ASP ListPics Manual

IISWorks ASP ListPics (LP) is a highly configurable ASP application that automatically generates fast thumbnail indexes of a folder structure and offers password protection, image manipulation and many other useful features. Not all functions mentioned in this manual necessarily have to be available to all users because of the differences between the free and full version, and since the admin can configure what users are allowed to see and do! Check the Home page for an overview of differences in features of the free and full version.

This manual assumes that the full version is installed!

User functions


Viewing images
LP will display a list of all available folders and images in a thumbnail view ("Listing" mode) with configurable additional image info such as name, size, etc. Hovering over the thumbnails will show additional file and EXIF info, and if a file description is present it will be shown with each image. Users can click on a thumbnail to view a low-resolution version of the original image ("View" mode). Use the View settings page to set the number of Rows and Columns to use (saved in a cookie). This LowRes image saves download time and bandwidth while providing users with sufficient quality to view the image on-screen. If configured by the admin, the original can be downloaded as well from a link on that view page. In the View mode, users can browse through images in that folder, start a slideshow and view and add comments.
Note that the current page is stored in a session variable on the server and not in each page. It is therefore recommended only to use the navigation that LP provides and not go back using the browser's Back button or use locally saved or cached pages, since that may give unpredictable results.

Hotkeys & Context menu
Hotkeys are available in the full image view and thumbnail view, the context menu (IE only) only in image view.
ESCBack
HomeFirst page or Image
EndLast page or Image
Left and Right ArrowPrevious/Next page or image
L/R/O or Numpad L/R/5-arrow keysQuick rotate image Left, Right or Original (browser based)
EStart Exif info
SStart slideshow
+/- Quick zoom images in/out (browser based)
F11Switch between normal and extra full screen

Full screen
When viewing images you can switch between normal full screen (image and menu bar on white background) and extra full screen mode (only the image on a black background). This is especially handy in the View mode, and during slideshows.

Root folder
Go to the root folder.

Back
Go to the parent folder (one folder up).

Find images
This function will search for images in the current folder and all subfolders by Name, Date, Size or Category. The fields: Image name, Exif info, Title, Descriptions, Keywords and Folder name will all be searched for the words entered. The find mode will remain active until the "Cancel find" button is pressed.

Download
Using this button will pack LowRes images in a ZIP file and download them as one file to your browser. The first icon (with the S) applies to all selected images, the second to all images in the current folder. If allowed, the second set of icons with the red arrow can be used to download original images.



Slide show
Play a slide show of all images in the current folder. Use the "View settings" page to set slideshow delay and looping option.

Random
Select a set of random images from the current folder and all subfolders.

Overview (Contact sheet)
This function generates an overview of all images in the current folder. This is convenient to print a so-called contact sheet containing thumbs of all images.

Timeline
Creates an overview of all images in a folder, ordered by day.

Send by email
Send selected images by email to someone else. Make sure to enter a valid email address.

Image info
Shows file and general EXIF information for selected images.



Login/Logout
You can login to as a user to gain access to pass-protected folders, or as an admin to manage LP. The same button can be used to logout again.

View settings
In this page each user can set some personal preferences that are stored in a cookie on that computer so they can be used next visit. Options are: Number of Rows and columns, View sort order, Language and Slideshow delay/looping.

Info
Will display general LP info. When a user is logged in as admin, additional info including some DB statictics will be shown.

Home
Return to the home page (URL configured by admin)


Admin functions

Some notes
  • Check global.asa for many useful and powerful settings!
  • First folder access may take a long time because lowres material has to be generated
  • LP will automatically generate lowres images as necessary (if modified)
  • Use SQL server for a heavily used setup

    New folder
    Create a new folder in the current folder.

    New text file
    You can create and edit small text files with LP (<100kB). It is however recommended to use the up- and download feature instead.

    Upload files
    You can upload images and other files with LP (size and allowed file types can be limited by the admin). This is especially useful in combination with the unzip feature. This allows you to upload a ZIP file containing many images and unzip it on the server, thus eliminating the need of uploading images one by one.

