality:

In my LAN I use Samba to access my files, because I can mount the shares in my local file system and have quick and hassle-free access to all my files.
Outside my LAN, and from the iPad, i use the Nextcloud web interface.

In order for this to work, I must access my files using the External Storage app, and then the new Photos app won’t show anything at all (I don’t really keep anything locally)

Is this weird? How do you do it?

All files locally, file system access through WebDAV
All files locally, file system access through syncing
All files locally, file system access directly, with automatic occ files:scan
All files locally, file system access through some other means
All files locally, no file system access
Some or all files in external storage, accessing them outside Nextcloud
Some or all files in external storage, not accessing them outside Nextcloud

0 voters

anon9582441 · June 1, 2020, 3:22pm

I would mount any external sources in a local path accessible from nextcloud.

Bodenseematze · June 4, 2020, 12:35pm

I didn’t upgrade from NC17 to NC18.0 because of the change to “Photos” app and didn’t follow the whole discussion about the changes / fixes.

Can somebody (how also likes the “old” gallery app) tell me how the situation is currently?
Is it now a good and usable replacement and it’s worth an upgrade?
How is the situation for NC19?

devnull · June 4, 2020, 12:52pm

Here a link to shared photos in the NC 18.0.4 version (tab.digital).
versionstring":"18.0.4"

https://nc.nl.tab.digital/s/wAR9weHRsm6yBHn

I think one bug was solved in a minor release before NC 18.0.4 .
But for thousands of photos it is a bad app.

You also can try nextcloud 18.0.4:

a.) https://try.nextcloud.com
user: get random, password. demo
b.) https://nextcloud-demo.rackspeed-cloud.de
User: nextcloud-demo , Password: nextcloud-demo

Perhaps someone can share photos with the new NC 19.0 - version.

Bodenseematze · June 4, 2020, 1:29pm

Thanks for your suggestions.

I tried in the 18.0.4 demo versions which you posted.
It seems that the Photos app still flattens all pictures from all directories to one big view.
That’s absolutely not what I want - I liked the way the gallery app did it - show the folders with some extracted thumbnails from the content of the folder.
And only show the pictures of a folder if you’re in that folder.

I have a really big bunch of photos in a lot of subdirectories (and these are shared between different groups of people).
And I don’t want such a flattened picture view - that does absolutely not make any sense to my environment.

Isn’t it possible with the photo app to get back that “folder” view?

So I still have to stay with NC17?
Will it ever be “fixed”?

devnull · June 4, 2020, 1:35pm

Yes.

Yes, too

Or perhaps sorted by date (days)

If you use the folder (shared link or file-app) the structure it is not soooo bad.
Example: https://nc.nl.tab.digital/s/JAxd7JcGWT7QtG9

I think you must use the file-app and not the photo-app.
You can preview the pictures also in the file-app and scroll throw single folder.

Bodenseematze · June 4, 2020, 1:41pm

That are absolutely bad news

I wonder if I’m really member of a minority group who wants the old behavior back?

devnull · June 4, 2020, 1:44pm

I think not.

xph · June 4, 2020, 2:46pm

I just signed up to tell others how much you f*ck’ed up with this new photo app.

“Angry” or “pissed” are not the correct terms to describe what i feel like.

It might be okay to change an app in a stable update channel - but one better makes sure, that the new app at least can handle the same settings as the previous one did. You did nothing like that and published what i call a pure failure. It’s simply bad development without proper user information about what’s going on and what things will change. It’s bad in every way.

Your app really messed up my whole image administration (i’m running NC 18.0.4 atm).

All my public gallerys are gone. And i can’t even greate new ones the way i want to, because you still don’t provide a gallery view and no lightbox image viewer for public links. Do you really think someone wants to download an image just to see it? Seriously?

Your new app also doesn’t care about my .nomedia settings and shows just every file that is a graphic format. Every. Single. File. Guess what happens when one uploads some Software including it’s multiple graphics resources in a folder where normally no photo app should ever check the content.

Your Thumbnail generation is plain bullshit - when i click a thumbnail, i can’t predict what image will be shown. Sometimes it’s the photo of the selected thumbnail, sometimes it’s something completely different. Seems random to me. I can’t even re-build the thumbnails as i haven’t found a corresponding setting in the user interface.

The main reason why i switched from Owncloud to Nextcloud years ago, was because NC was way more stable and reliable than OC back then. While updating OC and the installed AddOns really was a pain in the ass, NC was just nice. And for many years i was really happy with it.

Now, you did this.

And you are perky enough to state, in some issue-thread about this new app, that the missing features are “technically hard to realize”. Seriously? The features that already existed for years in the old app are now hard to realize? You better stop publishing apps, then.

For months, i’m waiting for some update that at least resolves the more annoying problems with your photo app. Nothing happened.

I’m fed up now. I’'ve bought a home server and i’m currently creating and re-building my photo administration there. If that’s finished, i’ll just delete Nextcloud and never recommend it to anyone again, as i did for years.

It’s really sad to see usually good projects going down the drain like that. The only people that’ll keep using your sh*t are the ones that doesn’t know the difference.

Originally, NC was meant to be a safe place to store data online. What you did here is absolutely counterproductive and harms the whole project.

You really f*ck’ed up.

I’m out.

alfred · June 4, 2020, 3:45pm

Reading this thread, it would be good for Nextcloud to release the old Gallery app to the App Store like the old plain Text editor alongside Text so people can use both in the meantime. Deprecations should be on top of the changelogs too probably.

guddl · June 4, 2020, 4:21pm

I just want to remember, that it is possible to use the old gallery app in NC18.x

xph · June 4, 2020, 6:01pm

@guddl:
Yeah, that might work - if one has terminal access to a server working with git. Usually, shared hosting clients don’t have both.

Well, another “solution” would be to just program a photo app the way one likes.

I mean - of course NC admins should be able to do more than just click buttons. On the other hand, NC is intentionally designed to work exaclty like that.

So i’m not sure what NC users might do - but frankly, i don’t care anymore.

Waiting for fixes - a common thing. Waiting days, maybe even weeks - all fine. But… months, without any mentionable process? That tells a lot about the development cycle and the priorities.