The mig.cf file


GENERAL

This file aims to explain how mig.cf works and what it is.

Each folder under the album subdirectory can optionally have a mig.cf file in it. This file contains things like image comments, a list of hidden items (if any) and so on.

The format is borrowed from the config file format of Apache, and is sort of similar to HTML. Hopefully this means that it will be simple for most folks to figure out and use.

An example mig.cf could look like this:

    # Beginning of example mig.cf
    #
    <Bulletin>
    We spent four days in Rome.  Even with four whole days to tour
    the area, we found we couldn't cover everything.  The Vatican
    alone took most of the second day, and we only saw half of it.
    </Bulletin>

    <Comment "AUT_2323.JPG">
    Massive mosaic found in the Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican.
    </Comment>

    <Comment "AUT_2406.JPG">
    The Colloseum of Rome.
    </Comment>
    #
    # End of example mig.cf

An element is opened by a tag (such as <Bulletin>), and closed by the associated close-tag (the tag with its name preceded by a slash) as in </Bulletin>.

An element can have an argument, as in <Comment ``AUT_2406.JPG''>.

These tags MUST be at the beginning of a line.

If you installed the example gallery, look for mig.cf files in there for some useful examples.

(Below you'll find a table defining valid tags and what they do)


UPGRADING

If you are upgrading from 0.83 or earlier to 0.90 or later, you'll need to update the meta-files. See the script convert-metafiles which is on the MiG home page in the contrib section. You'll also need the mf_conv script available from the same location.

    http://tangledhelix.com/software/mig/downloads/contrib


COMMENT LINES

Any line starting with # is a comment line and is ignored by MiG. Blank lines are also ignored. You should avoid having either one inside any of the element blocks because they are not ignored inside element blocks such as <Comment>.


BULLETINS

    <Bulletin>
    [some text]
    </Bulletin>

A bulletin is displayed for the current folder. So if you have a bulletin definition in albums/Trips/Rome/mig.cf, then when the browser navigates to Trips, then Rome, they will see not only the folder view of what is in the folder, they will also see the bulletin for that folder. It's basically like an image comment, only it is attached to a folder rather than an image. An example can be found near the top of this file.


IMAGE COMMENTS

    <Comment "image_file">
    [some text]
    </Comment>

A comment is attached to an image. When viewing that image, the comment text associated with it will be displayed in a box below the image. An example can be found near the top of this file.

The argument to Comment must be enclosed in quotes. This is because of things like files with embedded spaces in the filename, etc.

As of 0.90, comments are also loaded into the ALT tag of thumbnail images, so you can hover over an image and view its description. I've had problems when using hover links that contain HTML elements... so you might want to keep HTML elements out of your <Comment> structures - especially <A HREF> tags which don't fit into ALT tags especially well. (You can suppress ALT tags entirely by setting $suppressAltTags to TRUE in mig.cfg).


HIDDEN ITEMS

    <Hidden>
    [item]
    [item]
    </Hidden>

Hidden elements are lists of items which are invisible to the browser. Sometimes you might want to hide something from the general public, maybe because you just don't want anyone to view it, or maybe you are working on it and don't want to let anyone see it until it is finished. Either way you can do this with the Hidden element. One item per line between the tags, as in:

    <Hidden>
    New folder
    England
    </Hidden>

You should note that Hidden is not considered a security feature. It isn't very difficult for someone to get into a hidden folder if they know much about MiG. You should look into your web server's security features such as password protection if you are looking for real security. MiG also has its own password protection scheme - see docs/Passwords.txt.


SORT ORDER

    <Sort>
    [item]
    [item]
    </Sort>

By default, items are sorted by their ASCII value (for the purpose of most discussions, you can call this alphabetically). However, it can be desirable to control the order in which items (either images or folders) appear on your pages. The <Sort> element gives you that control.

For example, let's say you have a directory which contains this list of items:

    Ceremony/     Cut the Cake/  Home/         Reception/    Cigars/
    AUT_3706.JPG  AUT_3712.JPG   AUT_3714.JPG  AUT_3716.JPG
    AUT_3707.JPG  AUT_3713.JPG   AUT_3715.JPG  AUT_3717.JPG

Note that the first five are directories, and the other eight are files. This will display by default as a list of folders, then a list of images, each in alphabetical (ASCII) order.

But let's say you wanted to move Home to the top of the list, and Cigars to just above the Reception folder.

To do that, you would create this <Sort> list:

    <Sort>
    Home
    Ceremony
    Cutting the Cake
    Cigars
    Reception
    </Sort>

Let's say that you wanted to change the image sort order such that 3716 and 3717 were higher up, say the 3rd & 4th photos. You could do that with:

    <Sort>
    AUT_3706.JPG
    AUT_3707.JPG
    AUT_3716.JPG
    AUT_3717.JPG
    </Sort>

But wait a minute! There's another 4 images I didn't even touch! That's OK - the items you put in a <Sort> show up, in the order you define, at the top of the stack. Anything you leave out will be sorted independently (alphabetically) and just tacked on after the pre-sorted items.

What if you want to sort both folders and images? That's OK, just put two <Sort> tags in, one for each of them. MiG will figure it out on its own.

(Those who read over the source will note that you can, if you want, stuff all sorted items into a single <Sort> element. That's true, but I don't recommend doing it - it tends to get confusing that way. It's best to just define multiple <Sort> elements and have one for files, one for folders.)


SECURITY

Some folks feel more comfortable knowing their meta-files such as mig.cf or exif.inf can't be viewed raw by a browser. If you are one of those folks, see docs/Apache.txt for some tips and tricks including how to protect those files from visibility. The tips in that file will only work if you're using Apache.

Another security topic is password protection - see docs/Passwords.txt.