    Delete, Cut, Copy, Paste
    Similar to Windows programs, you can delete, cut, copy and paste items in the full version of LP. The paste button will only be visible if there are items on the LP clipboard.

    Rename
    LP offers an advanced renaming function allowing you to use variables when renaming multiple items. For multiple items you can use: %y, %m, %d, %h, %n (creation date) and %i (autonumber). Example: PIC%y%m%d. If no % is present in the new name, it is assumed that you want to rename one item, and the first selected is used.



    Convert
    Listpics offers basic file type conversion of selected images by entering a supported image file extension (for example: JPG, BMP, GIF).

    Effect filter
    The following image effect filters are available: Brightness*, Contrast*, Grayscale, Colordepth (bits)*, Sharpen, Soften, Blur, Invert, Emboss, Dilate, Erode, Treshold*, Repair. For effects marked with * you need to specify a level.

    Rotate
    You can rotate selected images by entering the degrees to rotate, "L" (Left), "R" (Right) or "Auto" if the EXIF orientation tag is supported by your camera. LP even offers lossless rotation for JPG images (multiples of 90 degrees only), and can retain EXIF headers.

    Resize
    Resize selected images by a percentage or the target width in pixels.

    Crop
    Use this function to crop a section from the image. You have to enter the start X and Y coordinates and the width and height of the section to crop.

    Change ratio
    Change image ratio of selected images to 3:2 for digital printing.

    Mirror
    Mirrors selected images vertically.



    Unzip
    Unzip selected ZIP files in this folder. Useful in combination with the Upload feature when you want to upload many images without the hassle of uploading them individually.

    Assign to category
    LP offers categories to group image types. Useg this function to assign selected images and images in the selected folder and all underlying subfolders to a category.

    Image status
    You can set the status of image to: New, pending, Published, Hidden, Archived. Normal users will only see published images. Admins can search for images with a certain status.

    Reset info
    Use this function to clear selected descriptive fields of images: Description, Views counter, Comments, Category. Additionally you can force a refresh of all selected images and folders by checking "Rebuild". This will reset the LastModified date of selected items. For folders this can be useful if you want LP to recheck the folder contents without completely rebuilding all images (which may take a long time).

    Keywords
    Set keywords related to all selected images. There are additional options to apply the keywords to all files in the folder, and to add the keywords rather than replacing them.

    Configure folder
    On this page the admin can define folder passwords, page title info, descriptions and a big list of user view options that define what functions users can use. The page title and info can contain the following variables: %Name, %Path, %Size, %Date, %Time, %Descr, %NumFiles, %Numfolders. Each setting applies to that folder and all subfolders that do not have it explicitly set. NOTE: User options are not processed individually, but as one set (not cumulative)! It is recommended not to use different User options on too many levels.
    In this screen you can also force a rebuild of a folder. Note that you normally don't need to use these functions because LP wil automatically check each folder when it is accessed to see if anything was changed. There are 3 options: Expire, rebuild and rebuild recursive. The first option just resets the LastModified date of the folder and all subfolders, thus causing a normal check whenever a user enters that folder the next time. This is relatively fast because LP will check the images against the database to see if they changed, and only rebuild images that were modified since last time. The second option will force a full rebuild of all lowres material of all images in the current folder. The last option will do the same for images in the current folder and in all underlying folders as well. This can take a very long time, depending on server CPU speed and the number and size of the images. Make sure that LongScriptTimeOut is set sufficiently high in global.asa or the rebuild will not complete successfully. You should perform this action only if you want to generate the listing for the first time without having to visit all folders, or if there are severe inconsistencies between the database and filesystem.

    Rebuild
    LP will rebuild automatically when a folder that is not yet in the database is accessed for the first time, or when it was modified. Admins can force a rebuild of a folder and all subfolders using the rebuild function to prevent long delays experienced bu users on the first folder view. That will rebuild thumbnails and the lowres images, and will update the image information in the database (existing valid data will be retained). Make sure that Application("LongScriptTimeOut") in global.asa is large enough!