Manual Asset Upload

Description

This guide will help you customize manual upload asset options for the Admin UI.

Opencast event media packages reference several different types of assets. These may include video file tracks, metadata catalogs, image files and class handout notes. Some assets are automatically created through workflow events. Others need to be manually attached to the mediapackage. An example of automatically created assets are navigation slides. An example of a manually attached assets are handout notes.

This guide describes how to customize the Admin UI to support new asset upload options.

Default Setup

Out of the box, Opencast provides preconfigured asset and source upload configuration. The configuration is a listprovider properties file:

etc/listproviders/event.upload.asset.options.properties

Three source types are enabled by default for use in the Admin UI.

EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.SOURCE.UPLOAD.NON_SEGMENTABLE={\
  "id":"track_presenter",\
  "type":"track",\
  "flavorType":"presenter",\
  "flavorSubType":"source",\
  "multiple":false,\
  "displayOrder": 1}

EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.SOURCE.UPLOAD.SEGMENTABLE={\
  "id":"track_presentation",\
  "type":"track",\
  "flavorType":"presentation",\
  "flavorSubType":"source",\
  "multiple":false,\
  "displayOrder": 2}

EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.SOURCE.UPLOAD.SUBTITLES={\
    "id": "track_subtitles",\
    "type":"track",\
    "flavorType": "captions",\
    "flavorSubType": "source",\
    "tags": "generator:unknown",\
    "displayOrder":3,\
    "accept": ".vtt"}

Source upload options as displayed in the Admin UI Create event: assetUploadSource

Asset flavor and sub-flavor are used by default Opencast workflows. When you add new asset types, you may need to adjust workflows to process the new asset flavor.

These workflow variables are available to workflows started by the create event or add asset action:

Variable Name	Type	Description
uploadedSearchPreview	boolean	true if manually uploaded preview image, false otherwise. Used to prevent image extraction overwrite in compose operation
downloadSourceflavorsExist	boolean	true if download-source-flavors variable exists, false otherwise. Identifies existence of download-source-flavors variable for tagging
download-source-flavors	comma separated list	A convenience variable that lists manually uploaded asset flavors.

Example of variables in a workflow:

<!-- Tag any optionally uploaded assets -->
<operation
  id="tag"
  if="${downloadSourceflavorsExist}"
  exception-handler-workflow="partial-error"
  description="Tagging uploaded assets for distribution">
  <configurations>
    <configuration key="source-flavors">${download-source-flavors}</configuration>
    <configuration key="target-tags">+engage-download</configuration>
  </configurations>
</operation>

How to Enable Preconfigured Asset Options

Catalogs and attachments can be added to new and existing events. Some predefined catalog and attachment examples are commented out in the properties file. You can uncomment any of these to make them upload options in the Admin UI. The sample workflow publish-uploaded-assets will automatically distribute, publish, and archive uploaded assets on existing events.

# Asset upload options are for new and existing events.
# EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.UPLOAD_ASSET.OPTION.CLASS_HANDOUT_NOTES={"id": "attachment_class_handout_notes",
#   "type": "attachment", "flavorType": "attachment", "flavorSubType": "notes", "displayOrder":1}
# EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.UPLOAD_ASSET.OPTION.PREVIEW_IMAGE={"id":"attachment_preview_image", "type":"attachment",
#   "flavorType": "presenter","flavorSubType": "search+preview", "displayOrder":2,
#   "accept": ".bmp,.gif,.jpeg,.jpg,.png,.tif,.tiff"}
# EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.UPLOAD_ASSET.OPTION.SUBTITLES={"id": "track_subtitles_option", "type":"track"
#   "flavorType": "captions","flavorSubType": "source", "tags": "generator:unknown", "displayOrder":3,
#   "accept": ".vtt"}
EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.UPLOAD_ASSET.WORKFLOWDEFID=publish-uploaded-assets

# The video source track upload options are only for new events.
EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.SOURCE.UPLOAD.NON_SEGMENTABLE={"id": "track_presenter","type":"track",
    "flavorType": "presenter","flavorSubType": "source", "multiple":false, "displayOrder":1,
    "accept": ".avi,.flv,.m4v,.mkv,.mov,.mp4,.mpeg,.mpg,.ogv,.webm,.wmv,.flac,.m4a,.mp3,.ogg,.wav,.wma,.f4v"}
EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.SOURCE.UPLOAD.SEGMENTABLE={"id": "track_presentation","type":"track",
    "flavorType": "presentation","flavorSubType": "source", "multiple":false, "displayOrder":2,
    "accept": ".avi,.flv,.m4v,.mkv,.mov,.mp4,.mpeg,.mpg,.ogv,.webm,.wmv,.flac,.m4a,.mp3,.ogg,.wav,.wma,.f4v"}
EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.SOURCE.UPLOAD.SUBTITLES={"id": "track_subtitles", "type":"track",
    "flavorType": "captions", "flavorSubType": "source", "tags": "generator:unknown", "displayOrder":3,
    "accept": ".vtt"}
# The MULTIPLE_PARTS example shows how to enable choosing multiple source files for a single flavor. In this case, a fictional "multipart/part+source".
# EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.SOURCE.UPLOAD.MULTIPLE_PARTS={"id": "track_parts","type":"track", "flavorType": "multipart",
#   "flavorSubType": "part+source", "multiple":true, "displayOrder":4,
#   "accept": ".avi,.flv,.m4v,.mkv,.mov,.mp4,.mpeg,.mpg,.ogv,.webm,.wmv,.flac,.m4a,.mp3,.ogg,.wav,.wma"}
# EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.SOURCE.UPLOAD.AUDIO_ONLY={"id": "track_audio","type":"track", "flavorType": "presenter-audio",
#   "flavorSubType": "source", "multiple":false, "displayOrder":5, "accept": ".flac,.m4a,.mp3,.ogg,.wav,.wma"}
# Presenter and Presentation tracks uploaded in a single container
# EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.SOURCE.UPLOAD.MULTIPLE_TRACKS={"id": "track_multi","type":"track", "flavorType": "multitrack",
#   "flavorSubType": "source", "multiple":false, "displayOrder":6,
#   "accept": ".avi,.flv,.m4v,.mkv,.mov,.mp4,.mpeg,.mpg,.ogv,.webm,.wmv,.flac,.m4a,.mp3,.ogg,.wav,.wma"}

