Hello Troy,

You can actually share images in a group of EasySocial. Am I missing anything here?

@Mark, not in a Discussion. You can share in the Activity Feed, but not in an actual discussion. Nor can you share/post video. Am *I* missing something? lol

Hello Troy,

Ah yes, currently you can't really upload them in the group discussions. However you can embed the video and photo on the discussion though.

@Mark, I just want to try to be clear so I understand.

Embedding videos and uploading images seem to be vital to a social network. I don't need uploading of videos (just embedding), and no one likes to just embed an image (most people upload).

So just so I'm clear, based on what you said: we cannot *upload* images or videos to Group Discussions, but we *can* embed them into the Discussions? (and I mean the actual Discussions section, not the activity stream.)

If that's correct, how does one embed either of these? I pasted an embed code and it was just treated like text.

Hello Troy,

Sorry, I meant you can "embed" images but not videos yet We could probably add this in the future, not that difficult at all

@Mark, how does one embed an image? There is no icon for it in the toolbar of a Discussion field. And I'm talking about "create a discussion" under the application Discussions. It generates a field that says "Title for your question" and a content field with a toolbar that only has text formatting, an upload file icon, and a way to post code.

(also, where is the language so I can change the "title for your question" to "topic title," or something like that?)

Hello Troy,

I am really sorry for the delay of this reply as it is a weekend for us here. Take a look at my screen shot here, http://screencast.com/t/hR9gUDFN

You can change the language string in /language/en-GB/en-GB.com_easysocial

@Mark, that's a file upload. When that is used, it just adds an attachment, not an image. Am I doing something wrong? (and no worries about the delays! You guys are awesome and I appreciate how fast and thoroughly you take care of us. So I'm very happy!)

Hello Troy,

Yes, but if you upload an image, it also embeds the image on the discussion. Clicking on the "attachment" would then display the image. Am I missing anything here?

@Mark, yes, first: an attachment is not the same thing as embedding (at least, as far as I've ever used those words). So that's part of where you got me confused. The other part is the inconsistency of what happens when you click on this attachment. Depending one what is uploaded as an attachment, you get a different experience when you click it. If it's a JPG or PNG, it pops up in another browser window, which is not practical for a Discussion. If it's a GIF, it downloads so that you have to then open it locally, which is even more impractical. No one wants to download an image and then open it in a local software as part of a discussion. You want the image (or video) IN the discussion.

Even in these threads, an image embed has only one option: a URL, which isn't very useful for a social community.

UPDATE: uh oh - I just discovered that these attachments, no matter what they are, open as downloads only from the Activity Stream.

Is an embed option coming to Discussions (for Groups, or EasyDiscuss?) If it can be done directly to the Activity Stream, why not in Discussions?

No videos or images for a social network is deadly! Acck!

I am getting panicked about this. This may be a dealbreaker if I can't figure out a workaround (not a threat, just a depressing fact for my community). We really need Groups that have functioning abilities to share in an organized way. I had no idea nothing but text or attachments could be posted to any Discussions. Is that the case with EasyDiscussion extension, too?

Hello Troy,

Hm, sorry but I think I got confused over "attachments" and "embed" as I thought that is actually the same thing. I guess what you are looking for is a way to display images directly on the discussion? It's currently not possible to display the image directly on the discussion but with a slight hack on the theme file you could though. Edit the file /components/com_easysocial/themes/wireframe/discussions/item.image.php and locate the codes below,

<a href="<?php echo $file->getPreviewURI();?>" target="_blank">

	<span class="discussion-embed-item discussion-embed-image">

		<i class="ies-download-3"></i>

		<span class="discussion-embed-caption">

			<?php echo $file->name;?> (<?php echo $file->getSize();?><?php echo JText::_( 'COM_EASYSOCIAL_UNIT_KILOBYTES' );?>)

		</span>

	</span>

</a>

Replace it with,

<img src="<?php echo $file->getPreviewURI();?>" />

@Mark, you are bringing me a great sense of relief. Thank you so much. I was starting to sweat!

Can I set an image resize default in there?
Why doesn't this work for GIF images?
Is there a hack for Video previews, as well?

And it looks like if I leave the other code, it allows for a download for the preview. I am fine with that. Will it hurt to leave both codes?
And is this something I will need to watch and replace in future upgrades?

