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Using Permalinks / Linking Directly to Galleries and Images

Permalinks are a special type of link which point to a specific item or area of a page.  In the case of a slideshow, permalinks are used to link directly to specific gallery or even a specific image within a gallery.  This topic explains how to use permalinks to link directly to specific galleries or images in a slideshow.  

The UniqueID Format

First, it is important to understand the format used to reference specific galleries and images.  There are two ways to reference a gallery or an image:

There are two different types of reference strings / UniqueID's -- a reference just to a specific gallery, and a reference to a specific image in a specific gallery.  The format for these references is as follows:

  • Reference to a single gallery: The gallery's ID or numeric index is used; nothing else is needed.  For example, to reference the third gallery in a slideshow which has an ID value of specialGallery , you could use either of these two formats:
    • 2
    • specialGallery
  • Reference to a single image in a specific gallery: The gallery's ID or numeric index comes first, followed by -> and the image's ID or numeric index.  Here are some examples:
    • To reference the third image in the second gallery using numeric indices, this reference string would be used: 1->2
    • To reference an image with an ID of specialImage in a gallery with an ID of myGallery, this reference string would be used: myGallery->specialImage
    • To reference the fifth image in a gallery with an ID of myGallery, this reference string would be used: myGallery->4

Linking Directly to a Specific Gallery or Image

Once you have determined the UniqueID string for a specific gallery or image, to reference that gallery or image you simply add a URL parameter named xfs4_gid to the page containing the slideshow.  Suppose a slideshow is in myslideshow.html.  To link to the myGallery gallery within that slideshow, you would use the following URL:

myslideshow.html?xfs4_gid=myGallery

If you wanted to link to the second image in that gallery, would modify the UniqueID string to be:

myslideshow.html?xfs4_gid=myGallery->1

Using these types of links allows you to create and share standard HTML links which reference specific galleries or images in a slideshow.

Notes for Developers and Advanced Users

Note for Developers: Behind the scenes, passing a xfs4_gid URL parameter makes the slideshow define a default XMLFlashSlideshow_v4_getInitialImage function (see the Slideshow / Javascript Interfacing topic for more information).  Passing a URL parameter permalink only works if you have not already defined a XMLFlashSlideshow_v4_getInitialImage function; if a function already exists, it will not be overwritten.

Tip for Advanced Users: You can also use Javascript to control slideshows without having to reload the page.  To learn more about this, see the Slideshow / Javascript Interfacing topic.