asked on

Jquery Lightbox and Ajax paging

I have a gallery page on my site, it basically has 12 images shown on the page and then paging at the bottom to get to page 2,3, etc of the gallery. This is done using AJAX.

When an image in the gallery is clicked, then a lightbox should appear with a larger version of the image. This is only working sporadically for some reason. I know the lightbox script is working as it's used throughout the site, example being on this page, last word in paragraph works.

I've attached my code below, the site is http://bigcoffee.arrivaldesign.co.uk/gallery/

Many thanks

Chris

paging.php
 
<?php virtual('/Connections/bigcoffee.php'); ?>
<?php
$currentPage = $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"];
 
$maxRows_rsprojects = 12;
$page = 0;
if (isset($_GET['page'])) {
  $page = $_GET['page'];
}
$startRow_rsprojects = $page * $maxRows_rsprojects;
 
mysql_select_db($database_bigcoffee, $bigcoffee);
$query_rsprojects = "SELECT * FROM coffee_gallery ORDER BY id DESC";
$query_limit_rsprojects = sprintf("%s LIMIT %d, %d", $query_rsprojects, $startRow_rsprojects, $maxRows_rsprojects);
$rsprojects = mysql_query($query_limit_rsprojects, $bigcoffee) or die(mysql_error());
$row_rsprojects = mysql_fetch_assoc($rsprojects);
 
if (isset($_GET['totalRows_rsprojects'])) {
  $totalRows_rsprojects = $_GET['totalRows_rsprojects'];
} else {
  $all_rsprojects = mysql_query($query_rsprojects);
  $totalRows_rsprojects = mysql_num_rows($all_rsprojects);
}
$totalPages_rsprojects = ceil($totalRows_rsprojects/$maxRows_rsprojects)-1;
?>
<?php do { ?>
  <a href="/gallery/<?php echo $row_rsprojects['image']; ?>" title="<?php echo $row_rsprojects['name']; ?>" rel="lightbox"><img src="/gallery/thumb_<?php echo $row_rsprojects['image']; ?>" width="139" height="114" /></a>
<?php } while ($row_rsprojects = mysql_fetch_assoc($rsprojects)); ?>
<?php
mysql_free_result($rsprojects);
?>

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gr8gonzo

When you say it's working sporadically, what happens when it doesn't work? When I click on any of the images, it just takes me to the image itself in the browser. I didn't get a same-page popup on any of the images that I clicked on.

djfenom

ASKER

That's exactly what happens, it just opens the image as though javascript is turned off. Other times it will actually open the lightbox, but not very often, it's hard to pinpoint when this actually happens.

gr8gonzo

Try modifying the lightbox.js file. At the end of that file, there is:

$(function() {
$('a[@rel*=lightbox]').lightBox();
});

Change it to:
$(document).ready(function(){
$('a[@rel*=lightbox]').lightBox();
}

gr8gonzo

By the way, the reason that works (or probably will work), is because Javascript will try to execute as soon as it can. Often times, it's before the rest of the page has loaded. This line:

$('a[@rel*=lightbox]').lightBox();

Tries to "activate" all the links that have rel="lightbox". But if that line runs before all the links have been "built" (meaning they're still traveling from the server to your computer), then it won't activate what it doesn't know is there. When it occasionally works, it's probably because the document got to your PC fast enough (or your browser cached it), so it could load fast enough that by the time the Javascript ran, all the links were in place.

Using $(document).ready(function(){ .... } tells the browser to hold off on executing something (the .... part) until everything on the page has finished loading up.

gr8gonzo

Also, you may have to modify your paging function - I think it's called jah() - so that when you change pages, it re-runs:

$('a[@rel*=lightbox]').lightBox();

after the AJAX call finishes and the HTML has been loaded. Otherwise, the newly-loaded links won't be activated with the lightbox.

djfenom

ASKER

I've amended that to:

$(document).ready(function(){
$('a[@rel*=lightbox]').lightBox();
})

But it still does the same?

gr8gonzo

I'm getting a 404 when I try to go to the URL now.

It also could be that the paging call is running on document.ready and is overwrite the activated links, so make sure the jah() function is also updated.

djfenom

ASKER

Sorry, I've moved the page now - http://thebigcoffee.co.uk/gallery/

Not really sure where that needs to go in the jah function, that was something I got from another site, any ideas?

gr8gonzo

Hmmm, the calls to the jah() function are spread out a bit. Try this:

Edit the file called jah.js file (it should be in a folder called js).

Change this line:
function jah(url,target) {

To:
function jah(url,target) {
_jah(url,target);
$('a[@rel*=lightbox]').lightBox();
}
function _jah(url,target) {

Basically, we're renaming jah() to _jah() so we preserve the original function code. Then we're creating a new jah() function in its place that just runs the original function, but then after the original function runs, it will run the line of code that activates the It's basically writing a "wrapper" function that runs the original code and then afterwards runs the lightbox activation code.

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gr8gonzo

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djfenom

ASKER

Thanks gr8gonzo, the first method didn't work, but the second one seems to work fine.

Many thanks

Chris