Finished the templates

After correcting those file names the templates loaded with out any problems. Feels good when a plan comes together. The picture on the left is a sample of what the greeting card templates look like.
After the templates were done Kevin, Leaf (Kevin's new manager), and myself discussed the feasibility of making his computers more secure. His main focus was on not allowing people to just come in and use the machines to surf the Internet. We will meet again to discuss the possible ways accomplishing this. I also mentioned that it might be a good idea to use mac filtering for his desktops to prevent people from bringing in their own computers and circumventing everything he has established. Kevin aslo told me that he purchased a 16 port switch that would be arriving in about 2 weeks. So now we can go on ahead and replace the 3 or 4 4-port switches he is using.

Templates gone bad

I walked in to Fairbanks Fast Foto just knowing that it would only take me about 30 minutes to load these 24 folders (24 folders = 24 templates) with 4 files each into three machines and I would be on my way. My ego was telling me to just go ahead and load all the files on all three machines and then test them. Something stopped me from loading all the files instead I decided to just load 1 template and make sure that it worked. Copied the files onto the computer ran the photo kiosk software and it worked. I saw my jpeg on the menu and was able to insert a picture into the template and order my christmas greeting card.
Next step was to load the rest of the templates and then test each one of them one by one. After I copied the files I restarted the photo kiosk software and saw all my jpegs show up on the template menu. I almost stopped right there, but I decided to select a different template from the first one. I selected a different template but the wrong template appeared. The first template appeared. It was that way for every template selected. I immediately went to the .xml and started looking for errors. I decided to delete the template that all the other ones were defaulting to, just to see what would happen. The next template in line just took it place so all the other templates now were opening up the new template. It did it even with only two templates loaded and in different folders. It took me an hour but I finally figured it out. The photo kiosk did not like the way I had named my files. Here is an example of how the original templates were named 65234_christmas_4x8_v.png mine were named 3BB71_graduation_4x8_v.png. All my templates had the same 3BB part in the filename. Once I changed the BB to 22 it worked just fine. My guess is the photo kiosk software expects the first part of the file nameto be unique numerically. The software only saw one file. I was able to rename about 16 of the templates files before I had to leave due to the store closing. I will go by tomorrow to finish the job and update the blog.
I did test all templates before I left and everything worked fine.

Greeting Cards Template: Part Two

I don't have Photo Shop to create these new template files, but my Linux box has Gimp. Gimp is just like Photo Shop but for Linux and without the price tag. The work I have been doing on these templates is most I have done with photo editing software. Its just not my thing, but I am learning a lot. The first thing I had to do was change those .psd files to .png files.

This was not that hard to do. The Gimp software was able to open the .psd file, which I learned is the photo shop file extension. I opened the .psd file and made sure that the measurement were correct and then saved the file as a .png. Not to bad this is going to be easy.

The task was to create the .xml file that provides the instructions for the photo kiosk. The .xml file is pretty simple to follow. It contains information about the file names, photo location, text location, and fonts. Not all the templates are the same so not only are the file names different but where the photo is located on the template is different. The .xml tells the kiosk software where the photo is measured in inches. The .icon files are text files that basically contain the information about where to put the photo and text, but those numbers were in pixels and not inches. Once I figured that out I had to convert the pixel numbers to inches and then plug them into the .xml file that I have created to use for the new templates.

The final step was to create the .jpeg image for the menu. I had to put the two images together and then resize them to an appropriate size. I had to then flatten the .png image in order to store it as a .jpeg file. Now everything is done. I only need to put the files on the kiosk and see if they work.

Greeting Card Templates

The next task was to convert some third party vendor greeting card templates to be used in the photo kiosk at Fairbanks Fast Foto. The greeting card templates in the photo kiosk consists of 4 different files
1. A .png file of the template that was vertical
2. A .png file of the template that was orientated horizontally.
3. A .jpeg file to was used on the menu screen to be displayed with the other templates.
4. An .xml file that contained all the instructions for the photo kiosk software.

