Media files widgets in Elementi 2015

This page is about the media files data-driven widgets included Elementi 2015. For other versions, see Media files widgets page.

Introduction

The media-file widgets can be used to automatically display the media content (usually images and / or videos) from a given folder, with or without a filter based on the file name / extension.

Depending on the location of the media folder, there are three possible usage scenarios:

• Local source

  The source folder is included into the project itself and the files are imported into it using Elementi (or another WebDAV client). It is thus located on the HMP, which assures total autonomy, but might be less flexible in regards to content updating.

• Remote source

  The source folder is located on a web server (e.g., like NAS devices, Box.com, Dropbox.com, myDrive.ch etc.) and the media files are played directly from there. This assures high flexibility for updating the files, however, it requires a reliable network connections; furthermore the server must have the WebDAV extension enabled for the widget to work.

• Mixed

  The files are periodically retrieved from a web server by the HMP into a local folder, which is used as data source for the widget. This assures both autonomy and flexibility, though it might be more complex to set up. Also the WebDAV extension is not required in certain cases.

Media widgets

Media files widgets in Elementi 2015

Under the "Media" folder of Elementi 2015 Library, you can find three ready-to-use widgets that automatically display media files from a given folder:

• Media Playlist

  Displays a playlist of media items (images, videos) out of the files included into a given folder.

• Media Crawler

  Displays the media items (images, videos) out of the files included into a given folder, using a continuous scrolling effect.

• Slideshow

  Displays slides composed of media layers (images, videos) and text layers (file related details), out of the files included into a given folder. The slides are displayed one after another, with or without a transition effect in between, similarly to a playlist. Each slide is displayed for a fixed duration.

Note:

Only the files from the given folder are retrieved, but not those from the inner folders.

Configuration

Each of the widgets above can be customized using the options provided under "Properties" tab - for more details go to the dedicated page of each widget type, linked above.

To edit the properties related to the data source, click on the button. This opens the Data Feed Properties dialog, which allows changing the URI from where the data are retrieved, the refresh rate, and the optional limit of items.

Note:

At any point, the data source configuration can be tested by clicking on the "Test..." button.

Directory listing parser

The directory listing parser retrieves a list of the files and / or directories present within a given location, according to the specified filter. It can only be used as a main parser.

"Directory Listing Parser" tab of "Data Feed Properties" dialog in Elementi 2015

When configuring the data source property of any of the widgets above, a "Directory Listing Parser" tab is displayed within the "Data Feed Properties" dialog, which allows configuring the following properties:

• Show hidden files

  Enable this to list all files (including the ones starting with a dot).

• Resource type

  Specify the type of resource, from: "All", "Files", "Directories".

• Filter

  Specify the file extension filter to be applied on the result set. Either select an existing filter or enter a custom one (you can use multiple extensions, separated by semicolons).

  For instance, to list both video and audio files, the filter can look like this: *.mp4;*.avi;*.wmv;*.mpg;*.mp3;*.wav;*.wma;*.m4a;*.aac

For each item of the result set, it generates the following output columns:

• creationdate: Creation date of the file / folder.
• filename: Name of the file / directory (without the path).
• getcontentlength: Size of the file in bytes or "null" for directories.
• getetag: Unique identifier for the file (can be used to check if the file has been modified) or "null" for directories.
• getlastmodified: Last modification date for the file / folder.
• href: Path to the file (can be used to display the media file).
• resourcetype: Resource type - "collection" or "null" (for files)

Advanced configuration

 

This section applies only for Elementi X users.

For Elementi X users, the "Data Feed Properties" dialog offers advanced options for more complex data processing.

For more details about the parser parameters detailed above, see the propFindURL() function.

See also

• Media files widgets
• Data feeds
• Data-driven widgets
• Elementi 2015 Library
• Display media content tutorial
• Publish Location feature in Elementi