Discussion Forums  >  Images, Documents, File Locations

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Moto110
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07/18/12 10:58 AM (13 years ago)

How to setup Flickr Photo Stream Set with Image Gallery Screen

I did some digging on the forum and found that there was nothing that fully explained how to setup an Image Gallery to pull from a specific Flickr Photo Stream Set. I thought I would help by providing what worked for me. 1. Go here: http://www.flickr.com/services/api/keys/ Create a Flickr account if you don't have one and request and API key. It is quick and easy. 2. Upload at least one photo and assign it to a Photo Stream Set "Add to Sets". 3. Go here: http://www.flickr.com/services/api/explore/flickr.photosets.getPhotos The above link is where Flickr helps you quickly build the URL to use in your Buzztouch App's Image Gallery "Screen Data URL" field. All of the information you need is provide on the right side of the screen where it says "USEFUL VALUES". Copy the photoset ID for the Photo Stream you want to add to your image gallery and past it in the "photoset_id" If all of the images in your Photo Stream are public you are done. If you have them restricted then set the appropriate "privacy_filter". I tried restricting my photos and using the "privacy_filter" setting, but ended up changing everything to public because of to many problems with API keys and API secrets, etc. I recommend for easy of use set the photos to public. Now select OUTPUT Type: JSONP Select: Do not sign call? If you are using "privacy_filter" setting you will have to select: Sign call as "your username" with full permissions? (However, as I noted this created a lot of problems. Now click "CALL METHOD" Scroll to the bottom of the screen and you will see a URL. In this URL you will see a section that says api_key= the API key that is provided here will expire in 24 hours. YOU MUST REPLACE this API key with your OWN api key that you signed up for using the link in the beginning of this tutorial. Your personal API key will not expire. Copy the URL "CHANGE THE API KEY TO YOUR PERSONAL API KEY" and paste it into the "Advanced Gallery Properties" "Screen Data URL" field. Leave all of the other add images fields blank. (Image Title, Image File Name, Image URL) Hopefully this will help others that want to use Flickr Photo streams in their app. The reason I chose to use a Flickr Photo Stream rather then other Flickr options is to allow me to quickly seperate my photos into groups. This then allows me to segment which photos shop up in image galleries.
 
Daikokuten
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07/19/12 05:10 PM (13 years ago)
great guide. one question though, where is the "Advanced Gallery Properties" "Screen Data URL" field? Is it on buzzfeed backend (and is it for android or ios) or on flickr?
 
Moto110
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07/20/12 05:22 AM (13 years ago)
The "Advanced Gallery Properties" and "Screen Data URL" are located within your Buzztouch apps control panel. When you create the "Image Gallery" screen and open up it's control panel/settings you will see the ""Advanced Gallery Properties" section. Within those properties you will find the "Screen Data URL" and field to update with your Flickr data URL. Let me know if you have any other questions.
 
Dragon007
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07/20/12 07:24 AM (13 years ago)
I'm assuming this is only for BT 1.5, am I right or wrong?
 
Moto110
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07/20/12 07:29 AM (13 years ago)
This definitely works with BT 1.5. If the Image Gallery plug-in has been released for 2.0 then it should also work.
 
Ashy_Ravaliya
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08/06/12 01:03 AM (13 years ago)
Hey guys...what if the flickr account already exists? Will I still be able to get the API key if I have the user name and password? I am creating an app for a friend and it would be amazing if I could incorpoatre their Flickr photos! Also I am not self hosted yet. Is that a road block? Thanks!
 
Moto110
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08/06/12 05:23 AM (13 years ago)
IF you already have an account that is not a problem. Just go here http://www.flickr.com/services/api/keys/ and request an API key. If the Flickr account is your friends you will need to be able to login to Flickr with their username and password to be able to request the API key.
 
Ashy_Ravaliya
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08/06/12 05:29 AM (13 years ago)
@Moto110 - Thanks!! Will give this a shot tonight!
 
Moto110
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08/06/12 05:54 AM (13 years ago)
As a side note. I had problems with this when restricting my images to anything other than public. I originaly set my photostream images set to "friend only" and set the "privacy_filter" setting to 2. This worked fine for a few days and then it stopped working. I'm not sure why. I think something changed on Flickr's side and broke the encryption key setup in my data link. I changed my photostream images to "Public" and rebuilt the data link here > http://www.flickr.com/services/api/explore/flickr.photosets.getPhotos only using the "photoset_id" for the photostream I want and everything seems to work fine now.
 
Ashy_Ravaliya
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08/06/12 08:23 AM (13 years ago)
Cool thanks...I'll look out for that. I've just generated the URL and made a test photo set.
 
Ashy_Ravaliya
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08/08/12 02:54 PM (13 years ago)
Hi...Just one more question. Every time I add more pictures to my set I have to create a new URL...is there any way around this? Thanks! Ashy
 
Moto110
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08/09/12 06:43 AM (13 years ago)
I figured out what is causing the link to stop working. The api used by the API explorer expires every 24 hours. The API Explorer is what we used to generate the link to the photostream. If you get your own key it won't expire. I mentioned in the tutorial that you need to setup an API key, so if you already did that you can find your API KEY by logging into Flickr and clicking on your USERNAME in the top right and then clicking on "Sharing & Extending". Now you will see "Your API keys" around the middle of the page. Copy this API KEY and replace the one in the link provided by the API Explorer page in the JSONP URL it provides you. NOTE: I updated the tutorial above to reflect what we have both discovered about using Flickr as a Photo Gallery feed to hopefully keep others from having the same problems we encountered. Thanks.
 
Ashy_Ravaliya
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08/09/12 07:17 AM (13 years ago)
Awesome!!! Thanks again!!
 
Ashy_Ravaliya
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08/11/12 11:41 AM (13 years ago)
Hi Moto110, Do you have to do anything with the secret key? I am still getting the same error and just wondering if I had missed a step. Thanks, Ashyt
 
Moto110
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08/11/12 03:09 PM (13 years ago)
I have my photoset photos set to public, so the secret key is not needed. I tried setting to friends only and using the "privacy_filter" to allow access, but I kept running into problems and opted to just set the photos to public. Here is what my Photo Gallery Data URL looks like: http://api.flickr.com/services/rest/?method=flickr.photosets.getPhotos&api_key="YOUR API KEY GOES HERE"&photoset_id="YOUR PHOTOSET ID GOES HERE"&format=json Hopefully this helps.
 
Ashy_Ravaliya
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08/12/12 05:45 AM (13 years ago)
Hi Moto110, Your tip did the trick!! I had some extra information on my data url but once I removed it and added my API key everything seems to be working great! thanks again! Ashy
 

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