Multiple Image FOLDERS?

So GoDaddy (I know, I know....) tells me that I need to keep the quantitiy of fils in any one folder to 1024 or less. This is a problem since I'v got approx 12k images.

What's the correct way to add multiple image folders?

Does any one top category have near 1024 images (main + additional)? If not, that might be a good way to organize them, like /images/category_a/, /images/category_b/, /images/category_c/...
You can use whatever names make sense for the subcats.

This method requires that additional images be designated with a _ between the base name and the additional marker, like prod123.jpg, prod123_01.jpg, prod123_02.jpg...

Then you select the appropriate subfolder for the main image when adding/editing a product. All folders directly under /images/ will appear in the selection box.

No, none of the categories have that many.

Can Easy Populate be used to handle something like this?

I don't use it, but I think I have heard that it doesn't handle images. There may be a recent mod or tweak to allow this - read up on the mod's support thread.

One issue you need to consider is the subsequent management of images via the EDIT PRODUCT screen in the admin panel.

As you may know, when you elect to input a product manually, you get to the "images" section, and you can "browse" for an image, then select a SUB-folder in the images folder if you want to. (Via the dropdown selector on the right of the screen).

So... as long as you just go ONE sub-folder deep in your main images folder, you will always have the dropdown for all available directories, when you add/edit a product manually.

Easy Populate, as you may know, does NOT upload the actual image files.

It simply writes the relative image name, into the database, where it can later be called (by the PHP) in order to construct a valid <img src="xxx/xxx/xxx"> hyperlink that is sent to the browser.

YES... you CAN use easy Populate to indicate the subfolder names.

In v_products_image column, where you would normally just put the image name, you can show the sub-directory name too.

v_products_image
televisions/sony-kv1024.jpg
televisions/toshiba-re54.jpg
televisions/toshiba-rtt33.jpg
televisions/philipsvv466.jpg
radios/panasonic-vrt33.jpg
radios/technics-xx22.jpg
radios/roberts-pa33423.jpg

We also have alot of images, but do not just dump them all directly into the images folder. Rather, each of our designers (manufacturers) has a separate folder under images. Therefore, no one images folder has an overwhelming number. If nothing else, it helps us to quickly locate the desired image.

We use Image Handler and Easy Populate.

SPH
https://www.prommart.com

If you have a lot (and I mean a LOT) of images, then arranging them into folders will certainly speed up the site.

SPH:

We also have alot of images, but do not just dump them all directly into the images folder. Rather, each of our designers (manufacturers) has a separate folder under images. Therefore, no one images folder has an overwhelming number. If nothing else, it helps us to quickly locate the desired image.

We use Image Handler and Easy Populate.

SPH
https://www.prommart.com]So how did you Easy Populate to handle your images? > schoolboy:

If you have a lot (and I mean a LOT) of images, then arranging them into folders will certainly speed up the site.Like I said in the OP, about 12K

I should clarify that EP file does have all of the image numbers in it, they all correspond to the applicable part number.

Unfortunetly some of my manufactures do have greater that 1024 parts. So I'm still trying to find a way to handle the hosts requirement to limit the folders to 1024 images each.

If you're willing to roll up your sleeves, you can create your own solution simply by creating one folder for each letter of the alphabet and moving your images around accordingly.
And, if that's not enough granularity, you could make folders based on first TWO letters instead.
To make it work, you'll need to not only relocate the image files themselves, but also edit each product's database record to reflect the added foldername.
ie: in the database, if it says "balloons.jpg" and you create a folder named "b" for it, then you'd change the database record to "b/balloons.jpg"
(This refers to images in the /images/ folder.)
Keep in mind that you'd need to do the same thing under the /image/medium/ and /images/large/ folders as well, if you're using them. See this FAQ article for more on that topic: https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=58