# gallerymaker.xml or galleryInfo.lrweb?



## davejay (Dec 12, 2008)

I'm working on creating a basic web engine for Lightroom.  I noticed some plugins written in galleryInfo.lrweb, manifest.lrweb and some modules using galleryMaker.xml & transformer.xslt.

Which one is preferred? Is it possible to do design/code using gallerymaker.xml everything what's possible using galleryInfo.Irweb?

I would prefer to have the flexibility of making everything dynamic based on what's configured in the engine UI (like the generated page names, generated xmls, etc). Gallery.xml file seems to accept only hardcoded file names? Am I correct?

Sorry, I'm a total newbie here. Any input on this is highly appreciated.

Thanks


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 13, 2008)

Hi Davejay, welcome to the forum!  I haven't a clue on the answer to that, but just wanted to welcome you anyway.  I'm sure our resident web experts Sean, Joe or Matt will be along with the answer shortly.


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## Sean McCormack (Dec 14, 2008)

XML/XSLT are the original Lightroom galleries, which are not covered in the SDK, but you need them if you're writing galleries that include an swf (you can do it in the new Lua galleries, but they won't preview on PC)

.lrweb files are the new Lua galleries and covered in the SDK. These are the preferred type for HTML galleries and much more versatile than the older galleries (and easier to code, I might add).


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## davejay (Dec 14, 2008)

Thank you Victoria and Sean for your response. Yes, I'll be using SWF. So, will stick to XML/XSLT. New to XSLT also but seems the basic functions in XSLT should be sufficient to manipulate the data written to XML.

I might come back with more queries to get your experts help! Thanks in advance!


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## theturninggate (Dec 15, 2008)

Davejay,

It's important to note that when dealing with XML/XSLT and SWF in Lightroom that the LR Web preview does not load the HTML files. By that, I mean that if you have gallery.swf embedded into index.html, the preview will not load index.html; only gallery.swf.

Therefore, any settings being passed into the SWF from the HTML will not be previewed in LR.

Cheers,
Matt


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## davejay (Dec 15, 2008)

Thanks Matt for the info. May be that explains why LRFFlashFlex doesn't preview.  I noticed <ag:galleryType>HTML</ag:galleryType> in this template.
But, I also noticed flash based TTGFlashNiftiesGallery, preview works since it's using SWF for preview)?
I do pass some parms via HTML flashvars but most of the parms are read from external xml. So,using SWF preview should hopefully work.
BTW, after reading more info on developing web galleries, I came to conclusion that Adobe will likely include new web engine features that'll be compatible only with Lua script based plugins.
Metadataexportmode feature in outputsettings is an example (which you see in default HTML and Flash gallery). I don't find equivalent code to display that control if using galleryMaker.xml
I'm thinking about going back to using galleryInfo.lrweb just make it future compatible.
Any thoughts?
Thanks


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## theturninggate (Dec 16, 2008)

XML/XSLT is LR1.x and it's abandoned. The Web engine is marching forward with Lua, but Lua remains inflexible in respect to third-party Flash galleries. While it's very flexible for HTML, Lightroom's current implementation of Lua for Flash is proprietary to the LR Flash Gallery and its specific requirements. There is presently no way to develop a third-party Flash gallery using Lua.

You can fake a Flash gallery by coding it as an HTML gallery and including the SWF, but the gallery will not preview on LR/Windows. Works fine on a Mac, though.


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## davejay (Dec 16, 2008)

Matt,That was really useful info for me. Thanks!

Quote: "There is presently no way to develop a third-party Flash gallery using Lua"
Noticed slideshow pro template is using galleryInfo.lrweb, gallery type as 'Flash', and does SWF preview in windows. It's also using XSLT. Is this some sort of hybrid or pure Lua based template?


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## theturninggate (Dec 16, 2008)

I haven't cracked open Slideshow Pro since it first released. I'll have to take a look at it.


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## Sean McCormack (Dec 18, 2008)

It used to be all XSLT/XML originally. Hadn't noticed the change!


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## Sean McCormack (Dec 18, 2008)

Actually my version is still XML/XSLT. I'll have to upgrade.


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## theturninggate (Dec 18, 2008)

I took a look at what Todd's got happening in Slideshowpro and it's ... interesting. Hard to determine even where to begin with the weirdness. I'd like to spend more time on it, see if there's anything there worth learning.


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## Sean McCormack (Dec 18, 2008)

I suspect Todd might have some... influence


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## theturninggate (Dec 19, 2008)

Do you know something I don't?


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