used Dropbox -- all files went into one item

Hi, I was under the impression that when I uploaded from dropbox -- that each file would be created as a separate item -- but several files seem to be listed within a single item. Is there a way for each file to be uploaded as a separate item?

Hi Beth,
When you use the dropbox plugin all of the files that reside in the dropbox folder are available to be connected to individual items by checking the box of the appropriate file. If you check the box and save the changes to the item, things should be fine. Of course, if you want to connect several files to one item, check those boxes.
Bests,
Sharon

That last response might not have been clear. Sorry.

If you are trying to create individual new items--the typical function of the plugin will create an individual item for each file.

Is there any chance you have several files with the same name?

Thanks for responding on a Saturday Sharon! And the answer is no - the files all had different names. I ftp'd them to the drop box file folder, and then went to add item, saw them in the list - checked all -- and then uploaded. In the past when I have done that, each file was uploaded as a separate item, but not this time.

Oh! I should say they were a mixture of video and image files. WOuld that have mattered?

Tried it again with all images -- one item with many files was created -- just didn't expect it to do that!

http://www.momalearning.org/school-visits/items/show/13

I just checked with Jeremy and this is a stumper. Whenever we have an oddity like this, we recommend that the user deactivate the plugin, reinstall it (be sure you're using the most recent version:Dropbox 1.0-0.3), and then try again. If you're still having the same problem, we'll try to recreate it here.

Beth,

I'm joining this late, so don't mean to confuse the conversation...

By any chance were you working in the /admin/dropbox window? You can create individual items from each file when you work through the Dropbox plugin panel--(see the Dropbox documentation below)
http://omeka.org/codex/Plugins/Dropbox

So, if that is where you had trouble then we have a bug.

If you were in the items/add window then you are adding one item at a time and checking all of the files (from the dropbox) adds them to only that one item. Whenever you Add an Item, you're only creating one item at a time.

Hope we can clear this up for you.
Sheila

I am trying to associated metadata text with uploaded images in batches. I thought I had to upload the metadata with CSVImport (which works) and then use Dropbox for the images. I don't see any of the buttons that are described in the directions. Here is what the screen looks like

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0Af45uzLPuOSXZGRocThua3RfNWQ2d2pwMmZu&hl=en

Any input appreciated....

Jill

Hi Jill,

There are two ways to use the dropbox plugin: one is to use the 'dropbox' tab that the plugin creates, and the other is to edit pre-existing items and manually associate files w/ those items. It looks like you've been trying the former, when you really want to do that latter.

Edit an item, clicking the 'files' tab within the edit screen and you can associate any files through that interface. Some additional documentation is here: http://omeka.org/codex/Dropbox_plugin

Dave

Hey Dave,

Dang! I was hoping that there was a way to batch upload images and metadata together, without the need to manually associate images and metadata.

Is that a future feature?

Thanks,

Jill

A clarification.....

There will always be a need to associate images and metadata. What I'd like to have as an option is to name the image file along with its accompanying metadata in a single row in a spreadsheet, and then save the spreadsheet as a CSV or tab-delimited file.

This is how CONTENTdm handles batch uploads, so folks don't need to do a step online that involves matching image to metadata.

Hi Jill,

We have a CSV Import plugin that will do just that. In one of the fields in your CSV file, you could provide a URL to a file and import them that way. You can find more information in the CSV Import plugin documentation.

Hope this helps!
Jeremy

Thanks Jeremy!

Yipeee! It worked.

I read that line in the documentation, but it just didn't connect in the old gray matter....