Richard, Sounds great !
We're hoping some of those issues will be simpler to address with 5.0; I'd advise you to follow closely :) The 2-step upload sounds like it's what you need, although some level of control can already be achieved by the MultiPartFilter. Again, with 5.0, those things should be a little more user friendly, as you'll probably be able to upload a file to the server without leaving the dialog. I'm sure it's a problem others are or have been facing too: how about open-sourcing your module(s), and let other chip in with more improvements ? Cheers, -greg On 22 Dec 2010, at 17:10, Unger, Richard wrote: > Hi Magnolians! > > A little discussion I would like to start before Christmas: the way > file-upload works in Magnolia (Images, Documents). > > We’re looking at replacing/modifying some of the logic handling file-uploads. > > Shortcomings of magnolia’s current implementation include: > > · No separation between images and documents > · No way to force “the correct choice” – user can pick a PDF when > they should be picking an image, they can pick a folder instead of a > document, etc… > · No way to make an internal Link (or document Link) field required > (“required” setting for controls does not work on uuidLink) > · No way to force file-types on upload – user can upload anything, > from .exe to .psd, no filtering of allowed file-types is possible > · No preview when picking images > · No handling of embedded image metadata (EXIF, XMP) > · No difference between “New File” and “New Image” à all document > metadata is the same > · Useability: if you make a mistake in the “New File” dialog, the > field with the file to upload is cleared, forcing you to choose the file again > > We’re addressing these issues with some custom modules, which: > > · Provide specific Trees (based on DMSAdminTree) for Images and > Documents > o Trees are based on DMS content (use the dms repository) but show only > images or documents, respectively > · Provide different Upload dialogs for our custom trees, allowing > different metadata on images and documents > · Provide specific uuidLinkDocument and uuidLinkImage controls > forcing the user to pick documents of a specific type > · Provide an improved repository browser, with image preview, image > upload, and using our trees > > This is mostly working well. > > > However, to handle issues related to file-upload, I am now running into some > problems: > > · How to force upload of specific file types? > · How to extract metadata from images at the right moment? > > The Problem is that the current implementation for the “New Document” dialog > does everything in one step: the user enters the metadata and picks the > image, and then uploads everything at the same time. > > I was thinking of a 2-step solution: > 1. first the user chooses and uploads the document > · the system can check the document type against configured allowed > types > · the system can extract the metadata from the document to provide > default values for the next step > 2. in a second step, the user is presented with the metadata form and > can enter the values for metadata > · any metadata found in the image is prefilled in the dialog fields > > What do people think? Is this the right way to go about it? > Can you suggest any easier way to implement this? > > Thanks for your attention, > > Richard Unger > Vienna, Austria > > PS: For those interested, a little background to motivate why I am asking > these questions: > > We’re implementing a Magnolia-EE based System for a large government sector > customer – the final system will run about 50 Websites, maintained by 150 or > so editors in different departments. Very few of our editors have strong > computer skills. > For this reason ease of use for the editors is very important to us – things > that might seem trivial to us programmers or to an experienced web-content > person can be serious problems for less advanced users. > > Magnolia’s GUI is very intuitive in general, we have already received a lot > of positive feedback from our testing editors. > However, one area that is consistently causing problems is the image and > document handling. > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > For list details see > http://www.magnolia-cms.com/home/community/mailing-lists.html > To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[email protected]> > ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- For list details see http://www.magnolia-cms.com/home/community/mailing-lists.html To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[email protected]> ----------------------------------------------------------------