By the way, I'm the amateur here. You are the pro. If you say Embed and Attachment are the same, I'll defer to you. Thank you for your patience with me.

Hello Troy,

No problem You just need to relax and stay calm Yes, you can leave both codes there. The reason why we don't "display" the image within the discussion itself is because we think that these previews will make the discussion look very messy. Perhaps in the future, when we are able to style it so that it works like EasyDiscuss we'll alter this behavior

Also, is there a way to keep the individual posts referring to an image upload to a Group from the Activity Stream? It's overkill to have the image have its own entry, and then the actual Discussion entry right behind it.

Hello Troy,

Hm, sorry but I don't quite get you here.

@mark, this is what I mean:
http://screencast.com/t/o2XTuCMLVx2

Also, I edited my post above so you may not have seen my other questions. Will you look at that again?

Hello Troy,

Hm, gif images should actually work since we don't do any image manipulation on gif images. As for image resizing, you should do this via CSS instead. Unfortunately I do not have the hack for videos yet at this point of time

As for the double posting on the stream, there's no settings for this yet but you can quickly add a hack in the file /media/com_easysocial/apps/group/files/files.php and locate the codes below at line 315,

	public function onPrepareStream( SocialStreamItem &$item, $includePrivacy = true )

	{

		if ($item->context != SOCIAL_TYPE_FILES) {

			return;

		}

Replace it with,

	public function onPrepareStream( SocialStreamItem &$item, $includePrivacy = true )

	{

                return;

		if ($item->context != SOCIAL_TYPE_FILES) {

			return;

		}

This way, the file upload stream will never be generated.

@Mark, Awesome!! I edited the file. Thank you! As for the GIF, yeah, it's posting as only a download. No preview generated.
http://screencast.com/t/EDJiBZD6

Hello Troy,

Hm, to be honest I am not really sure why but I could check for you on the site. I probably think the mime type isn't set for gif images when you uploaded it via file explorer.

Also, the hack doesn't seem to have worked (or stopped working). The separate entry prompting a download still shows up in the activity feed. It seemed to have work, at first, then it all came back. This could be related to my other issue in another thread (regarding the break in html?) because I've also turned off posts to the Activity Stream for installing applications by users, and now that's not working, either. The app installations are still showing up in the stream despite being turned off in users.

Mark wrote:
Hm, to be honest I am not really sure why but I could check for you on the site. I probably think the mime type isn't set for gif images when you uploaded it via file explorer.

Okay, I went in and added gif to mime types, but I'm still getting the upload to a Discussion as only an attachment. No preview.

Hello Troy,

Please provide us with the link to the discussion that has these "gif" images.

Here you go, Mark. Here is one:
http://our.truthloveenergy.com/apps/canvas/25-discussions/group/3-michael-on-astrology?customView=item&discussionId=82

It should work fine now.

GIFs preview now! Woo Hoo!

Great

I'm sorry to have to revisit this thread again, but the code/hack doesn't seem to be working regarding blocking the image showing up in the activity stream as a download. http://screencast.com/t/YTsmywjy4

This is the code from earlier in the thread:

public function onPrepareStream( SocialStreamItem &$item, $includePrivacy = true )

	{

                return;

		if ($item->context != SOCIAL_TYPE_FILES) {

			return;

		}

Hello Troy,

Hm, the same code modifications should work. May I know which file are you editing?

Mark, I've put it around line 315 here - /media/com_easysocial/apps/group/files/files.php
http://screencast.com/t/MlOisHvkK3e

Hello Troy,

Are you referring to the stream generated in the groups or the streams that are generated on the dashboard?

Sorry, Mark, both, actually. When someone adds an image to a Discussion, I don't want the Activity Stream for the Group or for the Dashboard to be cluttered with alerts for both the thread that has the images AND every image in the thread. My members are already complaining about how cluttered the Activity Stream is, and this doesn't help matters. If I can keep those from showing up as separate entries in the stream, that would be great. (see below)

I have tested the group's stream and it doesn't generate any stream for file uploads. I have also edited the file /media/com_easysocial/apps/user/files/files.php and at line 125 added the codes below,

return;

The dashboard no longer displays the file activity streams now.