pcusack

Thanks Matthew.

Hi David,

I have tried inserting your suggestion into my shortcode and the result displayed on the website is:

[+caption+]: TEST DESCRIPTION

SHORTCODE #1 USED IS:
[mla_gallery post_mime_type=application/pdf attachment_category=small_business_series_basic link=file mla_target=_blank mla_viewer=true columns=2 mla_viewer_width=200 orderby=title DESC mla_caption=”{+caption+}: {+description+}”]

In contrast, without inserting the mla_caption parameter you have suggested, the result I get is the “Caption” that I have identified for any selected item in the Media Library.

SHORTCODE #2 USED IS:
[mla_gallery post_mime_type=application/pdf attachment_category=small_business_series_basic link=file mla_target=_blank mla_viewer=true columns=1 mla_viewer_width=400 orderby=title DESC]

Using the Shortcode #2, my temporary solution is to simply combine my “Caption” and “Description” into the Caption Field in the Media Library in order to see the desired results on the web page.

Is my Shortcode #1 not correct? Ideally separating the Caption and Description in the Media Library would be preferred.

Actually let me clarify and try to articulate further…

1) A slider gallery is not necessarily needed BUT based on what my project entails, I am thinking that it may add value to the visitor/viewer experience.

2) Currently using MLA, I now have the thumbnail image being displayed, when the thumbnail is “clicked on” the viewer sees the PDF document in the browser. This is acceptable and provides the basic illustration of my needs. I do not need Google Viewer to display it in both places.

3) The “second scenario” you summarize is not the objective.

4) What I would like to achieve is taking the basic illustration mentioned above in #2 to a more advanced stage and instead of displaying viewable PDF’s use MS Excel Interactive Templates.

5) From our discussions to date, I do not think MLA can support the display of MS Excel files in a gallery format? Correct? Do you envision this capability in future versions of MLA?

6) As mentioned in my other post, realizing the hurdles related to my needs I have put together a short-list of individuals/organizations that might be able to help, if you have some interest and availability then perhaps a brief offline discussion would be best. My Skype ID is: pcusack-pkc and I invite you to connect.

Hi David,

Like you, I have thought about the cloud-based services you mention along with others like DropBox but remain hesitant because of the possibly access to along wiht the confidentiality and privacy of information submitted by visitors.

Going forward do you see Media Library Assistant accommodating MS Excel uploads versus Images or PDF’s?

I have searched WordPress for Excel Plugins but have only found a small handful that are simplistic in comparison to the level of sophistication being sought.

Realizing these hurdles, I have a short-list of individuals/organizations who might be able to help with my project needs and I will be reaching out to them. Based on our brief interaction within this forum, seeing the quality of your work on MLA, and appreciating the quality of your knowledge expressed within the support forum, perhaps we should have a discussion offline. If you agree and have some interest in having a brief discussion, you can connect with me on Skype at pcusack-pkc.

Correct. My apologize, my fingers became “click happy”.

Hi David,

Your welcome. I hope the feedback is useful to either you and/or your audience, now or in the future.

As for your clarification question, correct it would be the latter as I was thinking of only the thumbnail image generated by Google Viewer being in the slider (my learning curve with some of the terminology is steep, but is going up!). The “slider” idea is to have the thumbnails be viewed one at a time with the functionality for the visitor/viewer to click on any thumbnail and subsequently view the PDF document in the browser. This option is the alternate to having an extended list of documents for the visitor to scroll through and/or select from in each gallery category.

Using MLA, multiple “categories” will be created each displayed in a separate gallery with several PDF’s attached to each gallery category.

Took a look at your sample and that is addressing the vision in my mind. Although from a first vistit, I don’t think that plugin will handle PDF’s.

Your summary is accurate. I have searched but and looked at several “Slider” plugins but have not seen one yet that will support PDF Documents with thumbnail images generated by Google Viewer.

I was thinking MLA might do this. The Gallery function is very good and handles the PDF’s as sought.

One extra question related to this post comes to mind – is there a way to include in the shortcode a parameter that will display the “descriptions” given to each of the PDF Images in the media library?

Hi, Thanks for the quality feedback to my earlier response. Much appreciated!

Wanted to share some feedback with you and your audience in case others try to address the same matters:

1. Prior to your directions, when clicking on my Thumbnail PDF Samples it was opening and displaying a link to the PDF document, then I had to click on the link to open in a browser. Your directions eliminated that and now the link goes directly to the file. Thanks!

2. Prior to your directions, because Excel does not provide an option to print using watermarks, what I had done to get a watermark onto the PDF Document was set the printer to print the watermark during printing, then simple print from Excel. This printout was scanned as a PDF and uploaded to the MLA Gallery. Your directions clarified my understanding of how MLA picks up directly from Excel the desire for displaying in landscape view. Hence, my approach of print & scan negated any program your MLA program would have looked for. This issue was resolved thanks to your directions. Thanks!

Further, since Excel does not provide the option to include watermarks on printouts, in order to use MLA and utilize the landscape function, I am opting to include a unique header on the Excel sheet/printout instead. I can not think of another alternative solution at this time.

3. The challenge I experienced next was subsequently trying to “rotate” the PDF in MLA. Your directions clarified for me that “rotating” can not be done with a PDF Document and the commands I was trying to use were for images specifically. My issue was my own lack of knowledge on which commands were specific to either PDF’s or Images. My understanding is a little clearer thanks to your directions. Thanks!

4. FYI, I have also created categories and put in the shortcode the “attachment_category” parameter since several attachments will be attached. I assume using this is parameter in combination with the “application/pdf” parameter is a better way to utilize MLA as it will filter the attachments and also require me to manage the various galleries. If my understanding is flawed, please advise otherwise.

Again, thanks for all the help and insight. Much appreciated!

One further insight, I have also tried playing with these coding items:

columns=1 size=”full” ids=”2266″

mla_link_href='{+site_url+}/?page_id={+parent+}’]

mla_viewer_width=750

item_width=60