Flickrssp is a php script developed by Brian Sweeting to use the Flickr API with Todd Dominey’s Slideshowpro Flash extension.

I have been messing around with this combination for quite sometime now and it works beautifully when modified right. As you can see here. I am pulling in all my flickr public photosets into a customizable flash gallery. The problem is flickrssp has very poor documentation with no customer support nor official forum, so I took upon myself to document what I have experienced and how I solved it.

Problem #1: What xml file path to use?

In the flash component inspector, the default xmlFile is images.xml; it needs to be changed to the absolute path of the flickrssp.php file on your web server (e.g. http://www.yoursite.com/flickrssp.php). I have come to a conclusion that relative paths don’t work well with the Slideshowpro component.

Problem #2: Caching

Change cache in the flickrssp.php file from 86400 (1 day) to 4 secs. This will help you see your results in a shorter time. You can change it back after you have got your preview working. Make sure you republish with the new settings.

$flickrssp_config['username'] = 'username';
 
$flickrssp_config['api_key'] = 'flickrapikey';
 
$flickrssp_config['xml'] = 'images.xml';
 
$flickrssp_config['cache_path'] = 'cache';
 
// How often the cache updates
// (86400 seconds = 1 day)
$flickrssp_config['cache_period'] = 4;
//4 seconds set here

Problem #3: Size and proportionality

Photos may look distorted if the size isn’t right. The way I solved this was by changing the content area sizing to “None”. The php script writes an xml file that pulls in your medium flickr photos with the size of 500px wide and 375px high. This little change should make your photos crisp and clear!!

Am still trying to figure out a way to pull in the large or orginal size; so far I have found only the thumbnaills and medium photos from the flickr API. Have you figured out how? Drop me a line or add a comment to this post.

Problem #4: Smoothing

Make sure smoothing is turned off, it causes a conflict with the php script causing multiple movies on the same frame. This leads to fast flashing transitions between the pictures in the slideshow.

Have you found any other problems with flickrssp? If so, leave me a comment and I will try to help.