Sample publish-uploaded-assets workflow:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<definition xmlns="http://workflow.opencastproject.org">
  <id>publish-uploaded-assets</id>
  <title>Publish uploaded assets</title>
  <tags />
  <description>Publish uploaded assets</description>
  <configuration_panel>
  </configuration_panel>

  <operations>
    <!-- Publish to engage player -->

    <operation
      id="publish-engage"
      exception-handler-workflow="partial-error"
      description="Update recording in Opencast Media Module">
      <configurations>
        <configuration key="download-source-flavors">${download-source-flavors},dublincore/*,security/*</configuration>
        <configuration key="download-source-tags">engage-download</configuration>
        <configuration key="streaming-source-tags">engage-streaming</configuration>
        <configuration key="strategy">merge</configuration>
        <configuration key="check-availability">false</configuration>
      </configurations>
    </operation>

    <!-- Archive the current state of the mediapackage -->

    <operation
      id="snapshot"
      description="Archiving new assets">
      <configurations>
        <configuration key="source-flavors">*/*</configuration>
      </configurations>
    </operation>

    <!-- Clean up work artifacts -->

    <operation
        id="cleanup"
        fail-on-error="false"
        description="Remove temporary processing artifacts">
      <configurations>
        <configuration key="delete-external">true</configuration>
        <configuration key="preserve-flavors">security/*</configuration>
      </configurations>
    </operation>
  </operations>
</definition>

How to Upload Assets in the Admin UI

After enabling an upload option, a new navigation area becomes visible in the "Create event", called "Asset Upload". Assets can be uploaded to new events. The "Asset Upload" navigation disappears for scheduled events. Assets cannot be uploaded for scheduled events until after the scheduled event is processed. assetUpload

The manually uploaded assets appear in the Create event summary assetUploadSummary

To Upload an asset to an existing event, go into the existing event details Assets tab, and click "Add Asset >" link assetUploadExistingEvent

The option selection is the same as when creating an event, except the "Add Asset" button automatically executes the workflow defined by EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.UPLOAD_ASSET.WORKFLOWDEFID assetUploadExistingOptions

How to Create a New Asset Option

The following steps will assist you in creating a new asset upload option. New source types can be added to new events.

Tasks:

Modify etc/listproviders/event.upload.asset.options.properties
For the title of the options displayed in the admin interface add a title field to the upload specification
Add a workflow to publish the uploaded assets to etc/workflows
Test your changes

The following steps describe how to change the properties configuration.

Step 1. Determine your new option type and processing needs

There are 3 asset upload types:

track is a media source such as video file
catalog is an XML formatted metadata file
attachment can be any type of file. For example jpeg, pdf, text, etc.

Tracks are usually associated with workflow processing. If you need special processing with your custom track flavors, update or create workflows to work with your new track flavor.

Attachments and Catalogs, such as smil files, can also be used for processing. If you only need to publish manually uploaded assets with a unique flavor, this is already built into the default workflows.

Step 2. Add your new option to the list configuration

You add your new asset upload configuration as a row to this file:

etc/listproviders/event.upload.asset.options.properties

Copy an existing row as a template for your new asset. Retain the property key prefix EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.SOURCE. or EVENTS.EVENTS.NEW.UPLOAD_ASSET.OPTION.

Your unique asset identifier will follow the last dot after the prefix, in all capital alphabetical characters. Underbars are allowed. CONFIGURATION values are in JSON object format.

Attribute	Example	Description
id	track_presenter	One of "attachment" or "catalog" or "track", underbar (_), unique text (no spaces)
type	track	One of "attachment" or "catalog" or "track" to designate asset type (must match id prefix)
flavorType	presentation	The primary flavor type. Used to reference asset in workflows, player, and media module
flavorSubType	source	The sub flavor type. Used to identify the sub flavor of this flavor type
multiple	false	true or false, used by the admin UI to enable single or multiple file input selection
displayOrder	32	Integer number, used by the admin UI to sort the display of upload options in the UI
displayOverride	'My New Catalog'	A short asset title which overrides all translations
displayFallback	'My New Catalog'	A short asset title which displays when no translation is found
displayOverride.SHORT	'Video of a Presenter'	A short source title which overrides all translations
displayFallback.SHORT	'Video of a Presenter'	A short source title which displays when no translation is found
displayOverride.DETAIL	'A recording that showing the lecturer speaking'	A longer source description which overrides all translation
displayFallback.DETAIL	'A recording that showing the lecturer speaking'	A longer source description which displays when no translation is found
accept	'video/*,.png'	A list of accepted file formats as taken by the HTML \<input>'s `accept` field. This field is optional. This has to be a list of comma separated values. Each value of the list can either be a IANA MediaType or a file ending.

The parameter key is internationalized as the display text in the admin interface.