Ted Steele Posted December 9, 2018 Report Share Posted December 9, 2018 Hello, I am using template 10, and I would like to upload several PDF files into my Documents folder. I also want to link to one from the "Features" box on the RHS of my home page. I have uploaded just one PDF (and I can "see it" in the list of files in the documents folder) but when I try to determine the path to view it (be selecting it and attempting to "preview" it) that pop-up window just closes immediately. I suspect that it wants to treat the file as a jpg image, not a PDF. Can someone outline for me the best way to view and link to PDF files? Thanks, Ted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Lloyd Posted December 9, 2018 Report Share Posted December 9, 2018 You need to create a generic thumbnail for PDF documents. I have found it easiest to upload the PDF through the media section of admin and select the thumbnail and create a link to the pdf. See attached image. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Steele Posted December 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2018 Chris, OK, this solution seems really weird to me, but I'm giving it a try. I have uploaded my PDF (to the Documents folder) and I used Paint (I just drew a line) to create a small png file which I have uploaded to Photos and created a thumbnail. I then went to Admin/Media, selected my PDF (from Documents) and selected my thumbnail (from Photos) and clicked on save. Since this PDF document doesn't link to any individual (I just want to save it on my TNG website to I can link to it from the "Features" box) I still don't seem to be able to "see" it. How do I determine the path for my link? And what role does the "generic png" file play in accessing PDF files? Ted p.s. And if I get this to work I then re-use this same small png to somehow access other PDF files? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Steele Posted December 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2018 Michael, What you wrote is exactly how I would expect this to work. Upload the PDF into the Documents folder and then enter the path to that folder in Admin/Setup/Template Settings. I am working with a one-page PDF file called IBeam.PDF. (No spaces or special characters to make it simple.) I went to Admin / Media / Add New... and uploaded IBeam.PDF into my Documents folder. (As an aside... For the life of me I cannot figure out the differences among (1) Admin / Media / Add New, (2) Admin / Media / Import, and (3) Admin / Media / Upload. Do you have that figured out?) So I now should have IBeam.PDF sitting in my documents folder, right? But when I go back to Admin / Media / Search, it does not appear. My jpg image appears in Photos, but not the PDF in Documents. But I push forward, and enter the presumed path into the "Features" text in Admin/Setup/Template Settings: Men on the I-Beam, https://steelefamilyhistory.net/ebbets/documents/IBeam.pdf (I am actually working in a sub-directory folder as I have three instances of TNG websites under my "root" URL.) I save that link, refresh my Ebbets home page, click on the Feature and my home-page refreshes. It goes nowhere. Can you spot what I'm doing wrong? Ted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Steele Posted December 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2018 p.s. When I use my FTP program to view my site, "/public_html/ebbets/documents" shows my IBeam.PDF file in that directory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett Posted December 11, 2018 Report Share Posted December 11, 2018 Ted Check your browser download section. The file may be downloading automatically, depending on your settings. If so, you would not be given the option to open file. I have tried the link from https://steelefamilyhistory.net/ebbets/ and the auto download starts for me, as that is the option I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boonie67 Posted December 12, 2018 Report Share Posted December 12, 2018 Create a Media Collection. Have census in Census, News Collections for years. Plus many others. Some are pdf some aren't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Steele Posted December 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2018 Well, after numerous attempts over three days I am still unable to upload a PDF that I can link to. From Michael's most recent post the "secret" apparently is to somehow get the damned thing to also create a thumbnail -- a feat that I have yet to accomplish. I am an Ivy League educated guy with almost 50 years of IT experience for a Fortune 500 company, and yet I find it impossible to upload a PDF to my website that I can actually link to. Why is this so difficult? Frustrated in St. Louis... Ted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newfloridian Posted December 12, 2018 Report Share Posted December 12, 2018 Hi Ted One issue that hasn't been mentioned (and of course might be way off beam): do you have a pdf reader on your computer? I have a few pdf files downloaded into various document folders and access them from within my historytemplate.php articles. Here is an example: At the bottom of column 2 "Associations and Acknowledgements" there is a link "A copy of this article prepared in an Adobe pdf format is available here" Below that is a link to download such a reader for viewers who are unable to read the file (it's actually an icon under the right hand side of the ribbon bar): The Story of Edward Bretland: Part 2 Be interested to know if that helps Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett Posted December 12, 2018 Report Share Posted December 12, 2018 5 hours ago, Ted Steele said: Well, after numerous attempts over three days I am still unable to upload a PDF that I can link to. Ted As I mentioned in previous post, I have gone to your website ( https://steelefamilyhistory.net/ebbets ) and used the Link (I-Beam) in your Features section. The file (I-Beam.pdf) opens for me, so the path is correct. ( From your file: MEN ON THE BEAM In 1932 Charles Clyde Ebbets (no. 62) was working in New York) Alan asked: do you have a pdf reader on your computer? Is it being used as the default reader for your PDF from the web browser. You did not reply if the file is actually being downloaded to your OC when you click the link, rather than opening in browser or PDF reader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Steele Posted December 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2018 To answer Alan's question: Yes, I have Adobe Reader on my PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett Posted December 12, 2018 Report Share Posted December 12, 2018 Ted When you are on other sites and click a PDF link, how does the PDF file usually open? In the browser, opening Adobe Reader or something else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett Posted December 12, 2018 Report Share Posted December 12, 2018 On 12/11/2018 at 3:55 PM, Ted Steele said: But I push forward, and enter the presumed path into the "Features" text in Admin/Setup/Template Settings: Men on the I-Beam, https://steelefamilyhistory.net/ebbets/documents/IBeam.pdf (I am actually working in a sub-directory folder as I have three instances of TNG websites under my "root" URL.) I save that link, refresh my Ebbets home page, click on the Feature and my home-page refreshes. It goes nowhere. Michael I am still be following up on the above comment Ted said, that no file opens from the PDF link from the Feature section for him. Hopefully I am incorrect and the problem is indeed finalised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Lloyd Posted December 12, 2018 Report Share Posted December 12, 2018 this link opens fine for me https://steelefamilyhistory.net/ebbets/documents/IBeam1.