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:

• An image or gallery can be references using its zero-base numeric index.  Thus, if you wanted to reference the third gallery in a slideshow, its numeric index would be 2
• An image or gallery can be referenced by its unique ID value, as specified in the Gallery Properties or Image Properties dialog.  For galleries, this value is the Linkage ID value in the General Settings tab; for images, this value is the Image ID value in the Title / Description / Tooltip tab.

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.