Bundles
Bundle Overview
Bundles are a way of treating an entire folder of assets like a single asset. Thus, a bundled folder in MediaBeacon can have metadata attached to it, will show up in search results, etc. This can be useful for managing groups of related assets. To use bundle functionality, enable the “Administer Bundles” ACL privilege.
The bundle functionality in MediaBeacon comprises three main things:
- Transparent Bundles
- Metadata may be attached to the bundle. If a given metadata field is set to either the “Bundle Volatile” or “Bundle Asynchronous” field type, the entered value will be inherited by assets within the bundle.
(New in 8.5) “Bundle Volatile” and “Bundle Asynchronous” field type metadata attached to nested bundles will cause the entered value to be inherited by assets within the nested bundle if the parent bundle is not using that field already. - All assets within the bundle are downloaded when the bundle is downloaded.
- All assets within the bundle are visible in the user interface.
- Metadata may be attached to the bundle. If a given metadata field is set to either the “Bundle Volatile” or “Bundle Asynchronous” field type, the entered value will be inherited by assets within the bundle.
- Opaque Bundles
- Can have metadata attached to them. Metadata will not cascade to assets within the bundle.
- All assets within the bundle are downloaded when the bundle is downloaded.
- Assets within the bundle are not visible in the user interface. Opaque bundles will simply appear and behave as a normal file to the user.
- Adding Metadata to Folders
- It is also possible to only add metadata to folders without using other aspects of bundling.
Behind the Scenes
MediaBeacon creates an .xmpb file as a placeholder asset for the bundle. It is this file that is moved and manipulated when a user interacts with the bundle.
Creating Bundles
To create a bundle, select “Bundle” from the directory tree’s contextual menu:
The user can now choose to create either an opaque bundle or a transparent bundle:
The bundle will now appear as an icon in the view widget:
Adding Metadata to Folders
To add metadata to a folder, select “Folder Info” from the directory tree’s contextual menu. This creates a metadata asset that is associated with the folder.
To remove the metadata from a folder, open its metadata asset in Asset View and click “Remove Metadata” in the Preview tab.
Downloading Bundles
Downloading a bundle will download all the assets contained within the bundle.
Adding & Removing Assets from Bundles
Adding and removing assets from a bundle is as simple as moving them in and out of the bundled folder. Note that it is only possible to change the contents of transparent bundles or folders with metadata in this way; the assets within an opaque bundle are fixed, unless the folder is manually unbundled (see next section).
Editing Bundles
Metadata can be added to bundles in the same way as other assets.
To unbundle, navigate to the bundled asset in the View Widget and choose the “Unbundle” contextual menu option, or else click “Unbundle” in Asset View.
To change a transparent bundle to an opaque bundle, simply bundle the folder again, this time choosing “Opaque.” Opaque bundles must be unbundled first before they can be changed to transparent bundles.
Deleting Bundles
Bundles can be deleted in the same way as other assets. Before deleting a bundle, MediaBeacon will prompt the user to keep the assets contained in the bundle.