**tinyang.net/cam Site Announcements**
11/29/09
I'm still working on the site (even though it seems like its going nowhere). I'm just having a dog of a time with making jquery and php work well together again! The problem I'm having relates to having to use jquery to get the rating data out of the drop down menu and then post it to a php script which should be putting it in the mysql database. But I'm continuing to work on it, so I should make some progress eventually. :)
11/12/09
I finally finished up my contract work for now and am able to focus on finishing the website again. I am working on filling in the Gallery:View Image pages with areas to add comments about the picture and also an area to see the comments already made. Following that I will put in a rating area so members can rate the picture. Then I'll look at how I can shoe-horn these items into the mini-gallery image view area.
10/31/09
Now When you click on a picture thumbnail in the gallery or the mini-gallery, it takes you to the 'view image' webpage showing the full sized picture, instead of just the picture (without a webpage). In the gallery 'view image' webpage, look for more items like picture rating and comments area to be added next. These features will not be added to the mini-gallery 'view image' page, they will only be available when you click on an image thumbnail from the Gallery. Happy Halloween!
10/23/09
Galley and mini-gallery layouts are finished. The thumbnails are finally displaying properly in the user profiles (that took a while to fix). Right now when you click on a picture thumbnail, just the picture shows in a blank page. This is the next area I will be working on. Instead of a blank page with only the picture, I plan to put an area to add comments to the picture and to give it a rating.
10/16/09
I'm making progress in the Gallery. I have the test picture pages displaying and listing properly. I also have the associated data showing up with each picture (image id, date/timestamp, and the member who took the picture). Look for the cam/home page to have pictures showing up in the mini gallery soon. Also look for pictures to start appearing in member profiles (in profiles of test logins test1, test2, and test3).
I also wanted to clarify something I've received questions about a few times now. When you log into the website, it makes an entry in a table that you are one of the currently logged in members. When you exit the website, please be sure to click logout before closing the browser window. If you click logout first, it removes your member name from the list of currently logged in members. If you close the window without clicking logout, your name remains in the list of currently logged in members. The next time you log in, your member name will show up twice. Once you click logout, it will remove all instances of your member name from the currently logged in list, so it's easy to correct.
10/11/09
There have been a few changes to the website:
Sections in active beta testing are the Member Profiles (please, please log in and fill in your profile information, it needs to be tested by others besides me!) and the interface. What I am referring to when I say interface is how things look, how they are laid out, are the thumbnails in the gallery section large enough, etc. Please consider these things if you log in to check out the progress on the site and use the Feedback Form to share any input you have. Your feedback is very important because it is the only way for me to make the site work best for all of it's members.
10/9/09
Good news! Member profiles is finished! I fixed the remaining major problem it had, found another one and fixed that, and cleaned up a few odds and ends. I'm sure there is plenty of room for improvement in the profiles section, but I'm proud to say that it has a full basic framework and that everything there should work now. Feel free to log in and fill out your profile. As a matter of fact, I would greatly appreciate it if members would go in and fill out their profiles because that would help test out that part of the site further. Also note that there is now a Feedback form on the About page, so that members have a direct channel to submit comments, suggestions, problems, and any other input about this website. Feedback is also encouraged and welcome!
10/7/09
I'm officially starting work on the site again! I've been walking through it during these past few days so that I can recall where I left off and what still needs to be done. Member profiles is almost completed. The one issue that I can find in member profiles is that for some reason when a member updates their already existing profile, it overwrites all of the already existing info for some reason. What it should be doing is retaining all of the info that is already there and was not being updated. So this is one of the first issues I will be focusing on. I will also be researching using a remote IP cam host in order to serve up the webcam stream, as this would likely greatly reduce the burden on my current internet connection in hosting up the site, therefore improving performance for visiting members. I think I will then look at how I will be handling all of the pictures taken with the IP cam.
9/24/09
Amazingly enough, my husband has been able to fix the login problem that the site was experiencing. I have another short-term project or 2 to finish up, but then I shall be able to dedicate a large amount of my time to this project again and get it moving forward to completion. Huzzah!
8/8/09
I took the summer off so to speak from alot of things, and this project is one of them. I left this project in an almost done state, so I'm dying to get back to it and finish it. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how soon that will happen, because we've run into a problem with accessing the database, and my husband suspects that in order to fix this problem, it would require a rebuild of the database server. It's just another item added to the already millions of things on his "Things to do in your copius free time" list, so I don't know when he will be able to get around to it. But it will move forward eventually!
5/25/09
I just about finished buttoning up the member profile area, and along comes the login problem! Now working on that, so far has not been an easy problem to fix. I need to fix it before I buy the new cam, otherwise I can't login to the site to test streaming. Hopefully I can fix it soon!
5/16/09
FINALLY making some good progress on member profiles! :) All member names you see on the site as a clickable link (such as the 'Logged in as' and the members list page) work properly to bring up the member profile, if profile info is entered. Now to see to updating the member profile info getting into the database successfully...
5/11/09
Continuing work on the member profile pages. Click on tinyang on the member list page and you will see my profile info. I am making some progress with profiles and when you click on the member name, if they have info entered in their profile, it will display. Please do not try entering member profile info yet, because the data is not making it into the table yet. Hopefully I can get that working next.
5/6/09
Admittedly, things have been going slow for the past week. Just alot of other things going on this week for me so I have less free time to spend on this project. But after the weekend I expect progress will pick up significantly. I have been poking at a few lingering problems on the site and making steady progress on them. One thing I did manage to do is make the "logged in as: member name" a clickable link which will take you to that member's profile once I get profiles going.
4/29/09
I've changed the sign-up process for this website so that it requires your email. This info is only used to have your password reset and emailed to you in case you forget it (your email is otherwise confidential unless you choose to make it public in your profile). Those of you already registered as members of the website need to email me your email and member name at this address:
tinyang at earthlink dot net
Change the words to punctuation symbols to email me. If you choose not to email me your email, that is OK, except there will be no way to recover your password. When you register for the site and enter your password, I encrypt it, then stick it in the database for security reasons. This is so secure that there is no way for me to access your password either once it gets encrypted. So your login and everything associated with it (including pictures, profile info, etc.) goes away if you don't have your password.
The Members List page is somewhat functional now. I'm still working on user profile functionality (there is alot more to it than I first thought, lol). Even though I am sending the demo cam back tomorrow, I will have another video source very soon in order to continue to figure out the streaming functionality.
4/24/09
Streaming is working great on the LAN (inside my local network), not so well when I try to stream to the internet, so making the stream public is what I'm working on with support right now. I apologize for the annoying 'install flash plugin' popup window! I expect to resolve that issue with the streaming problems.
Streaming aside, I have a few tweaks to put on the login system (such as a link to reset your password if you forget it), and I will be developing the member profile area of the site and the Gallery areas. I still welcome any and all input, so please feel free to leave feedback in the chatbox or the forum. I check both areas regularly.
4/22/09
The login system is almost complete. When it is fully implemented, there will be no way to directly link to the main cam page. You will need to go to the Login page and register an account to log in and get access to the main tinyang cam page. So make sure you bookmark the login page now for future reference.
In order to fix a problem with the login system not letting anyone log in (even with the correct password), I had to delete all accounts already registered in the login database. This means if you created an account before and it does not work when trying to log in now, re-register and you should have no problems. Announcements have been moved to the login page. Still working with support on the streaming issue.