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Author Topic: Database to manage photos  (Read 9757 times)

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« on: February 22, 2008, 02:16 »
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I'm thinking about building a database to keep track of all photos uploaded on site.  This is just for my personal use (although if anyone else uses Bento - which I'm planning to use - they're more than welcome to try it out too).  I'm coming up with what should be in the database.  My list so far, feel free to suggest other stuff!

My image number / reference
Thumbnail
Reference on sites it's been uploaded too and the status there (accepted, rejected etc)
Date accepted
Reason for rejection

Now I'm not sure about this next point.  Should I just track overall royalties and downloads, or should I track each sale on each site?  I'd prefer the latter, but I'm not sure how complicated it's going to be to implement.

Any thoughts?


« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2008, 04:30 »
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Now I'm not sure about this next point.  Should I just track overall royalties and downloads, or should I track each sale on each site?  I'd prefer the latter, but I'm not sure how complicated it's going to be to implement.Any thoughts?

Tracking each individual sales is vers cool indeed as it allows you to analyse very precisely your portfolio. I've done it and it's just fun to create nice tables and charts, see sales statistics for a single photo throughout all sites, how it evolves with time etc.

However, I'm not sure that this information is really useful as it is very difficult to conclude anything with the figures you get: there are too many variables to take into account and too many variations. I would say that it's probably as efficient to analyse your sales just by looking at overall earnings and having a regular look at your statistics pages on each agencies.

For me, it's more for the fun and because "I can do it"  ;D

Moreover, I've created quite complex scripts to automate almost everything: this is quite a  lot of coding and many hours of work indeed.

I don't know your skills in programming, but you have to automate most things, otherwise it would be a nightmare to track each individual sales.

« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2008, 06:30 »
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Well, I've just started to look into API's and what they mean for databases like this.  I need to find out more about it, but I'm hoping I can write something.

I've never really done programming before (except HTML) but like anything, it's just a skill to be learnt.

« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2008, 10:19 »
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Not sure exactly about the programming for this, but the database linkup is probably object oriented programming along the lines of C++, VB, SQL, JAVA, etc..., (API provides the data, the database language uses it to do something), which can have quite a steep learning curve at first, they are not user friendly like HTML, at all, and do not "think" the same way, though all object orientated languages "think" similar (an if-then-else is an if-then-else, a for-do is a for-do, with minor syntax differences).  Just determining how things are organized and linking apps together can be a quite a task.  The site API, just to get the info, is not even half the battle.  Sans a Linux based computer, Ctl-Alt-Del becomes your enemy and savior on many occasions.  I'm not trying to scare you away, by all means go for it, it is a great learning experience, and a very useful and marketable skill, but expect massive amounts of frustration at first.  If I had to time to work on it I'd probably create some apps (probably will at some point once the collection becomes big enough to warrant automation) for my spreadsheet, but I know it would be a lot of work.  I have a few years in school of object orientated programming experience (PASCAL, C++, JAVA, VB) and am fluent in VB, needing it for both school years ago and now for my professional career (not as needed, but I can do things coworkers can't because I can program).  Best way to learn VB programming (non-compiled code that is used in most Microsoft products and compatible with a good % of others (can access the ODBC)) and get your feet wet is to start small with some basic macros in Excel to automate some spreadsheet functions, the errors aren't as big, the help files are OK.  I wouldn't start by jumping into linking a spreadsheet into API interfaces.

I keep a 2 page primary database (not including any graphs or charts)

The first is a month by month site tracker.  The key numbers are the acceptance rate, average photo/day (start #, and end# aren't as useful), and the monthly earnings, the two together can give the $/photo for the month for each site.  Plus I track an overall portfolio performance assuming all sales across all sites on one ideal site, and all submitted photos are accepted at the ideal site. 

Page two is an individual photo breakdown, where I list every photo and keep a running total of the total sales for it at each site, and an overall total.  I don't think that tracking sales monthly per photo is a useful thing to do.  It is (will be) nice to sort the list by totals and see just how much my biggest earners have made, and eventually spot content trends across the different sites.
« Last Edit: February 22, 2008, 10:23 by Waldo4 »

« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2008, 10:49 »
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Sans a Linux based computer, Ctl-Alt-Del becomes your enemy and savior on many occasions.  I'm not trying to scare you away, by all means go for it, it is a great learning experience, and a very useful and marketable skill, but expect massive amounts of frustration at first. 

Wow, thanks for the huge post!  Something to read again when I get home.

Your point above about Ctl-Alt-Delete, I don't have to worry about that, I'm on a mac.   ;)  I'm sure though that being on a Mac will make programming way harder, but thems the breaks!

I thought it could be a useful skill to learn, since I'm hoping to go freelance as a "photographer" late this year, and anything else I can use to pick up the pennies will be worthwhile.

