Image Handler 4 (for v1.5.x) Support Thread

1atom12:

Greetings IH4 experts, I have a general question about this mod. Will it help reduce the amount of server overhead my site is generating? I'm being pestered by my hosting company to reduce my CPU usage. I am on a VPS. Running my site through various website speed check sites, the biggest thing that keeps popping up negative are my images.

Here's my site if anyone wants to take a peek:

heathersheavenlyvapes.com

IH4 as the opening thread (and readme) states will optimize your product and category images.. However, if you have other optimization issues on your site, or images in other places on your site (non product/category images) IH4 will not resolve those issues.

pasi:

Tried to search but got too many results to go through them all...

Anyway, the problem is that some images are in GIF format. JPG images are resized correctly, but the GIF images aren't resized at all.

Before I go deeper into checking what is wrong, I wanted to ask if IH4 actually supports resizing GIF images, or if there is any known "issues" or "fix" to this.

There are issues in many cases related to resizing .gif images, and a lot of on-the-fly image resizers either can't resize .gifs, or don't because of issues. The biggest issue I've seen resizing .gifs is that since they are already in indexed color mode, you almost always get really bad looking images. In addition, there are copyright issues with publishing .gif images on the web that you should be aware of...

I can't speak as to whether IH4 should handle .gifs for you or not, but I would strongly encourage you to replace those .gof images with either .png or .jpg versions, which will address the issue you are seeing and the problems with resizing .gifs.

llynix:

I'm not sure if this has been reported, but IH4 has an outdated /admin/includes/modules/category_product_listing.php

It appears as though the version in IH4 is from 1.3.9c

There have been many changes to this file since 1.5 it would seem. There are a few security enhancements along with the fact the enable/disable buttons on this page have been changed from a link to a form.

IH4 breaks these buttons in ZC 1.5.1

Simple fix is to update this file with the version from 1.5.1 and then around line 352 make sure this line is in there:

> 
> This seems to be the only change this file requires.

And that is exactly one of the reasons I hate the auto installer of this mod. Don't get me wrong, I like IH, but now you have to do the installation twice. First the installer overwrites your files and after that you still need to compare your files for correct code, and add your own customisation again.

Design75:

And that is exactly one of the reasons I hate the auto installer of this mod. Don't get me wrong, I like IH, but now you have to do the installation twice. First the installer overwrites your files and after that you still need to compare your files for correct code, and add your own customisation again.
Ummmm no you actually don't.. and if you look at the readme, we do explain how to apply your customizations BEFORE your IH4 install.. If this part of the readme doc isn't clear, I am all for suggestions on how to improve it..

The modification that **llynix **posted can be applied to an EXISTING IH4 install without requiring a RE-INSTALL of the module..

Yep IH4 supports GIFs, an example from my test site is the original GIF image here as uploaded

and the product listing here

where image handler is, well handling it

As for any patent issues with gifs, I am fairly sure those patents expired 10 years ago

pasi:

Tried to search but got too many results to go through them all...

Anyway, the problem is that some images are in GIF format. JPG images are resized correctly, but the GIF images aren't resized at all.

Before I go deeper into checking what is wrong, I wanted to ask if IH4 actually supports resizing GIF images, or if there is any known "issues" or "fix" to this.

DivaVocals:

Ummmm no you actually don't.. and if you look at the readme, we do explain how to apply your customizations BEFORE your IH4 install.. If this part of the readme doc isn't clear, I am all for suggestions on how to improve it..

The modification that **llynix **posted can be applied to an EXISTING IH4 install without requiring a RE-INSTALL of the module..

I wouldn't call it a modification. IH4 probably introduces some security problems and breaks the enable/disable button in zen cart because of legacy code in that file. It's a bugfix not a modification.

I dunno about the auto-installer. I thought it was a pretty good idea but honestly didn't look into how it works. I'm curious as to why you include a default file in the installation package. Why not just backup the existing version on the site?

I do think that even with me patching the correct file on my site.. I didn't change the backup or the default so upon uninstalling It would break my site again. So my patch above is incomplete.

That's why I didn't roll a patch myself. I really don't even have time to write this message :)

Thank you for the hard work on IH4.

llynix:

I wouldn't call it a modification. IH4 probably introduces some security problems and breaks the enable/disable button in zen cart because of legacy code in that file. It's a bugfix not a modification.bugfix/modification.. 6 of one half dozen of the other.. point is that right now it's a modification that folks need to make to the IH files until I submit an update to IH4 (plan to do this next week)

llynix:

I dunno about the auto-installer. I thought it was a pretty good idea but honestly didn't look into how it works. I'm curious as to why you include a default file in the installation package. Why not just backup the existing version on the site? Ummmm it does "backup the existing version on the site". I do believe that we make mention of this in the readme.. It's certainly been spoken of a few times in the forum.

http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?194740-Image-Handler-4-(for-v1-5-x)-Support-Thread&p=1117911#post1117911

niccol:

Finally, finally, for those who are saying that the auto-installer is a bad idea the thought is that it just does exactly what you would do if you installed manually. It doesn't do anything new or different. It finds the active template and installs into that. In the same way as one would do by manually. The only difference between this installer and installing manually is that it always creates back-ups of overwriten files. Which has been a source of many many problems on the support threads.