The .png files are the files that actually got printed. And you can choose to have a vertical or horizontal greeting card.

The third-party templates were on a disk and there were no .png, .jpeg, or .xml files on the disk. I thought this was going to be simple. I was hoping I could simply find the folder which contained the template files and copy the new templates there. Not going to be so easy. The new templates had six files for each template. 3 for the horizontal and 3 for the vertical image. The file types were the following.
1. Two .icon files (equivalent to the .jpeg file)
2. Two .psd files (equivalent to the .png file)
3. Two .info files (equivalent to the .xml file)

This coming week I am going to see if I can get these templates to work. I will see how it goes.

Firewall Issues

Just a quick little note about the replacement of the computer. The folder on the print server is a shared folder. In order for the lab technician to print an order they go to the shared folder from the computer/printer in the back. So if the network is down the printer in the back can't pull the jobs. While I was there the lab technician kept having problems seeing the folder. I realized that it was the McAfee firewall settings on the new computer. I had to go into the settings and allow the traffic to pass.

Computer Replacement

I had come by earlier in the week to load all the software on the new computer in hopes that the replacement would go smoothly. All the software was available on the software companies web page. I inadvertently downloaded and loaded the wrong software on the computer. I wouldn't realize my mistake until early Monday morning.

Kevin and I got to Fairbanks Fast Foto early Monday morning. We started working a 6:00 am to get the computer replaced. Wanted to get their early so I didn't have to deal with the stress of customers getting in the way. We also chose Monday morning because customer support for the photo kiosk software was on the east coast and their hours are something like 9 - 5 eastern time.

After everything was setup I couldn't set my photo request to the print server. I wasn't going to fool around chasing my tail, so I put aside my pride and called customer support. From the error code he told me that I was using the wrong software. He told me which one to download, so that is what I did. I got the right file and installed it on the new machine. No more error, the photo kiosk and the print server were able to communicate. That was the hardest part.

Next we had to add a printer locally to the new machine. We also had to configure the software to communicate with the actual large photo printer in the back. Configuring the software was not that difficult with the help of the manuals Kevin had given me earlier in the month. Overall I would have to say the computer replacement was a success.

Need more Info

The first me and Kevin decided to do was replace an older computer with a brand new Dell that had a dual core processor. This new computer was going to replace a computer that was acting as a print server for his photo kiosk machines. I was unsure of the whole set-up I couldn't understand how everything tied together. I stop by to ask Kevin some more questions so that I could get a better understanding. Kevin was nice enough to provide me with 3 manuals to read. One for the photo kiosk, one for the printer server, and another about the greeting card templates (which I will get to later).
The manual reading is going a little slow but having them available for next week when we replace the computer will be helpful.

First Meeting

I met with Kevin, owner of Fairbanks Fast Foto, in the month of February to discuss with him some of his concerns about his local network. It was a lot to try and understand right off the back. The network is not setup like a traditional office, where you have a bunch of workstations all set-up the same. He has two computers used for cash registers, three computers running a photo kiosk software, one office manager computer, two networked printers, and one computer/printer (the main printer that prints all the photos). I had to ask a lot of questions to try and understand exactly how the work flowed in the office and how all the computers worked together.
We discussed all the work he would like to see done and prioritized all the task. I tried to take notes but, when I got home to review what we had talked about my notes weren't very good. They were hard to read and to brief for me to try and remember what the note was referencing. After the first meeting I knew this was going to be a lot of work, but the results would be measurable. With measurable results I could determine success or failure.

Introduction

My independent project is working with Fairbanks Fast Foto. This is a great independent project because it will test my abilities any different aspects of an IT career. I have proposed 4 different areas in which to help improve Fairbanks Fast Foto.
1) Replace an older computer.
2) Configure third-party templates to work with existing photo kiosk.
3) Test and configure overall network security.
4) Redesign the existing network infrastructure.