Uploading the Panorama
You've finished the hard part. You've finally gathered all of your content and prepared it for use. Now it's time to upload it to the ECN website. You will need three files to put the panorama on the web:
- The stitched .jpg file from PhotoVista
- The .ivr file created by PhotoVista
- The text description of the lab. This can be in an e-mail, a text file, a word document, or anything you want. It can even be a printed page, but you'll have to type it yourself later.
Some of these instructions might seem complicated. If you get confused, I suggest looking at how the existing panoramas are put together and using them as a model.
Preparing The New Folders
When you have the necessary files ready, go to https://engineering.purdue.edu/ECN/VTour/manage_main. You will be prompted for your username and password, so just use your regular ECN login. If it doesn't work, tell Marian. When you log in, you should see a Zope interface. Hopefully you are familiar with the Zope interface by now. If not, ask a coworker for help. Browse to the folder of the correct school for your panorama. Then browse to the folder of the correct building or facility (e.g. ME Building, Zucrow Labs, Purdue Airport). Inside the building folder, you need to do one of two things depending on the nature of the lab you are uploading.
If the lab has a single panorama associated with it, create a new folder with an ID that is somewhat descriptive. If the "Add" menu is missing, your permissions are not set properly. Tell Marian so she can help you fix it. For the folder's title, use the full name of the lab (e.g. George W. Smythe Chemical Resurgence Laboratory).
If there are multiple panoramas associated with a single lab, follow the same steps as above, but you will also need to create folders within the main lab folder for each panorama. Give the sub-folders IDs like "View01" and "View02" unless you have a specific name for that part of the lab such as "Control Room". For the titles of the folders, you must include the full name of the lab, and if the name of the subfolder is something specific, append that to the lab name. For example: "George W. Smythe Chemical Resurgence Laboratory - Control Room". If the subfolder is something generic like "View01," you don't need to add it to the title in most cases. Use your own judgment.
Before you add any files, you should edit the properties of your new folder(s). To do this, browse to the main contents screen for the folder you want to edit and click the "Properties" tab at the top of the page. This is where you can change certain attributes about the folder. Right now, you need to create some new properties. The first property you want to create will hide the panorama from public view until you are ready to display it. Without this property, your unfinished panorama will be displayed on the main Virtual Tour site, and we don't want that.
To add the "hidden" property, located the "Name" box at the bottom of the "Properties" screen and type "hidden" in the box. Make sure it's all lower case; it does matter. From the "type" menu, choose "boolean". You can leave "Value" blank and click "Add." A new property called "hidden" will appear underneath the title property. In the "Value" column there will be a checkbox. Click on the checkbox to check it. Ignore the checkbox to the left of the word "hidden." Then click "Save Changes". The folder is now hidden. Note: If you have subfolders, you do not need to add "hidden" properties to all of them. Adding "hidden" to a folder automatically hides all the folders inside it as well.
The other property you should add is the "nickname" property. The nickname of a folder is the name that will be displayed in the "breadcrumbs" across the top of the screen that show where you are in the website hierarchy. If the lab has a long name, like "George W. Smythe Chemical Resurgence Laboratory," it will clutter the screen, and it isn't necessary to have the whole name in the breadcrumbs. In the "Name" field for adding a property, type "nickname" in all lower case. Make sure that the "Type" menu is set to "String". In the "Value" field, type an appropriate nickname. Use your judgment. If the lab is commonly referred to as the Chemical Resurgence Lab, use that as the nickname. On the other hand, if most people call it the Smythe Lab, use that instead. Sometimes you can't shorten a lab's name by much. In those cases, at least shorten the word "Laboratory" to "Lab." For subfolders, use the name of the subfolder as the nickname. For example, the nickname can be simply "View 1" or "Control Room." When you have typed the nickname, click "Add." The new property should appear in the list of properties for the folder. If you ever want to change the nickname, you can do it from the Properties tab.
Uploading the files
Now the folders are ready and you can upload your files. First, upload the image. Make sure that you are in the proper folder for the panorama you are uploading, then choose "Image" from the dropdown "Add" menu on the folder contents screen. On the "Add Image" screen, click the "Browse..." button and locate the panorama jpg image. Once you've chosen the file to upload, leave "ID" and "Title" blank and click the "Add" button.
Next, upload the IVR file. In the same folder as the .jpeg image, choose "File" from the "Add" menu. On the "Add File" screen, browse to locate the IVR file for the panorama. In the ID field, type panoIVR. Make sure you type it exactly right. Leave the title blank and click "Add".
Finally, add the description. Add a DTML method from the "Add" menu. Give it the ID "description", leave the title blank, and click "Add and Edit". On the edit screen, delete all of the text inside the edit box. Next, copy and paste the text from your description file into the edit box (or type it if you have a printed copy). Go back through the text and add a <p> tag at the beginning of every paragraph and a </p> at the end of each paragraph. Click "Save Changes".
That should do it! Your panorama should now be functional. To check, go to the root folder for the panorama and click the "View" tab. If the panorama doesn't show up, check to make sure that all of the necessary files are in the folder and that their names are correct.
Final Steps
Before you make the tour visible on the main site, you should attempt to get the approval of the lab's administrator. Unless you have made alternate arrangements with them, send them an e-mail informing them that their lab is now ready to be placed on the web site. Tell them that you will wait one week and that if you have not heard from them in that time, you will assume that you have their approval. Include the exact URL of every panorama associated with their lab. Wait one week. If the administrator suggests reasonable changes, make the changes and then move on to the next step. If you don't hear from them within a week, go ahead to the next step anyway.
While you are waiting for approval, you may want to tweak the starting position of the panorama. When you first load up the panorama, the view may be of a blank wall, or of some object that is poorly centered in the frame. You can adjust the starting position for the panorama by adding a property to its folder. Go to the "Properties" tab for the appropriate panorama and add a "string" property called "initialView". Make sure that the V is capitalized. For the value, type "0,xxx,55", where "xxx" is the number of degrees from the default starting position. For example, if you wanted to start the panorama a quarter of the way around the room from where it defaults, type "0,90,55". To start exactly opposite of the default position, use "9,180,55". You will probably have to experiment a bit to find the exact position that you want.
Once the approval stage is done, you can make the panorama visible. To do this, just go to the "Properties" tab where you created the "hidden" property. Uncheck the check box next to the word "hidden" and click "Save Changes." The folder is now visible from the main Virtual Tour site, along with all of its subfolders.
Congratulations! You've finished a panorama! You'll find that they get easier each time, and you'll hardly ever have to refer back to these instructions. Good luck!