For instance, I'd love to be able to program a website, as a subscription model, that people could use to track all their uploads to different websites, all in one place.  Perhaps additional functionality like sending pictures to various sites and even requesting payouts.  I don't know how it would work, but that would be a site I would subscribe to!

But even just coming up with widgets and gadgets that would be useful to me, and perhaps others would be a good start.  Like gadgets for iGoogle to check all my stats while I'm at work.   ;D

« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2008, 11:05 »
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Your point above about Ctl-Alt-Delete, I don't have to worry about that, I'm on a mac.   ;)  I'm sure though that being on a Mac will make programming way harder, but thems the breaks!

Getting stuck in infinite loops or infinite waits tends to be a major programming hassle, especially if you miss a # here or period there.  On a Windows PC, Ctl-Atl-Del is the out (usually, though I've seen the blue screen of death more times that I can count and have had to pull the plug and/or pull the battery to get out a few times).  Linux is the programmers friend, you just close the window, you cannot crash a Linux system (that I am aware of, I've never done it, though I don't have a ton on Linux experience).  After being used to Windows and their various products through the years, the 100% stability and complete uncrashablility of Linux is a dream.  It was quite a contrast that I had ME on the home PC at the same time I was learning C++ on Linux at school, after tons of problems with ME I finally reached a higher up in Microsoft support, who told me ME is the worst OS they ever released.  XP is actually fairly stable, though it is crashable.  I think they finally decided to close the backdoor on it (to the best of my knowledge it hasn't been found yet), all previous MS OS's had a backdoor for MS to access your computer at any time (also a reason they got slower as they aged), it is a long process to close it, but it can be done.  My computer got several times faster after I closed the backdoor to 2000, though it is a very long and tedious process, about 20 pages of steps.

« Reply #6 on: February 22, 2008, 11:10 »
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After being used to Windows and their various products through the years, the 100% stability and complete uncrashablility of Linux is a dream.

Can't argue with that!

I ran a reasonable XP gaming machine for a few years, kept updating it with cool stuff, and all the rest of it.  It was my baby.  But it still crashed loads.

Bought a Mac 18 months ago and... It's crashed twice.  TWICE!  It's amazing!  And both times it crashed I was forcing it to process loads of video AND photos and I think I was playing Sim City at the same time!

« Reply #7 on: February 22, 2008, 11:28 »
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Bought a Mac 18 months ago and... It's crashed twice.  TWICE!  It's amazing!  And both times it crashed I was forcing it to process loads of video AND photos and I think I was playing Sim City at the same time!

That'll do it.  Run a graphically intense game, at the same time as some video, at the same time PS is downsampling a 5+ shot HDR and just about any consumer PC would freak out, now matter how much CPU horsepower, RAM, or video memory you have.  Mmmm...Simcity, almost always have Civ4 running in the background in my computer right now, I guess PS would get a lot faster if I would close the program between playing sessions.
« Last Edit: February 22, 2008, 11:29 by Waldo4 »

« Reply #8 on: February 22, 2008, 11:54 »
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Ha!  So true!  I'm addicted to Monopoly at the moment on my laptop, and it's always running in the background!

Couldn't get into Civ.  My previous housemate used to play it all the time!

« Reply #9 on: February 22, 2008, 16:20 »
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For instance, I'd love to be able to program a website, as a subscription model, that people could use to track all their uploads to different websites, all in one place.  Perhaps additional functionality like sending pictures to various sites and even requesting payouts.  I don't know how it would work, but that would be a site I would subscribe to!

Technically it's not that complicated to do, but it would pose a huge security risk.

« Reply #10 on: February 22, 2008, 17:00 »
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Of course it does.  But then so is giving our credit card over the bar when we're on holiday - but we all do that.  Life is all about risks.

« Reply #11 on: February 22, 2008, 17:24 »
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Yes, many things have risk, but giving over all your agency passwords with no possibility of proving who made an unauthorised change to your account is another thing.

I happily give over my credit card at a bar. If I don't recognise a particular charge, the bank will do a chargeback and I'll get my money back. There's no way I would ever give my microstock account details over to a third party.

It's not about avoiding risk or not avoiding risk. It's about managing risk.

« Reply #12 on: February 22, 2008, 17:27 »
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That's fair enough.

Just saying, for me it would be awesome.  I hate having to go to each site.  Not to mention that not all sites have it somewhere obivous on the front page.

Guess I'd better start work on my widget!

« Reply #13 on: February 22, 2008, 18:11 »
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Good luck with that. Let us all know when you have something we can share. :)

Also, fewer people have a problem putting their passwords into an application than on a website. At least it's possible to monitor the traffic to see if information (login credentials) are sent anywhere suspicious.