Personally i think that the jury is still out on the auto installer.
more experienced users do not like it because it reduces ones freedom a bit.
on the other hand there have been a lot less questions from less experienced users that end up being due to messed up installations.
So what is the right answer?
As far as the question about reverting to previous versions of files. well this is a thorny issue. Do you revert to the version that existed prior to IH install? Well maybe but also maybe not. because other modifications may have been made to that file since theIH install. so without knowing what a user has done the best thing seems to be to provide a before installation file back up and an original file version.

niccol:

Personally i think that the jury is still out on the auto installer.
more experienced users do not like it because it reduces ones freedom a bit.
on the other hand there have been a lot less questions from less experienced users that end up being due to messed up installations.
So what is the right answer?
As far as the question about reverting to previous versions of files. well this is a thorny issue. Do you revert to the version that existed prior to IH install? Well maybe but also maybe not. because other modifications may have been made to that file since theIH install. so without knowing what a user has done the best thing seems to be to provide a before installation file back up and an original file version.
The BIGGEST benefit has been that less experienced users have had FEWER issues since the release of IH4. This support thread is FAR FEWER posts than any previous IH support threads..

Plus this is NOT the only Zen Cart module which includes an auto install feature. Ceon URI and many of the Numinix modules also contain auto installers. The idea is to ease the install and cut down on the number of install related issues. Even so, I do not think that more experienced users are hog tied from doing their own thing at all.. A couple have expressed this opinion, but these same users are not IMHO being encumbered because of the introduction of an auto installer..

I personally have found the auto-installer to be a show-stopper, especially when I'm trying to integrate with a site that's making many other changes to similar files. And especially with FEC (now, admittedly there were several other addons adding more complications, especially the css/js loader mess, but that's a side issue and I don't mean to mix other matters into this thread).

I confess that I've not studied all the documentation greatly in recent days, but last I looked it didn't seem like there was an obvious way to bypass all the safeties built-in to the autoinstaller so I could just merge the necessary changes into the core files which needed it.

It actually was the biggest task for an upgrade I was doing to an otherwise heavily customized site. I was amazed that it took much longer to do IH4 than everything else. Granted, I suppose if I were up to speed on all the inner workings of the mod then maybe that might have made things different. Actually the more I think about it, I think I just skipped using IH altogether.

Maybe it deserves another try. I'm just writing this in response to niccol's last post, to cast my vote for skipping all the automated file changes, at least for those who wish a more conventional approach.

JMHO

DrByte:

I personally have found the auto-installer to be a show-stopper, especially when I'm trying to integrate with a site that's making many other changes to similar files. And especially with FEC (now, admittedly there were several other addons adding more complications, especially the css/js loader mess, but that's a side issue and I don't mean to mix other matters into this thread).

I confess that I've not studied all the documentation greatly in recent days, but last I looked it didn't seem like there was an obvious way to bypass all the safeties built-in to the autoinstaller so I could just merge the necessary changes into the core files which needed it.

It actually was the biggest task for an upgrade I was doing to an otherwise heavily customized site. I was amazed that it took much longer to do IH4 than everything else. Granted, I suppose if I were up to speed on all the inner workings of the mod then maybe that might have made things different. Actually the more I think about it, I think I just skipped using IH altogether.

Maybe it deserves another try. I'm just writing this in response to niccol's last post, to cast my vote for skipping all the automated file changes, at least for those who wish a more conventional approach.

JMHOthe auto installer doesn't prevent one from integrating changes in common files at all. There is a section of the readme which explicitly does cover it. Now perhaps it's because I helped write the instructions that it's second nature for me, but I am quite open for suggestions as to how to improve the instructions. if how to merge changes in common files is NOT clear in the readme I can make it clearer if it is needed..

I'll give it a try again if it comes up as part of a project. Perhaps my mind was just cloudy with all the other complications of the last one I did where IH4 was involved.

DrByte:

I'll give it a try again if it comes up as part of a project. Perhaps my mind was just cloudy with all the other complications of the last one I did where IH4 was involved.
Trust me I understand.. happy to help if you give it a go again.. I spent ALL OF yesterday replacing FEAC with COWOA (FEAC did not play well with others) and removing the Highslide module . So much broke and had to be reinstalled including IH4 and Zen Lightbox.

