Hierarchy of Galleries (parent/child relationships)

[JimH]

I am evaluating Phoca Gallery and after installing it I get some unexpected behavior.

Can someone tell me if it is "working as design" or if I can change something to get the desired behavior?

I used the Categories: Birthdays, Holidays, Pets, and Sports described information in the documentation to create the test environment.

I created slide images for Dad, Mom, Jonny, Susie, Italy, France, Spain, Dog, Cat, Football and Tennis. I structured them as described in the documentation.

The URL for the test site is:
http://www.jlhpgms.com/phocatest/test-photos

Let me know if you need the Admin Password - I can send it via email.

When I clicked "Test Photos", I expected to see a folder for each of the 4 main category folders; Birthdays, Holidays, Pets, and Sports. Instead, I see all 11 slides that I created. In other words, I see the images in the sub-folders rather than a Parent Folder. I expected to see four boxes (Birthdays, Holidays, Pets, and Sports) with a Folder Icon in each. Then, clicking on one of them would take you to the sub-folder and the photos contained within. Seeing all the photos would be confusing to the user. I might have hundreds of photos.

Now click on the "France 1" slide and it opens the France Gallery with the 2 slides, "France 1" and "France 2" shown.

Now, it gets interesting. Click the Back Arrow (in the box) and the "Holidays" Gallery appears showing the 3 sub-galleries France, Italy and Spain. Rather than showing a Folder Icon for each, it is showing the first slide in each Gallery. At some point in my testing, I encountered a large Folder Icon but don’t recall where.

So, the hierarchy (parent/child relationship) and the navigation is not what I had expected and is not what I need. I find the current behavior to be unintuitive and confusing.

If there something simple that I am overlooking? Other than this issue, the extension looks good.

If there is someone in the USA that can provide clear instructions, that would resolve this issue, over the phone I would be willing to pay a reasonable fee. I simply want to be able to step down from one level to the next lower level to the next lower level, etc. seeing only the folders until I reach the lowest level and then I want to see the photos. Then, of course, I want the Back Arrow to step backwards through the same pages.

For example:

Holidays (2 folders showing Europe and America -- and nothing more -- only 2 boxes)
...Europe
......Western Europe (3 folders (boxes) only -- showing France, Spain, and Italy with Folder Icons)
.........France (multiple photos)
.........Spain (multiple photos)
.........Italy (multiple photos)
...America (2 folders only -- showing Eastern USA and Western USA with Folder Icons)
......Eastern USA (3 folders showing New York, Georgia, and Florida folders)
.........New York (multiple photos)
.........Georgia (multiple photos)
.........Florida (multiple photos)
......Western USA (3 folders showing California, New Mexico, and Washington State)
.........California (multiple photos)
.........New Mexico (multiple photos)
.........Washington State (multiple photos)

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[Benno]

HI,
go to backend and set: --> Components --> Phoca Gallery --> Control Panel --> Options --> Categories View --> Categories View Settings -->
Display Subcategories=No
Display Empty Categories=Yes
Save & Close

Kind regards,
Benno

[JimH]

Many thanks, Benno, for the clear instructions.

Those 2 Options made a huge improvement. I have to wonder if the values you provided should not be the defaults.

[Benno]

You're welcome!

Kind regards,
Benno