Image Management Issue: Need Gif Preview With JPG Larger Image

Image Management Issue: Need Gif Preview With JPG Larger Image

I have spent many hours researching this question, google & forum searches have been performed, and I'm coming up completely dry...

my biggest question is:
On zen cart, how can I have .gif preview images with .jpg larger images? Even if I name them the same, the server rejects the larger image because it has a different extension & assumes its for a different listing.

1-Gif Preview/ With jpg _LRG images... how can I do it?
All my preview images are gifs--and my larger images are all JPGs... I can't figure out what mod can accommodate this, or how to get the site to accept it.

My images are already optimized/ minimum size--changing this will make my site load a lot slower (e.g. jpg previews would make it worse)

The images are already made & I would rather not change them...

I'm having trouble figuring out the image system--I spent all day on it...

2-Need Same Preview Image on Many listings, with DIFFERENT _LRG image for each one....
Another problem I'm having is that I need to use the same exact image on several listings quite often, especially on preview images...
this becomes a serious problem when I've got 20x identical preview images, that need 20x different larger images... (ie the preview looks the same & needs the same image, but the larger image will be different on every single listing just about)
it's an incredible waste of time & space to make 20x different names for the same image..
is there some kind of mod that will let me determine my preview & enlarged image AND allow a very different name & extension for each one?

3-I already tried a few mods, they all failed to deliver the above 2x objectives... I thought selecting the exact images I wanted wouldn't be a 15+ hour project to get a single listing to work correctly...

at least in my case, ALL images on previews will ALWAYS be a gif, whenever I have a JPEG _LRG image as the larger image.

in some cases I'll have other extensions for previews, but they will not even have a larger image most of the time.

there may be a rare exception where I want a jpg preview with a jpg large image.. but right now, I wont need that, and I've got thousands of listings to create...

3-I tried the "Swap Images via Mouseover" mod & was unable to get it work. I followed the instructions exactly, but the mod didn't seem to do anything--it did change my listings slightly, but the mouseover did nothing... I do want something like this on my site, several competitors use it, so it would help for me to be as professional as them...

for me its been a complete nightmare that I cant simply define the images I want..

it so completely arbitrary that I MUST have the same extension on everything--

it seems no one ever talks about this anywhere, which is really shocking for me..

can't a product listing have a gif/ png/ jpg interchangeably? i'm just shocked that I cant find anyone else looking for this same thing...

I tried "Image Handler 2.0" from http://breakmyzencart.com/ih-doc but it had the same configuration issue--ALL my images MUST be .gif or they ALL must be .jpg--and in my case, my preview & larger images need different extensions, because they show different views of the item--

I'm going to have 50 listings or more on pages where I use .gifs that are only 2k each.. If I try to make them .jpg its going to explode my memory usage...

at the same time, the larger preview really needs to be a .jpg, the view it shows is a photo type format, and trying to use a different extension explodes the memory on that..

Here's a more concise explanation:
which I also posted here: http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?p=594809#post594809

I need images with different extensions to work, for example:

widget.gif
widget_01.gif
widget_LRG.jpg

My large images are always .jpg and my smaller images are gifs.. I can't seem to find a mod that allows this...

I also have cases where I need the same preview, but different large images... I can't figure out a way to get zen cart to accommodate this..

for example:
product1:
widget.gif
widget_LRG.jpg

product2:
widget.gif
widget02_LRG.jpg

product3:
widget.gif
widget03_LRG.jpg

product4:
widget.gif
widget04_LRG.jpg

It's sloppy & innefficient if I'm forced to rename the same preview image, as if it's 1,000 different images to accomodate the system--it would explode my database & make things a sloppy mess...

do I have a choice with zen cart?

There is not currently any addon built to do exactly what you're after.

However, it can be written.

I recommend posting in the Commercial Help Wanted area if you need to hire someone to specifically write the functionality you require.

Hey--thanks for the info sensei...

It looks like it will either be a custom solution, or I'll just have to adapt things to the needs of the cart...

I am considering switching carts--but I'm thinking there will probably be major issues with something else anyway...

I'll probably just stick it out.

I kept searching... I think I found a free solution that's already developed--I have yet to try & implement.

Main Image Replacer (MIR) Contrib - Official Thread

This basically let's me overide the 'main image'...

perhaps I can put a dummy name for the main image, that will allow the right .jpg/ .jpeg preview to link
but then I can override, and use my .gif preview images :)

I.e. if this works like it says, I may be able to do EXACTLY what I want!

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?p=582141

The solution I tried didn't work, you're right there's nothing out there...

Just Wish I could Define 2-3 Images In Zen Cart, not 1...
All I really need is a mod that could somehow define 1 main image & 1 large image for the listing/ & the same large image for the popup on the listing...

This way the main image/ & popup could be completely different--it would add to the database but cut the actual number of images used by 400% or something.

Stuck With Something Built for a Programmer not a User...
I'm going to have to rename the exact same image with several or even hundreds of different names, just so the preview will work (which is actually different in every case/ most cases)

Seems inefficient for page loading, etc, but I guess there's no way around this, unless, like you said, I hire someone to modify zen cart's code.

I'm guessing people thought the method was very 'convenient', although it's built on the assumption that every single product would have a completely unique main image, and that a larger popup image would always match a preview perfectly...

Going to Explode My Data Usage Yay
So basically, I guess the fastest way is to adapt to zen-cart & not adapt it to me (lol)... and just rename the same image over & over, that way the preview can work.

I could go to a different cart, but I really like the Zen Cart template I found & I'm tired of trying different carts...

I already threw in the towel on CRE-Loaded (which I have decided is complete trash) and a few other carts not even worth mention.

I Wish Only the Name Had to Be Identical Not Extensions
I really wish zen cart would let different image extensions work as long as they have the same name--I do wonder how hard that would be to write... I'm not too bad with PHP myself, but since I'm new to Zen Cart, modifying the code is still a bit daunting...

wish example
myimage.gif (main image)
myimage_LRG.jpg

See--If only I could do what I wrote there.. Identical name on the preview & the image, but different extension--

That would cut out a lot of the work I'm about to do...

Wish I could just Define the Exact Images Already Uploaded & Link them to My Product
I do wish I could name 2x completely different images for the sake of efficiency, although a change like that would require some real datbase work for sure...

I wish there was a "browse" popup that linked serverside, and let me simply attach images to my product... & I wish I could just define exactly what I want... Right now, there's not a popup at all for serverside images, I just have to type in the extension/ name...

You can't just drop to DOS and do a
rename *.gif *.jpg

and then upload the images? :smile:

I'll try that!

I use .gif for the smaller image and .jpeg for the other 2.
Before I upload them, I just rename the extension of the smaller one, from .gif to .jpeg!
This way I can have well optimized images and have no problems with Zen Cart! :smile:

Figueira

Figueira:

I use .gif for the smaller image and .jpeg for the other 2.
Before I upload them, I just rename the extension of the smaller one, from .gif to .jpeg!
This way I can have well optimized images and have no problems with Zen Cart! :smile:

Figueira

Yeah, I plan on using freeware called "batch image converter" to convert a few thousand images.