DRUMS/SPOTS Import

Instructions for the SimplePhoto – DRUMS and SPOTS gallery export

  1. Make sure you have installed the latest version of DRUMS or SPOTS, available on the www.drumsusers.com website.
  2. In DRUMS or SPOTS, open the job you would like to export to SimplePhoto.
  3. Generate individual passwords per student.  Click on the Administration menu. Choose the Create Web Password... option that appears near the bottom of the list, then click SimplePhoto. Since Drums does not automatically refresh the record on the screen, you will need to move to the next record in the job to see the generated password.  The password appears in the Web PW field in the upper right hand corner of the record.
  4. Click on Students -> Exports -> Web Order Export.
  5. Enter your SimplePhoto username in the "Photographer ID" field.  
  6. Fill in the School Name and Job Description fields with appropriate information, e.g. School Name “Johnson High School”, Job Description “Fall Class Pictures”.
  7. In the Package Plan or Price List Name field, select or enter the name of the SimplePhoto price list you'd like to associate with the uploaded galleries. If SimplePhoto does not find a price list name that matches, the default price list will be associated to all new galleries. The default price list used by SimplePhoto is found in the Price List Settings screen on the SimplePhoto Dashboard.
  8. Make a note of the location of the Export Folder, as you will need to access this folder in the next step. 
  9. Now you have two options to send the gallery to SimplePhoto.
    1. Option 1: Check the Disable Automatic FTP checkbox, then click the Export button in the Drums Web Order Export window.  When the Drums export process is complete, open a web browser and login to SimplePhoto. Click on the “Import” tab, then click the “Drums” tab.  Using Windows Explorer, drag the Drums Export Folder into the target graphic on the SimplePhoto website.  You will now be able to see the status of the upload and gallery creation process.
    2. Option 2: Do not check the Disable Automatic FTP checkbox, then click the Export button in the Drums Web Order Export window.  Drums will transfer the gallery information directly to SimplePhoto.  The exported galleries should be online within 1 hour after the transfer from Drums is complete.
  10. Test by entering one of the student's passwords in the “Private Photo Galleries” login box on your SimplePhoto Customer Login Page.

Duplicate gallery behavior

When a gallery is uploaded  and a duplicate gallery already exists in the system with the same gallery password and the same parent folder name, by default the existing gallery will be emptied and the new images will be added to the gallery. If you need different behavior to occur when duplicate galleries are uploaded, please contact our support team. 

How folders and sub-folders are created when SPOTS imports are processed

------------------------------------------------------
Update 2019:
Some newer versions of SPOTS released in 2019 or later can include the School Name for each gallery uploaded. When the School Name value is populated, SimplePhoto will add the gallery to the folder with the matching school name. Otherwise, the folder name will be constructed as outlined below.
------------------------------------------------------
Galleries will be imported into the folder name based on the "Local Studio" defined in SPOTS.  See the SPOTS manual for information on how to set the Local Studio in SPOTS.
If a SimplePhoto folder exists that matches the "Local Studio" value in a SPOTS upload, new sub-folders will be added to that folder.  Otherwise, a new "top-level" folder will be created in SimplePhoto. A “top-level folder” in SimplePhoto is a folder that is not inside another folder. 
SimplePhoto constructs the sub-folder name as follows.  If the two characters on the far right of the School Name in SPOTS are numeric, SimplePhoto thinks that the school name already contains school year information so no date is added to the end of the School Name.  Otherwise if the last two characters in the School Name are not numeric, SimplePhoto adds the current school year to the end of the School Name.  If the current date is before June 1st, the prior year and current year are used in the school date (e.g. on 2/1/2014 the school year would be built as “2013-14”).  If the current date is on or after June 1st, the current year and next year are used in the school date (e.g. on 9/1/2014 the school year would be built as “2014-15”).
Examples:
  • If the School Name is “ABC High School” in a SPOTS upload processed on 9/1/2017, the SimplePhoto sub-folder name would be set to “ABC High School 2017-18”.
  • If the School Name is “ABC High School” in a SPOTS upload processed on 3/1/2017, the SimplePhoto sub-folder name would be set to “ABC High School 2016-17”.
  • If the School Name is “ABC High School 2016” in a SPOTS upload processed on 9/1/2017, the SimplePhoto sub-folder name would be set to “ABC High School 2016”.

Related Articles