« Reply #14 on: February 23, 2008, 03:46 »
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Good luck with that. Let us all know when you have something we can share. :)

Also, fewer people have a problem putting their passwords into an application than on a website. At least it's possible to monitor the traffic to see if information (login credentials) are sent anywhere suspicious.

True enough.  I don't have the knowledge anyway to build a website like that.  I wouldn't have the knowledge to be able to fix it on the fly when things went wrong!

But I reckon I could start with a little widget...  I'm so annoyed with the iStock one that just doesn't work.  It would be nice to have all the sites earnings displayed on my dashboard all the time.

« Reply #15 on: February 23, 2008, 05:02 »
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Of course it does.  But then so is giving our credit card over the bar when we're on holiday - but we all do that.  Life is all about risks.
And sometimes the sh*t hits the fan, like that day of infamy in 2005 when my Visa was copied in a prestigious mall in the Philippines. When I got home months later, about 10,000$ was gone. Visa didn't want to repay since it was more than 3 months ago.

Pardon me now, but I walk around with cash. Thousands of it in my ripped jeans. I just got allergic and paranoid about plastic and online transactions. It took me 1,5 year before I finally took that Paypal.

By the way, you tend to downplay it but the scripts on your site are just fantastic. As a php-contributor to CPG with karma 5, I can really appreciate the great job you did, both the implementation and the creative idea behind it.

« Reply #16 on: February 23, 2008, 05:09 »
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But I reckon I could start with a little widget...  I'm so annoyed with the iStock one that just doesn't work.  It would be nice to have all the sites earnings displayed on my dashboard all the time.
Me thinks that's the way to go. It would suffice that people logged in on all sites, then let the widget do the parsing, reporting to the database, and the presentation.
The only bad thing for you as a programmer is to keep track of the parsing, as a few sites tend to change layout now and then.

Please keep us posted about all this! And don't forget to take photos too  ::)


« Reply #17 on: February 23, 2008, 05:54 »
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By the way, you tend to downplay it but the scripts on your site are just fantastic. As a php-contributor to CPG with karma 5, I can really appreciate the great job you did, both the implementation and the creative idea behind it.

Ummmm, that would be iWeb.  It's an application that comes with a Mac and it's just drag and drop.  I'd love to be able to program something like that.

« Reply #18 on: February 23, 2008, 06:53 »
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good luck with this project - i don't think it will succeed, but give it a go

i've tried getting into the IS data via downloading their web page and parsing it... they managed to thwart that by putting some invalid code in their HTML preventing my method from getting any results at all. I believe SS will come after you as well as they don't like you getting into their user data (  think that's been covered here before as well).

There's a thread here somewhere about microstockwatcher - look that up - that guy's about 1 year ahead of you
« Last Edit: February 23, 2008, 06:55 by maunger »

« Reply #19 on: February 23, 2008, 09:59 »
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There's a thread here somewhere about microstockwatcher - look that up - that guy's about 1 year ahead of you

That guy quit, after having enough sales:

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

As of 1 January 2008, we regrettably can no longer provide support for or sell MicroStock Watcher. 

We sincerely thank all those who expressed interest in the project, and -- more importantly -- those of you who purchased a copy.  If you are interested in taking over the project, please email marc {at} bedouinventures {dot} com.


I'm always worried about those sites that ask $$, like CushyStock... then abandon the project and leave you there with less $$ and an outdated database.

« Reply #20 on: February 25, 2008, 03:24 »
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I just keep it all on MS Access.

I've got a field for my internal ID (suffix number, get some duplicates, but not a big deal)
field for image name (unique name for each file)
And for each stock site I contribute to a stock site ID number, Accepted check box, and notes (when it's rejected, why, and if I'm resubmitting).

When I first started out, keeping track of individual sales seemed like a good idea, but with 1500 images up or so, that's too many sales a day to keep track of.  I just do royatly totals at the end of each week - do that in Excel.

« Reply #21 on: February 25, 2008, 04:59 »
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Yeah, that's what I want to do, but I don't have a database program at the moment.  I need to upgrade to Leopart OS before I can buy Bento, which is the program I will proberbly spring for.  I don't think you can get MS Access on Mac, but I always found it a little clunky anyway.  Apparently Bento is much more streamlined in it's workflow.

michealo

« Reply #22 on: February 25, 2008, 08:43 »
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Seren,

You will find that your Mac comes with a lot of the programming tools / server applications that you require to get started as well as examples code and applications.

Among them
Automater - For application Automation
Dashcode - For creating Widgets
Xcode - For application development
Apache Web server (you may have to switch this on)
PHP Support (again you may have to switch this on)
This is a good tutorial for building web applications with PHP on Mac OS
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/ct/49



 

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