EXT: Digital Asset Management¶

Requirements¶

DAM 1.3 requires TYPO3 4.5.0. If you're using an older version, you can install DAM 1.1

DAM also requires static_info_tables, so you need to install this extension first.

Installing DAM¶

To install DAM itself just import it from TER and install it. The extension key is ' dam '.

Make sure you update the reference index after installation of the dam!

Installing recommended extensions¶

To comfortably work with DAM in the backend and to get something out in frontend, at least the following extensions are a requirement.

• dam_index is needed for adding meta data automatically, when you upload a file or when you want to batch index multiple files.
• dam_catedit is the category editor of DAM, helpful when you categorize your assets which will probably be in 99 percent of all the cases.
• dam_ttcontent lets you use media items (and meta data) in the content elements of type Image and Text with Image.

Installing optional extensions¶

• dam_cron In case you want to upload files via ftp or the like you might also want to install dam_cron to be able to autoindex the new files based on a cron job (a time-based scheduling service).
• svmetaextract contains several services to extract metadata from files. For further information consult the manual of this extensions directly. It can be found in the TYPO3 extension repository.

What happened to your backend so far?¶

Installing DAM and it's co-extensions makes the following visible changes in your backend:

1) A new module *Media* with some submodules has been added to the module frame, while the traditional module File has been removed.

Illustration 1: A new module Media

2) A new page *Media* , the so called Media Folder, has been added to your pagetree as a direct child of your homepage. This is where all meta data of your files will be stored.

Illustration 2: A new page Media

3) The editing forms for the content elements Image and Text with Image have changed.

4) The link wizard that is used to pick files for image links, header links or media files for the Media content, has changed and has a tab „Media“ instead of „Files“ and „Folders“.

Extension Manager¶

After the installation you can configure the DAM in the extension manager.

Important note for upgraders: If you are upgrading from an older version of DAM you need to reconfigure both dam and rtehtmlarea:

• In the configuration options of dam , enable the media tag and the htmlArea RTE integration.
• In the configuration options of rtehtmlarea , disable the above mentioned features.

Illustration 3: Enabling features in the extension manager

You see several options here:

Setup

TSconfig setup defining modules functions and indexing behavior.

Enable File->Filelist

When DAM is installed all file operations go through DAM. A new module appears in your main menu called Media. The File->Filelist module is hidden.

Illustration 4: The File module and the Media module

If you want to reenable the traditional File module, go to the Extension Manager, click the title Media (DAM) and check Enable File->Filelist.

Caution: DAM will not be aware of files uploaded through the traditional File module, so this might cause inconsistencies and confusion.

Hide Media folder

DAM creates a folder to store all the media records. Normally all the operations on the media records can be done through the Media menu.

Illustration 5: Hiding the Media folder

You can hide the Media Folder by setting a default user TSConfig. Thus, no user (not even admins) will be able anymore to edit the dam tables in the List, which might be a wise move, because editing file names and the like will inevitably cause mistakes. Hiding the media folder also reduces clutter. So it is recommended to hide the media folder, but of course only after you have granted access to that page via Web>Access as described in chapter 'Setup DAM-Backend- Permissions'.

media tag

This adds the tag <media> to RTE content processing and frontend rendering. This is needed to create files links using DAM references. Additional page TSconfig may be needed to enable the media tag. This tag is similar to <link> with the difference that the given id is not a page but a media id.

Depending on the load order of installed extensions it may be needed to manually add the media tag processing to the RTE processing rules in page TSconfig:

  // Add txdam_media to RTE processing rules
RTE.default.proc.overruleMode = ts_css,txdam_media

  // Use same RTE processing rules in FE
RTE.default.FE.proc.overruleMode = ts_css,txdam_media

  // RTE processing rules for bodytext column of tt_content table
RTE.config.tt_content.bodytext.proc.overruleMode = ts_css,txdam_media
RTE.config.tt_content.bodytext.types.text.proc.overruleMode = ts_css,txdam_media
RTE.config.tt_content.bodytext.types.textpic.proc.overruleMode = ts_css,txdam_media

Why is the media tag needed?

This is because it wouldn't be possible to link assets by reference. This means whenever a link to a file is created in the RTE the file path is saved. But when the file is renamed or moved this reference is lost. The media tag use the media id instead (tx_dam.uid) and the file link will be created while FE rendering.