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Steele Posted December 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2018 OMG! It seems that the link was working all along! Of course when I click on a PDF link in Firefox it downloads the file to my "downloads" folder on my PC. There it is, and I have to know to click in the "download arrow" in the address bar of my browser to open it. (and I'm thinking that if I missed that for the past few days others who come to my website won't notice it either.) But when I do the same thing in IE, that browser opens a new tab with nothing in it. So now I'm wondering if there's a way to force it to launch Adobe Reader no mater what browser the user is using? (Is that redundant? "...user is using?") Also open is how to open the PDF file(s) from the "Documents" link in the LHS of the template 10 home page? If there's no way to force the PDF to launch Adobe Reader I may have to re-think using PDF files at all. My main objective here is to have a document with photos and text together. Perhaps rather than using PDF files to do that I could create simple HTML pages and link to those. Yes? (I do know how to make simple HTML pages.) Your thoughts? Ted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett Posted December 13, 2018 Report Share Posted December 13, 2018 29 minutes ago, Ted Steele said: So now I'm wondering if there's a way to force it to launch Adobe Reader no mater what browser the user is using? (Is that redundant? "...user is using?") My main objective here is to have a document with photos and text together. While you wish the PDF to open in all browsers and for all users, this may not be the preferred user option. If like me, I am used to opening my downloads from Tools tab (Firefox) and viewing that way. This allows me to either look straight away or look at the file later, when time permits. It also means I can view later if I wish to look again, rather than needing to be on the website it came from. If you want text and photo together, you could create/edit the image to include the text, and link to that file instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Steele Posted December 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2018 Brett, You wrote " If you want text and photo together, you could create/edit the image to include the text, and link to that file instead." How might I do that if I have a jpg image -- other than creating a PDF? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Steele Posted December 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2018 Well, I created an IBeam.html page and uploaded it to my ebbets/documents location, but when I click on the link I get a "404 not found" error. When I look at the documents directory in my FTP program I see IBeam.pdf and IBeam.html sitting there side-by-side. Is there a reason that TNG can't open the html file? Ted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett Posted December 13, 2018 Report Share Posted December 13, 2018 2 hours ago, Ted Steele said: " If you want text and photo together, you could create/edit the image to include the text, and link to that file instead." How might I do that if I have a jpg image -- other than creating a PDF? Ted I am referring to an image editing program. Using that, you could increase the canvas size of the image. This does not amend the image. You would then use the same program to include text where you want it to go. After this, you save the new image with a different name and use that image to link too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Steele Posted December 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2018 So, for me this has been a "learning experience." Now, there are two reasons that I can think of why I would want to use static html pages rather than a PDF file: (1) I can do a lot more with html than I can with PDF, and (2) It should be so much easier to simply upload an html page and then link to it. No TNG admin menus to mess with, etc. Now, obviously a TNG website can link to an external html page (e.g., Ancestry.com) so isn'ty it possible for it to link to a static html page within its own domain name? I'm hoping that the trick is to figure out a good location for housing static html pages. Since "documents" didn't work I tried putting the html page in the "root" but that didn't work either. Here's what I am doing: (1) I use my FTP program to connect to SteeleFamilyHistory.net/ (2) I open public_html and then open "ebbets" (3) I upload IBeam.html into that directory (along with a zillion php files) (3 note): Previously I had opened the "documents" folder within "ebbets" and uploaded IBeam.html there. That's where I had IBeam.PDF. I close FTP and open Administrator and enter the path: https://steelefamilyhistory.net/ebbets/IBeam.html I then open my Ebbets home page, click on that path and get the 404 error. So I could probably buy a second domain name and put my static pages there, but why spend twic the money when I should be able to link to an html page somewhere within https://steelefamilyhistory.net/ Can anybody suggest a good path? Comments? Ted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newfloridian Posted December 13, 2018 Report Share Posted December 13, 2018 If you want to mix images and text (and possibly link to other sources inside and outside of TNG) why not explore historytemplate.php. You can build up your own library of "Feature Articles" I have about 500 of them on my site. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Steele Posted December 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2018 Michael, My Admin/Setup/Template contains this entry: I-Beam, https://steelefamilyhistory.net/ebbets/documents/IBeam.html However, when I click on that link I get a 404 error -- TNG cannot find that page. Which I don't understand, because when I had the link to my PDF file (I-Beam, https://steelefamilyhistory.net/ebbets/documents/IBeam.pdf) it worked (as we just saw). And when I view that directory in my FTP program, I see both files (PDF and html). So thy are in the identical path. I have just now modified my Ebbets home page to provide "links" to both (the PDF and the HTML) files in the documents folder. Identical paths to two different files sitting side-by-side. The PDF works, the HTML does not. Why is that? Ted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Steele Posted December 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2018 Alan, Oy -- another php file to learn... (Not my strong suit.) Having said that, I do appreciate the comment and I'll take a look. Thanks, Ted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newfloridian Posted December 13, 2018 Report Share Posted December 13, 2018 Very simple and straightforward. It is a php file but it contains the necessary coding to link it to TNG - so your pages have the same appearance of your chosen template. BUT you do the "user added" coding in html (with a smattering of css) and don't need to touch actual php coding at all. I'll send you an example of one of my articles by PM to demonstrate if it's of interest Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Steele Posted December 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2018 Thanks Alan, I'll stay tuned... Ted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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