This post describes how to install webserver Apache, database mySQL and PHP on Windows using WAMP. WAMP is a great webserver toolset to get the free multi user web gallery phTagr running under windows with an ease. See also HowToInstallWamp for updates and changes.

Download WAMP

Download WAMP from their website. In time of writing, this was version wampserver2.2e-php5.3.13-httpd2.2.22-mysql5.5.24-x64 (64 bit version)

Install WAMP

Execute the WAMP installation file and follow the setup dialog. In the 7th step you are asked to enter your default browser. I’ve chosen Chrome.

After successful installation you can launch WAMP and you will see a green W in your tray icon bar.

Configure WAMP

To run phTagr we need to configure Apache. To have nice URLs we need the rewrite module. To enable it, click left on the green W icon in the tray icon and select the rewrite module under Apache / Apache modules.

Further we need PHP extension php_exif and php_zip under PHP / PHP extensions.

After enabling/disabling a module/extension in WAMP, WAMP restarts. The W icon becomes orange shortly. Further, the modules/extension list requires one or two restart/reloads to show the correct module/extension list. Do don’t be bothered by WAMP if it does not show the correct list immediately.

Create Database

phTagr uses a mysql database for fast media selection queries. Therefore, we need to create a database before installing phtagr. Start phpMyAdmin via W tray icon.

Create a phtagr user with a database via menu Users / Add user. Please select Create database with same name and grant all privileges on user creation.

Download phTagr

Please install latest version of open source gallery phtagr via website phtagr.org.

Extract the ZIP file to C:\wamp\www directory.

Now open your browser with at localhost/phtagr and follow the installation instructions.

Recently phTagr’s Explorer added two new view styles: Compact and Small. Both views can by set in the filter input with view:compact and view:small or by selecting the appropriate view in the View Filter menu.

The small view gives a great overview and is helpful for tagging and organize fresh imported images. The compact view hides the meta information of the images.

Enjoy the amazing web photo gallery phtagr!

Small Media View without media view

Compact View without meta data

No Tags

Recently the query was improved to support media queries which have not tag, category, location or geo tag assigned. A special filter value was introduced: none. Use the query filter in the explorer and enter tag:none to query all untagged photos. The none value works with search terms tag, category, sublocation, city, state, country, location, and geo. Further you can query media with geo information via geo:any

To see the demo visit the demo photo gallery with explorer/view/tag:none.

Further examples are:

• category:none
• city:none
• geo:any

Simple Filter with any:

Explorers filter input was also improved. In the older version the user had to wait for autocompletion of search term to activate the search filter. For example, if you searched for food you had to wait until phTagr suggested the search term tag:food. Inpatient situations (or inpatient users) where just hitting enter after entering the word food. The single word was not accepted as filter term and was rejected.

Now phTagr detects such inputs and uses the filter term any: In the previous example phTagr adds the search term any:food and returns hits in tags, categories, or locations. I’m starting to love this function and quick filter interaction!

Try explorer/view/any:debug at the demo photo gallery.

Quick Search with similar:

The third change was applied to the quick search bar in the top right corner. The quick search opens the same search view as other filtered views. Further phTagr searches similar words to the given input with the new search term similar: So if you input flower, phTagr will search similar meta data by similar:flower and will also return media with power tags. Isn’t it great!?

Just play around with explorer/view/similar:leche at the demo photo gallery.

Ah. And one more thing: The rotation has now an reset action. Wrong rotated media can be easily reset to standard orientation.

Happy tagging and searching!

phTagr 2.2 is on the way. While fixing and testing the code phTagr added support for GPX tracks. GPX is a great GPS exchange format which is also the export format of Android App OpenGPSTracker. Just record your day trip with OpenGPSTracker and geo tag your photos using a your Android phone! That’s a great news!

There is also now an option in the backend to set the time offset for GPS tracks if your photos are not taken in UTC. This options helps you to synchronize the GPS tracks taken UTC with your local time of your camera.

Happy Easter!

Recently a (German) news channel reported about the social micro payment system Flattr where you can share your love to thousand articles, songs, videos, or software by a simple click while having the opportunity to receive love from others. It’s a donation without troubles.

I think this payment-love sharing is a really really great idea! You can pay back your loved content sources or loved projects easily while receiving honors of others. All you need is an account at Flattr.com and some monthly donation input to give love and to receive love. If you love 10 things your monthly donation is shared to these 10 things, if you love 100, all 100 receive a little love – but at the end all you loved things receive something!

It’s a good idea for all the content creators, all song writers, all video editors, all software hobby writers like me. Therefore, you are able to tell your love for this great hobby project now! Just Flattr phTagr…

Recently the upload function of phTagr was simplified and is enabled as default by now. The older but more advanced file browser could be enabled in the general settings of the user.

By the default the user has an upload button in the menu where he can upload files and ZIP archives. These files are uploaded to a daily created upload directory and are imported automatically. After the successful upload process some of the new imported photos or videos are shown directly in the upload form and gives a great feedback to the user.

This awesome improvement simplifies the technical modeled behavior of the file browser where two separate steps of uploading and importing are necessary to show your media in the gallery. Now new photos could be uploaded and shown in the gallery with only three simple clicks.

Have fun while using phTagr!