Activating the media tag in the EM extension options will also install a transformation handler which overrides the default ts_links mode (used also when ts_css shortcut is configured). Processing of links in db direction will be done by that handler, which searches for linked files in A tags that can be substituted with a media tag.

The media tag will be rendered in the frontend by the plugin plugin.tx_dam_tsfemediatag which is registered in the TypoScript setup of lib.parseFunc.tags and lib.parseFunc_RTE.tags.

plugin.tx_dam_tsfemediatag {
    procFields {
      file_size = 1
    }
    tag {
      current = 1
      typolink.parameter.data = parameters : allParams
      typolink.extTarget = {$styles.content.links.extTarget}
      typolink.target = {$styles.content.links.target}
      typolink.title {
        dataWrap.ifEmpty = { field : txdam_file_name } ({ field : txdam_file_size })
        htmlspecialchars = 1
      }
      parseFunc.constants =1
    }
  }

lib.parseFunc.tags.media = < plugin.tx_dam_tsfemediatag
lib.parseFunc_RTE.tags.media = < plugin.tx_dam_tsfemediatag

As you can see the fields from the tx_dam table are available in the typolink setup prefixed with txdam_. While the setup is very similar to the default link tag setup, the used typolink function is NOT the one available in stdWrap but has more or less the same properties.

htmlArea RTE integration

If set and if the htmlArea RTE extension is installed, the DAM media browser will be used by the Insert image and insert file link dialog.

Illustration 6: HTMLArea media browser

Disable versioning

DAM has several problems with versioning of records for using workspaces. It is recommended to disable versioning for new installation, but this is off by default to prevent problems with existing installations.

Developer/Debug Functions

This activates special functions for development and debugging. This should stay deactivated for normal usage!

Setup File Mount & DAM Mounts¶

Set up a File Mount and allow this filemount to be used by your editors backend-usergroup, see: Backend usergroup -> Mounts and Workspaces .

Note that you also have the possibility to set up a read-only filemount. This is useful if you want to create a media pool that all editors use for the FE.

Imagine you have the following folder structure:

fileadmin

public_docs (read-only filemount)

• BE-Group1 (ordinary filemount for BE_Group1)
• BE-Group2 (ordinary filemount for BE_Group2)

In order to allow the users of both or even more groups to use all media that are stored somewhere under public_docs in FE, put the following line into their User TSConfig field.

options.folderTree.altElementBrowserMountPoints = public-docs

Giving users access the Media folder¶

To allow your editors to read, write, edit and delete Media records you need to do two things:

Add the Media folder to the DB Mounts of a given user group.

Choose module Web>Access, select the Media folder in the pagetree and set ownership, group and permissions to read/write. This is done the same way as you would do it for normal pages.

Access Lists: Allow modules, tables and excludefields¶

In order to have the Media-Section being shown and to allow the editing of DAM-Records you will have to set the following withing the editors Backend-usergroup -> Access Lists:

In the ' Modules' section you can enable/disable the following items:

• Media>File (a must have)
• Media>List (a must have)
• Media>Info (optional)
• Media>Categories (needed when editors shall be allowed to edit the category tree)
• Media>Tools (optional, not really useful for ordinary editors)

Enable Tabs¶

Tabs have been disabled in this version for better integration with the Core. You can enable tabs by setting the following parameter in User TSconfig or Page Tsconfig:

mod.txdamM1_SHARED.useTabs = 1

Illustration 7: TYPO3 Docheaders style

Illustration 8: DAM tabs style

List view¶

The default view (list view) shows you the filename, type, date, size and file rights.

Illustration 10: File List view

You can adjust the number of files you want to see on a single page (20, 50, 100, 200) and there are several options available to change the display of the file list.

You can perform various actions on a media record by clicking one of the icons to the right. Depending on the file type and file rights, some icons may be 'grayed out'.

Uploading files¶

Uploading files is pretty straight forward. It works the same as in the old Web->File module.

Illustration 23: Uploading files

After uploading your file, it will be automatically indexed. After upload you are given the possibility to add / change meta data by 'processing' uploaded files. This is useful if you have just batch uploaded a lot of pictures from a certain holiday trip you all want to have the same category for example.

Illustration 24: Uploaded files

Indexing files¶

The dam media browser can only see files that have been indexed. This means you can only use 'already indexed' files in your content.