DivaVocals:

I spent ALL OF yesterday replacing FEAC with COWOA (FEAC did not play well with others)
Yup, a real pain.

I'm confused with the IH4 installation.

I did the auto install and I had no row headings in admin->images (those IH adds)...

So I'm back to backup and trying to figure out how to do manual install.

I have to rename and merge those files into the proper names/directories and then upload them - so this is manual install?

the.rampage.rado:

I'm confused with the IH4 installation.

I did the auto install and I had no row headings in admin->images (those IH adds)...

So I'm back to backup and trying to figure out how to do manual install.

I have to rename and merge those files into the proper names/directories and then upload them - so this is manual install?No.. and honestly you haven't posted enough information to tell us what might have gone wrong. (no link to your site, no error messages.. no indication as to whether or not the IH menu is available in the Tools menu, no idea what version of Zen Cart you are running..)

and I need to say this again.. IH has NEVER used external SQL scripts to add the entries in the configuration table to add the IH image configuration options .. It has ALWAYS had an installer that had to be run from the admin. The ONLY thing IH4's installer brings to the table is that you now no longer have to "click a button" to execute it..

DivaVocals:

No.. and honestly you haven't posted enough information to tell us what might have gone wrong. (no link to your site, no error messages.. no indication as to whether or not the IH menu is available in the Tools menu, no idea what version of Zen Cart you are running..)

and I need to say this again.. IH has NEVER used external SQL scripts to add the entries in the configuration table to add the IH image configuration options .. It has ALWAYS had an installer that had to be run from the admin. The ONLY thing IH4's installer brings to the table is that you now no longer have to "click a button" to execute it..
I'm running 1.5.1

I installed following the 'auto' setup - only renamed the admin folder and uploaded.

I saw bunch of rows (all of them green) when the installer ran and then as follows in the instructions I went to Images to enable IH but there all IH field header names were blank. The settings were visible but...

Then I went into the 'admin' folder of IH and saw there's language versions I was not copied for my other 2 languages - I did that for BG and ES lang., uploaded them but no luck again (the same EN files, all my admin section is EN for all langs)

I didn't saw if IH menu was present in Tools, but the changed 'categories' file was working.

I reverted back to original state now. What I did wrong?

Hi Diva!

I have a new install ZC 1.51 + IH4. The module installed fine, and is creating cached images, and hover is working as expected.

I have a couple questions. I'm 'new' to Image Handler so I hope you don't mind.

1. Have you ever seen situations where IH4 has slowed down a site - meaning longer page load times? When I enable IH4 and refresh the page, I am getting a slight pause before the page renders. Settings are pretty much default with default zencart.

2. I'd like to use Magic Zoom from magictoolbox.com. Pretty nifty. Have you tested IH4 with magiczoom, or heard of any conflicts?

Thanks for the hard work!

chadderuski:

Hi Diva!

I have a new install ZC 1.51 + IH4. The module installed fine, and is creating cached images, and hover is working as expected.

I have a couple questions. I'm 'new' to Image Handler so I hope you don't mind.

1. Have you ever seen situations where IH4 has slowed down a site - meaning longer page load times? When I enable IH4 and refresh the page, I am getting a slight pause before the page renders. Settings are pretty much default with default zencart.

2. I'd like to use Magic Zoom from magictoolbox.com. Pretty nifty. Have you tested IH4 with magiczoom, or heard of any conflicts?

Thanks for the hard work!
IH4 ususally improves a site's performance.. So if you are experiencing some slowing I have to wonder if there isn't something else on your site that is causing it?? Post a link and we can give you a better idea..

You will not be able to use any kind of image zooming tool with the IH4 image hovering without some serious re-engineering of one or both tools to allow both to work together.. (it's on of the BIG reasons why zoom on the medium product image doesn't work in IH4)

the.rampage.rado:

I'm running 1.5.1

I installed following the 'auto' setup - only renamed the admin folder and uploaded.

I saw bunch of rows (all of them green) when the installer ran and then as follows in the instructions I went to Images to enable IH but there all IH field header names were blank. The settings were visible but...

the.rampage.rado:

Then I went into the 'admin' folder of IH and saw there's language versions I was not copied for my other 2 languages - I did that for BG and ES lang., uploaded them but no luck again (the same EN files, all my admin section is EN for all langs)

You say you are using another language in your store.. Try making the change from this post: http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?194740-Image-Handler-4-%28for-v1-5-x%29-Support-Thread&p=1117911#post1117911

the.rampage.rado:

I didn't saw if IH menu was present in Tools, **but the changed 'categories' file was working.**Not sure what you mean by this last part.

the.rampage.rado:

I reverted back to original state now. What I did wrong?Suggest making the change in the post I included (above) and then try the install again..