Added so much stuff I cant keep up. I think some sorting capability and a way to add metadata to each folder (WIP)

python/add_creation_time.py

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+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""
+Gallery Creation Time Integration
+Example function to add creation time metadata to plot items.
+This should be integrated into your existing Python gallery generation code.
+"""
+
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+def add_creation_time_to_items(items, base_path):
+    """
+    Add creation time to plot items for sorting functionality.
+
+    Args:
+        items: List of plot item dictionaries
+        base_path: Base path where plot files are located
+
+    Returns:
+        Updated items list with creation_time field
+    """
+    for item in items:
+        try:
+            # Try to get creation time from PNG file first, then PDF
+            png_path = None
+            pdf_path = None
+
+            # Extract relative path from href
+            if 'png_href' in item:
+                png_rel_path = item['png_href'].replace('../', '').replace(
+                    './', '')
+                png_path = Path(base_path) / png_rel_path
+
+            if 'pdf_href' in item:
+                pdf_rel_path = item['pdf_href'].replace('../', '').replace(
+                    './', '')
+                pdf_path = Path(base_path) / pdf_rel_path
+
+            # Use PNG creation time if available, otherwise PDF
+            creation_time = 0
+            if png_path and png_path.exists():
+                creation_time = int(png_path.stat().st_ctime)
+            elif pdf_path and pdf_path.exists():
+                creation_time = int(pdf_path.stat().st_ctime)
+
+            # Add creation time as timestamp (JavaScript can handle this)
+            item['creation_time'] = creation_time
+
+        except Exception as e:
+            # Fallback to 0 if there's any error
+            name = item.get('name', 'unknown')
+            print(f"Warning: Could not get creation time for {name}: {e}")
+            item['creation_time'] = 0
+
+    return items
+
+
+def example_integration():
+    """
+    Example of how to integrate this into your existing gallery generation.
+    """
+    # This would be part of your existing gallery generation code
+    items = [
+        {
+            'name': 'plot1.png',
+            'png_href': './plot1.png',
+            'pdf_href': './plot1.pdf'
+        },
+        {
+            'name': 'plot2.png',
+            'png_href': './plot2.png',
+            'pdf_href': './plot2.pdf'
+        }
+    ]
+
+    base_path = "/path/to/your/gallery/directory"
+
+    # Add creation times
+    items_with_time = add_creation_time_to_items(items, base_path)
+
+    # Now items_with_time can be passed to your Jinja2 template
+    # The template will have access to item.creation_time for each item
+
+    return items_with_time
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    # Test the function
+    items = example_integration()
+    for item in items:
+        created = item['creation_time']
+        print(f"Plot: {item['name']}, Created: {created}")

python/add_metadata.py

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+from typing import Dict, Any
+import json
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+def open_metadata(path: str, filename: str = "metadata.json") -> Dict[str, Any]:
+    """
+    Open metadata file and return its contents as a dictionary.
+
+    Args:
+        path: The directory path where the metadata file is located.
+        filename: The name of the metadata file (default: "metadata.json").
+
+    Returns:
+        A dictionary containing the metadata.
+    """
+    with open(Path(path) / filename, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+        try:
+            return json.load(f)
+        except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
+            raise ValueError(f"Error decoding JSON from {filename}: {e}")
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            raise FileNotFoundError(f"Metadata file {filename} not found in {path}")
+        except Exception as e:
+            raise RuntimeError(f"Unexpected error reading metadata: {e}")
+
+
+def merge_metadata(
+    base_metadata: Dict[str, Any],
+    additional_metadata: Dict[str, Any]
+) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+    """
+    Merge two metadata dictionaries.
+
+    Args:
+        base_metadata: The base metadata dictionary.
+        additional_metadata: The additional metadata dictionary to merge.
+
+    Returns:
+        A new dictionary containing the merged metadata.
+    """
+    merged = base_metadata.copy()
+    for key, value in additional_metadata.items():
+        merged[key] = value
+    return merged