Add Photonic Gallery workflow crashes when adding from Instagram

Let me answer your last question first.

Also, is there an easy way (or any way at all) to create a gallery of ALL images with a certain hashtag within my Instagram account? When I bring up the “Add Photonic Gallery” process, I only see the latest images from my Instagram, but I want to use older images (preferably by hashtag).

Unfortunately this is not possible. This has less to do with Photonic code and more to do with the fact that I don’t run a business to track Instagram usage. To use functionality such as searches, hashtags etc. I have to go through an approval process with Facebook called “Business Verification”, submitting tax documents etc., and justifying why I need my app to use Hashtags etc. As this is just a hobby for me (and I am in no way interested in collecting Instagram user data), setting up a registered business to get Photonic approved does not make sense.

So, if using hashtags is a “must have”, you will not be able to use Photonic. There are certain other plugins that might serve you better here.

Now, if you are still OK using Photonic, then read on.

In reading through your post I see this:

As soon as I searched from the “Add Photonic Gallery” workflow, that window just turned white. I also tried searching for other phrases that exist, assuming maybe there were too many instances of that hashtag, but got the same result.

So, you did get results to start with? And then when you tried to filter them, you ended up getting a white screen? Is it a fully white screen? Or just that the search results are showing you nothing?

Can you provide me with a screenshot for what you are seeing? In your browser if you hit F12, or Ctrl + Shift + I in Chrome, do you see any errors in the tab called “Console”?

Basically the search feature is insanely fast, and it is likely that you didn’t get any search results. Note the following:

1. The search feature only shows up when you want to display a single photo, not otherwise.
2. The search doesn’t do a “server search” – it does a “results search”, meaning it will only show you matches from the results that are currently showing.
3. If you want to display a really old photo or post, keep hitting the “More” button at the bottom till you have exhausted your entire photo list.

I didn’t previously notice the “more” option, so I checked again… still don’t see it. That option would totally satisfy my needs—hashtags are not a must have. They just seemed to be a smart way to filter a large Instagram account, but a more button would be totally fine. I just don’t know where my “more” button is!

I’ll screenshot console after another search and also in the first step of the single photo where I’m not seeing the “more” option at the bottom. I thought of posting a screen capture of the white screen on search (no I never got ANY result but maybe it was because I was literally searching for a hashtag? But wouldn’t that return something since it’s part of the text of the post?

Anyway, I will post a link below with screenshots since I don’t see an option to post an image here on www.ads-software.com/support

Embarrassing level of what looks like unrelated errors in the console!

I see now that as I type a string, the search is most definitely working for that first bunch of Instagram images from my account. I guess the “more” button (still not finding that anywhere) will load another set that I could then search, but the search does not search the whole account… I get it now.

There’s also a screenshot here of the earlier instance where I thought I was getting no search results or a crash/hang on search, but now I understand that I was trying to search the whole account which will not work.

So, what about the “more” button you mentioned? Did I break it or something?

Here are those screenshots https://shawnblog.com/photonic-screenshots/

Also, I had no idea searching for hashtags required so much additional work. Seems ridiculous, but I guess a lot has changed since the early days of all this stuff. It’s all big business now! ??

I didn’t previously notice the “more” option, so I checked again… still don’t see it. That option would totally satisfy my needs—hashtags are not a must have. They just seemed to be a smart way to filter a large Instagram account, but a more button would be totally fine. I just don’t know where my “more” button is!

There seems to be a bug in the Wizard for Instagram – the “more” button is indeed missing. I have fixed it for version 2.44 (should be out today).

However, the “More” button still does show up on the front-end (and there is no bug there). To see it, when you are constructing a gallery, if you pick “Multiple photos”, then go all the way to the screen where you “Configure Your Layout”, you have a field that lets you set a value for “More” button text. If you put in a value there, the button will display on the front-end.

Note that in the wizard, the button should only show up when you are trying to pick a “Single Photo” from the thumbnails presented (doesn’t work right now due to the bug), because the wizard needs to let you pick a photo to display. That has no bearing on what an end-user sees on the front-end – the front-end setting is controlled by setting a text value in the “Configure your layout” screen.

I’m don’t want the web site visitor to browse my entire Instagram account. I guess I could set up another Instagram account just for the content I want to show on vanityplat.es but a “more” button on the front end is not what I want to give them at all because my Instagram has family photos and all kinds of other random stuff. I just want to show them my vanity plates on this site which are mostly older posts from back when Instagram was brand new. I also have a lot on Flickr, but haven’t yet set up the API key here. Is Flickr/Photontic maybe what I should be looking at if I want to select specific pictures from my account (and again, not allow visitors to my site just browse all my photos on Flickr).

I’ll look for the “more” on single Instagram setup wizard when the plugin is updated.

Thanks for your help here!

Is Flickr/Photontic maybe what I should be looking at if I want to select specific pictures from my account (and again, not allow visitors to my site just browse all my photos on Flickr).

This is a no-brainer. Flickr’s API is considerably more comprehensive when compared to Instagram’s. Instagram is fine if you are looking to display single posts etc., but Flickr does a much better job of organizing content. Photonic leverages it to the fullest extent by letting you show albums, searching for tags etc.

Setting up an API key takes about 2 minutes for Flickr.

Yeah I just set it up and started playing around with some ideas for displaying an album. I might need to set them up differently. One album has over 13,000 vanity plates! ??

Oh and I noticed a minor typo “prvious” on Flickr settings at “Access Token Secret (for Back-end / Server-side Authentication)”

Hi,
I had fixed the “more” button problem in version 2.44 of the plugin, so I am marking this closed.