Indexing features:

• mass indexing of files and folder
• apply rules while indexing (eg. assign category from folder name)
• preset meta data before indexing
• set preset meta data not to be overwritten while indexing
• save index setup as preset

$TCA['tx_dam']['txdamInterface']['index_fieldList'] .= ',fe_group';

Creating a selection¶

Clicking on the title of a criterium initiates a new selection. You can use the +, = and - icons to narrow down your selection. In the image below we selected any record of category 'City', that is an 'Image', but not of the filetype 'png'. You can also remove single records from the selection by clicking the X in front of a record.

Illustration 30: Creating a selection

Saving a selection¶

The selection can be stored so you can use it again in a later session (or by external applications like frontend plugins).

Illustration 31: Saving a selection

Any extension can extend the DAM with own selections. An example can be found in the dam_demo extension.

You can also save a selection to the clipboard. Anything you save to the clipboard will last as long as your TYPO3 session. If you want to store a selection permanently, choose the 'export' option.

Saved and exported selections can be loaded easily using 'load preset'.

You can search your selection using the 'search tool'.

Thumbnail view¶

Go to Media->List->Thumbnails to view your selection as thumbnails.

Illustration 32: Thumbnail view

Thumbnail view can be 'dressed up' using various options:

Processing a selection ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Go to Media->List->Process to process your selection. Processing enables you to *add* metadata to all the files in your selection at once. You can also choose to 'replace' certain metadata.

Illustration 33: Adding meta data to a selection

Indexing setup¶

With this wizard you can create an indexing configuration and store it in a folder of choice. When a file is uploaded to that folder, the file is automatically indexed using this indexing configuration.

First you need to choose a destination folder. The steps 2 through 4 are the same as for the normal indexing procedure. When you have arrived at step 4 and click Finish , you can review your settings and click Save .

Illustration 38: Indexing setup

This will create an indexing configuration file and store it in the folder you chose in step 1. The name of the file is: .indexing.setup.xml

Every file uploaded to that folder will use the saved indexing configuration.

Checking tools¶

Configuration¶

Illustration 40: DAM Configuration

Media types¶

Display, edit and add media types table. This table is used to determine the type of a file while indexing it.

Introduction¶

DAM supports the translation of the metadata of dam-records.This feature allows you to store e.g. translated descriptions, subtitles and more for records/items and have them been shown in the frontend in the matching language. The same applies for dam-categories.

The translated metadata can then e.g. be used in the frontend of a multi language website, be it a one-tree-fits-all-languages setup or a separate-tree-for-each-language.

DAM does not yet support language-specific files with the same, but only translated content; e.g. an english and a german version of the same PDF-manual.

Website Language¶

As a prerequisite for using multiple languages you have to add one Website Language-Record in the root-page (globe) of your TYPO3-Installation.

Translate the Media folder¶

To activate the possibility to create and edit translated meta data, a translation of the Media folder has to be created. This can be done with the Web -> Page module for example. This is like creating a translation for a normal page.

Illustration 41: Translate the media folder

Translating records¶

Media records and categories can be translated in the same way.

Illustration 42: Translating a media record

Translated media records use the same category as the original language does.

Translating categories¶

Given the above multi language configuration, you can also translate categories to your alternative language in the Media -> Categories module with the language-dropdown on the top.The respective translated names of categories should be used by DAM extensions that show categories in the frontend.

Integration with Linkvalidator¶

As of DAM 1.2.1, Linkvalidator can check DAM links. There are two steps required to enable DAM support in linkvalidator:

Step 1: Add DAM to the linktypes TSConfig. Example:

Base TSConfig:
mod.linkvalidator.linktypes = db,file,external
New TSConfig :
mod.linkvalidator.linktypes = db,file,external,dam

Step 2: Add the new markers in the PAGE_SECTION mail template

Base template:

<!-- ###PAGE_SECTION### -->
     Page: ###TITLE###

     All links types: ###BROKENLINKCOUNT### (last report: ###BROKENLINKCOUNT_OLD###)

     Internal link: ###DB### (last report: ###DB_OLD###)

     External link: ###EXTERNAL### (last report: ###EXTERNAL_OLD###)


       <!-- ###PAGE_SECTION### -->

New template:

 <!-- ###PAGE_SECTION### -->
     Page: ###TITLE###

     All links types: ###BROKENLINKCOUNT### (last report: ###BROKENLINKCOUNT_OLD###)

     Internal link: ###DB### (last report: ###DB_OLD###)

     External link: ###EXTERNAL### (last report: ###EXTERNAL_OLD###)

     Dam link: ###DAM### (last report: ###DAM_OLD###)


 <!-- ###PAGE_SECTION### -->

Configuration¶

Configuration of the DAM and it's module are provided through TSconfig. For User and Page TSconfig the same properties are available for configuration. Please keep in mind Page TSconfig will be read from the DAM folder only.

