[Scribus] How to update a link?

[Asif Lodhi]

Hi,

I go with Christoph's idea of thinking of _all_ the Scribus-related 
documents as a project and putting them under a project directory - that 
means copying the images you want under your project directory tree, 
like you do when creating a website, and using _relative_ links to all 
referenced external resources (images or whatever).  I would like to 
mention the functionality of Macromedia DreamWeaverMX2004 as an example 
- it asks you if you want to copy the image under your website's home 
directory tree when you try to insert an image in one of your webpages 
and that image is outside your website's directory tree.

This discussion also reminds me of Java's way of handling the JAR files 
- all the project's files are _zipped_ in one file - but under a project 
diretory.  Though I am not proposing using zip/jar files for Scribus but 
a similar approach, perhaps, could be useful.

The problem of having to find all the referenced image files in 
different directories also reminds me of Java's way of handling 
class-paths - you don't specify a single directory - but a number of 
directories to search for files - that is, a list of image directories 
could be specified through the preferences dialog to search image files 
if they are not found under the project directory ...  So, when you move 
your .sla to another system you only have to change the path in one 
place using the preferences dialog.  Of course, searching files does 
take a bit of time - that won't happen if you use relative paths - the 
search can start first from the home/project directory.

Thinking in terms of a project and using relative links (instead of 
going for a jar/zip file approach)  is better if we think in terms of 
content management systems - a content management system that uses a 
different strategy (the pattern!) to manage the textual content and a 
different strategy to manage the graphical content (images - bitmaps, 
vector files, etc.) - the top-level strategy (the parent from where all 
the lower level strategy-related classes are derived from, that is) will 
be the same/parent.  Perhaps, out of workflow optimization issues, 
images could be put on a separate hard-disk in a separate content 
managemnt server (the image directory being linked/mounted on the local 
disk) so that the graphic artists as well as the DTP experts could work 
in parallel.  When everything has been finalized (images are approved, 
text has been proofread, layout is approved, etc.) and those files are 
needed together in one directory - perhaps Scribus could use some kind 
of an export/collect functionality.

Developers, you see my point?  Don't you think that if you use strategy 
pattern then you can you use the same content managemernt system to 
manage different content (images, web pages, .sla's, etc.)?  Don't you 
think _all_ the different referenced images/resource can be put in a 
single/file (some kind of a jar-like file) when they are needed in one 
place in one file?  Instead of zeroing in on a _single_ storage/data 
management solution, the content management could use a different set of 
storage/data management engines in each case (web design/development, 
Scribus slas, images, etc.)

Just my two bits!

--
Best regards,

Asif


Peter Nermander wrote:

>When it comes to whether links should be relative or absolute that depends a lot
>on how you are working. However I think in most cases relative links would be
>the best since anyone with a little ambition will edit the images (resample,
>crop etc) to adapt them for the publication. That would mean you would make a
>COPY of the file, put it together with your document (probably in i
>subdirectory) and make edits on that copy. The files would be moved together
>with the document so the links would work all the time.
>
>In some cases though I can understand the need for absolute links, for example
>when including a picture that is not edited (company logo?) and you have only
>one "master copy".
>
>I don't think the user should always have to decide. Scribus could do some
>"thinking" itself and then have the option for the user to change.
>
>For example, if an image is located in the same directory as the document, or a
>subdirectory below, links should probablt be relative.
>
>If the image is located in another directory than the document (and not in a
>subdiretcory below it) links should probably be absolute.
>
>
>(Automatic searching can be a pain, MS Word looking for document templates is a
>perfect example. I've had to rename templates to prevent Word from incorrectly
>selecting them while opening some documents.)
>
>  
>