Thank you for purchasing Showkase-Standard and Juicebox-Pro.
I'm sorry that you've had such trouble setting up Showkase on your web server.
I'm glad to hear that you've got it working, though.
Showkase requires PHP 5.2.0 or later and will run just as well on PHP 5.2.17 as it will on PHP 7 (or later).
I would always recommend running the most recent versions of any software though, so you might like to try changing your version of PHP to the latest that your web host provides (for the bug and security fixes that more recent versions bring).
Assuming that there are no odd configuration changes that go along with the version change on your web server, you should notice no difference in the functionality of Showkase under PHP 7.0 or later. I've tested Showkase under the latest version of PHP (8.0.1) myself without any issues.
Having said that, if everything is working fine at the moment, then I understand if you are reluctant to change your PHP version and you might want to just leave things as they are.
As you have purchased Showkase-Standard and Juicebox-Pro, you can upgrade your Showkase site to use your Juicebox-Pro files (so that all Juicebox galleries within your Showkase site are Pro) by following the Installing Juicebox-Pro instructions here.
It's just a case of replacing a single folder on your web server and then republishing your Showkase site (full instructions in the link above).
Once you have done that, you'll have the option of either:
(1) Creating Juicebox-Pro galleries directly on your web server from within the Showkase interface.
... or:
(2) Creating Juicebox-Pro galleries on your computer using JuiceboxBuilder-Pro and then importing them into your Showkase site afterwards.
#1
Here are instructions on how to create a Juicebox-Pro gallery page in Showkase: https://www.showkase.net/support/#getting-started
#2
You can find out more about JuiceboxBuilder-Pro in these two links.
JuiceboxBuilder-Pro Tour: https://www.juicebox.net/tour/juiceboxbuilder/
JuiceboxBuilder-Pro User Guide: https://www.juicebox.net/support/juiceboxbuilder/
Here are instructions to import a gallery (created by JuiceboxBuilder-Pro) into your Showkase site using Showkase's 'Site -> Import' functionality.
(1) Create a Juicebox-Pro gallery on your computer with JuiceboxBuilder-Pro.
(2) Upload the complete gallery folder to your web server using an FTP program (such as Filezilla). (I recommend uploading it to a location outside your Showkase directory if possible, just to keep things separate from each other.)
(3) Go to 'Site -> Import' in your Showkase site.
(4) For the 'Import path', enter the path to the directory containing the gallery folder (not the gallery folder itself) starting with a leading slash '/' to denote your root directory.
(5) Click 'Scan' and choose the gallery folder (or folders - you can import several galleries at once if they are all in the same parent directory).
(6) Click 'Import' and 'Publish'.
Once a gallery has been imported, it becomes a genuine Showkase page (just as if the gallery had been created in Showkase itself) and it can be edited from within the Showkase interface if necessary.
For example, if you have created a gallery on your computer with JuiceboxBuilder-Pro and have saved the gallery to a folder named 'my_gallery', try uploading the complete gallery folder to your root directory (via FTP).
Then, in Step #4 above, just use a single slash / as your import path.
After clicking 'Scan', Showkase will look for all valid Juicebox gallery folders and Showkase page folders (Showkase can import Showkase pages as well as Juicebox galleries) in your root directory.
Your 'my_gallery' Juicebox-Pro folder should be listed and you can select it (with its corresponding checkbox) before clicking 'Import' and 'Publish'.
You can upload your gallery folder to anywhere you like on your web server as long as the import path (pointing towards the directory containing the gallery folder) is correct.
I just used your root directory in the example above for convenience.
Just to clarify, Showkase can be installed only on a web server (it is not a regular desktop computer program) and JuiceboxBuilder-Pro can be installed only on a desktop computer (and not on a web server).
I hope this helps.
Please let me know if you have any further queries and I'll do my best to answer them for you.