Configuration is placed in

mod.txdamM1_* ... module configuration

tx_dam. ... general DAM configuration

Disable submodules¶

Submodules can be disabled for a user (or globally) with following TSconfig:

mod.txdamM1_list.menu.function.tx_dam_list_list = 0
mod.txdamM1_list.menu.function.tx_dam_list_thumbs = 0
mod.txdamM1_list.menu.function.tx_dam_list_editsel = 0
mod.txdamM1_list.menu.function.tx_dam_list_batch = 0
mod.txdamM1_file.menu.function.tx_dam_file_list = 0
mod.txdamM1_file.menu.function.tx_dam_file_upload = 0
mod.txdamM1_file.menu.function.tx_damindex_index = 0
mod.txdamM1_index.menu.function.tx_damindex_index = 0
mod.txdamM1_info.menu.function.tx_daminfo_reference = 0
mod.txdamM1_tools.menu.function.tx_dam_tools_indexupdate = 0
mod.txdamM1_tools.menu.function.tx_dam_tools_filerelcheck = 0
mod.txdamM1_tools.menu.function.tx_damcron_modfunc1 = 0

Set Media folder invisible¶

Media records in the Media folder are not meant to be edited with another module than the DAM. While the folder is visible to users, one can edit records with the Web>List module. With the following User TSconfig option the Media folder (example page id: 23) can be made invisible. Which means

options.hideRecords.pages = 23

Disable Upload in RTE for media links and images¶

If you want to disable the upload field in the element browser, put the following line into your page TSConfig:

// Disable Upload and Drag&Drop tabs for images
RTE.default.buttons.image.options.removeItems = upload
// Disable Upload tab for media links
RTE.default.buttons.link.options.removeItems = media_upload

Disabling tabs in image element browser¶

If you want to disable tabs in the RTE insert image dialogue, use the following TSconfig:

RTE.default.buttons.image.options.removeItems = media_plain,
media_magic, media_dragdrop, media_upload
//or
RTE.default.blindImageOptions = media_plain, media_magic,
media_dragdrop, media_upload

Setup styles for media links¶

In order to enable users to choose the style of a media link, use the following TSconfig setup for RTE:

RTE.classesAnchor {
    download {
            class = download
            type = media
            titleText = [yourTitleText]
            target = _blank
    }
}

In difference to the classic file module, you need to set type = media (instead of type = file)

Enable secure downloads¶

Add the following TS to your template:

plugin.tx_dam_tsfemediatag.tag.typolink.jumpurl = 1
plugin.tx_dam_tsfemediatag.tag.typolink.jumpurl.secure = 1

If you then create a text element with a link to a media element, the link will be secured (ie will not point directly to the file on the server).

Keep in mind, the file will still be accessible. Use web server configuration to lock the directory against direct access.

Title attribute for RTE links¶

DAM uses the value of the title field in the link selector in the title attribute of links set from the RTE. If no title attribute is set, DAM falls back to the TypoScript settings in plugin.tx_dam_tsfemediatag where DAM can be configured to use fields from the DAM records as title attributes (see here ).

There are serveral possibilites to manipulate the title attribute generation:

You can configure the RTE to make the title from metadata. Use this Page Tsconfig:

RTE.default.buttons.link.media.properties {
    title {
        readOnly = 0/1
        useDAMColumn = 0/1
        useDAMColumn {
            displayItems = _media_type:strtoupper, title, file_name
            checked = 0/1
            enforce = 0/1
        }
    }
}

If you check the checkbox „Make title from metadata“, the RTE will set the title to the current value in the database and hide the title field.

The boolean properties can be used to preset a default configuration:

• readOnly: The link title is set to readonly.
• useDAMColumn: Activate the checkbox „Make title from metadata“.
• checked: The checkbox „Make title from metadata“ is checked by default.
• enforce: The user cannot check/uncheck the checkbox.

The string displayItems is used to setup the fields being taken from the DAM record and how they are rendered:

• fieldname is the name of a column of table tx_dam or one of the special names: _media_type, _dimensions and _caption
• format is one of: date, dateage, datetime, time, timesec, year, int, float, number, md5, filesize, filesize+bytes, truncate, strtoupper, strtolower, shorten
• config is the value to be used by the formating operation, when applicable.

The frontend rendering is the last place where you can manipulate the media tag. If you e.g. want to override all link attribute values regardless of the value set in the RTE, you can override it:

plugin.tx_dam_tsfemediatag {
  tag {
    typolink.title {
      # override all title attribute values
      dataWrap.override = { field : txdam_file_name } ({ field : txdam_file_size })
    }
  }
}

Full configuration¶

mod.txdamM1_list.modfunc.tx_dam_list_list.alternateBgColors = 0
mod.txdamM1_list.alternateBgColors = 0
mod.txdamM1_SHARED.alternateBgColors = 0

mod.txdamM1_SHARED.displayExcludeByRegex = \.xml$,^_

mod.txdamM1_SHARED.foldersDisplayExcludeByRegex = user_upload

mod.txdamM1_file.contextMenuOnListItems = 0

mod.txdamM1_list.guiElements.getSearchBox = 0

mod.txdamM1_SHARED.options.tx_dam_list_list_showMultiActions = 0

mod.txdamM1_SHARED.options.tx_dam_list_list_showThumb = 0
mod.txdamM1_SHARED.options.tx_dam_list_list_showThumb.value = 1

mod.txdamM1_SHARED.actions.shared {
  tx_dam_action_viewFileRec = 0
  tx_dam_action_editRec = 0
}

options.contextMenu.pageList.disableItems = tx_dam_action_editRecPopup

mod.txdamM1_SHARED.actions.context {
  tx_dam_action_viewFileRec = 0
  tx_dam_action_editRec = 0
}

mod.txdamM1_SHARED.actions.shared.allowDeny {
  order = deny,allow
  allow = tx_dam_action_viewFileRec
  deny = tx_dam_action_editRec
  deny.anyNameCanBeUsedHere {
    from = 192.168.*.*,127.0.0.1,10.0.*.*
    item = *
  }
}

// not disable +=- icons by default
tx_dam.selections.default.modeSelIcons = 1

// disable txdamIndexRun selection tree (hidden)
tx_dam.selections.txdamIndexRun = 0

// disable +=- icons for  txdamStatus selection tree
tx_dam.selections.txdamStatus.modeSelIcons = 0

tx_dam.selections.txdamCat.sublevelDepth = 0

// disable auto indexing
tx_dam.indexing.auto = 0

$GLOBALS['TCA']['tx_dam']['txdamInterface']['index_fieldList']

tx_dam.indexing.replaceFile.keepMetaFields = title, caption, description

<phparray>
    <pid>0</pid>
    <pathlist type="array">
        <numIndex index="0">fileadmin/</numIndex>
    </pathlist>
    <recursive>0</recursive>
    <ruleConf type="array">
        <tx_damdemo_indexRule type="array">
            <enabled>0</enabled>
            <option1>0</option1>
        </tx_damdemo_indexRule>

There is still room for improvement¶

If you have bug hunting, coding, documentation or other skills, please contact the DAM team: http://forge.typo3.org/projects/show/extension- dam

Roadmap¶

http://bugs.typo3.org/roadmap_page.php (select project tx_dam)

Sponsors¶

Michiel Roos and Ben van 't Ende have spent their spare time on the project.

Thanks Ben Taken for his enthusiasm and love for DAM. Contributed 1300 euro's

PSW group has contributed the largest one time sponsoring. This was due to the fact that they were very grateful for being able to use Michiel's Static File Cache extension. PSW contributed 2700 euro's

Contributed 500 euro's

Thank you Jeroen. Contributed 300 euro's

Recent contributors to DAM¶

Thanks to all contributors for version 1.3 of DAM:

• Lorenz Ulrich
• Dan Osipov
• Ingo Renner
• François Suter
• Björn Pedersen

1.3.1¶

1.3.0¶

1.2.1¶

1.2.1¶

1.2.0¶

1.1.1¶

1.1.0¶