February 6, 2012 – 1:57 pm
Today we published a short PDF guide to the FocusOPEN scripting engine and REST API (which is built using the scripting engine). A number of pre-written API functions have been provided over the last few releases and we intend to extend these over forthcoming updates. The documentation explains how to write your own custom scripts that can be called via the REST API either within FocusOPEN (from the home page or preview plug-ins) or externally from third party applications, including the token based user and session authentication that the API uses. The FocusOPEN scripting engine has been provided using another open source tool called Jint (JavaScript Interpreter for .NET).
Read More about the FocusOPEN Scripting Engine & API.
January 30, 2012 – 1:17 pm
We published a new article today on our Wiki about the FocusOPEN APS (Asset Processing Server) that explains some advanced APS configuration options. The article also describes the process of adding multiple APS instances using the command line version and the Microsoft srvany tool for creating services from command line applications.
January 26, 2012 – 9:00 am
By popular demand, we have re-introduced our 50% discount offer for the Commercial edition of FocusOPEN. The Commercial version has a number of key advantages over the AGPL licence:
- No attribution marks or references to FocusOPEN required
- The ability to integrate FocusOPEN with your own product without it acquiring an AGPL license also
- Active Directory integration
- InDesign preview generation
- Advanced Administrator set up guides (including AD)
- 1 month free Silver support
- Access to our Silver and Gold support plans
- 4 hours server deployment
- Full access to source code and no per-seat charges
If you are a marketing agency, systems integrator or an in-house IT department looking to implement .NET based Digital Asset Management but without the overhead or license constraints of a proprietary vendor then FocusOPEN is the ideal choice.
Read the Best DAM Offer page for more details. The 50% discount period ends on 29th February 2012, so don’t delay if you want to take advantage of this offer.
January 26, 2012 – 5:00 am
Today we formally released version 3.4.2 of FocusOPEN. This includes the following new features:
- Batch metadata update facility allows fields from groups of assets to be modified in bulk after cataloguing.
- InDesign preview, thumbnail and bitmap group generation from InDesign files (1)
- Upload processing API for adding asset files from external applications
- Modified upload process to enable external applications to add files to designated folders
- Customisable home page templates and XML editor controls
- Checkbox metadata node visibility customisation options for each brand
(1) Commercial release only
The 3.4.2 edition is being advance released to Commercial users only and will be made available to open source users at a later time (excluding any Commercial-only features). As with all other editions, the full source code is provided and there are no per-use restrictions.
If you are existing user, update instructions will be released shortly and those users with a Gold support agreement can request a FocusOPEN engineer to carry out the upgrade for you. Silver support users can request ticketed assistance to make the upgrade. Those with a FocusOPEN On Demand hosted DAM service plan will be upgraded to 3.4.2 upon request, upgrades to the new edition are not compulsory.
January 10, 2012 – 5:28 pm
The FocusOPEN Active Directory plug-in guide has been written and is now available from the dashboard of the My Account area for Commercial edition users. FocusOPEN Digital Asset Manager has a plug-in based authentication system and the AD plug-in is currently only provided as a deployment package to Commercial users. The AD authentication plug-in allows users to login using the same set of credentials as their AD server which they typically use to login to Windows from.
January 10, 2012 – 8:45 am
November 29, 2011 – 5:29 pm
We have released some upgrade instructions for 3.3.9.5 users who do not have a support agreement or who prefer to do the upgrade to the recently release 3.4.1 edition themselves. The full information is provided on the Wiki.
The instructions cover:
- Best practices and point to be aware of before attempting an upgrade
- Applying the database upgrade scripts
- Installing new dependencies such as wkhtmltopdf
- Making appsettings.config file changes
Read the wiki entry here: http://www.digitalassetmanager.com/wiki/upgrading-focusopen-3.3.9.5-to-3.4.1/
If you are not confident with deploying ASP.NET web applications or you are having problems, please contact us for professional services assistance (this is chargeable support) or use the forum to see if a community member can help you.
November 29, 2011 – 6:00 am
Running from today until December 31st 2011, there is a 50% discount on the Commercial edition of FocusOPEN. The Commercial edition has a number of benefits:
- Avoid the restrictions of the AGPL licence that require you to make any applications you integrate FocusOPEN subject to the same licence.
- Legally remove the ‘powered by’ FocusOPEN logo
- 12 months updates
- Active Directory authentication plug-in support
- Free deployment or two months free hosting
- One month free ticketed support
- Comprehensive administrator documentation.
If you want to take advantage of the 50% discount offer, either register using the 50% offer page or if you are an existing user, there will be a link to it on the My Account dashboard.
November 10, 2011 – 4:05 pm
FocusOPEN 3.4.1 Major New Release
We are please to announce the launch of the 3.4.1. edition of FocusOPEN Digital Asset Manager today.
This is a major new release and includes a lot of functionality requested by both Community AGPL and Commercial edition users:
- New groups permissions scheme allows granular control over users and group permissions
- Authentication plug-in architecture added allows integration with third party authentication providers*
- Image studio ported from enterprise implementations: allows cropping, flipping, rotating and re-sizing of images
- New options for multi-user collaboration on lightboxes
- Email broadcast facility allows batches of messages to be sent to users
- Off-line zip order processing prepares large zip order in the background
- Enhanced embedded metadata to allow different mapping rules for each asset type
- Physical asset option and physical asset ordering features added (including quantities for assets)
- Delivery instructions for physical assets
- PDF contact sheets for lightbox and order manager
- Customisable search URLs allows custom search result URLs to be generated for use with home page and external applications
- New home page custom ‘tab’ controls with URLs to searches
- Change fields in list view for different asset types
- New notify when published simplified workflow feature
- Exclude asset types from default searches
- Disable or enable shopping cart selection
- Disable some metadata from being selected so it can be used for information purposes only
- Enhanced API features
- Modification of JSON data nodes in API to support complex arrays and other data structures
- Customise list view fields globally or for each asset type
- New Home.inc and All.inc include files for including JavaScript or custom data on the home page or all other pages.
- Simplified batch controls in admin area
- Batch publish feature allow admin users to batch publish a group of assets without completing any metadata about them.
* Commercial users: Active Directory integration is enabled on the Commercial edition as an authentication plug-in using this new feature.
Copies of the new release can be downloaded by registered users from the Dashboard area of My Account.
3.3.9.5 Upgrades
An upgrade procedure for 3.3.9.5 installations is being written and will be posted on the Wiki. Those users with an active support agreement in place will be contacted by an account manager to ask if you want the upgrade to be carried out for you by an engineer. Open source or Commercial users who do not have a support agreement can either wait until instructions are released or request ad-hoc professional services assistance (this is paid for support) via the contact form on the dashboard of your account area.
For those who cannot wait and are prepared to carry out the work themselves, copies of the database scripts are included in the database folder of the installation package.
IMPORTANT: Please ensure you do all of the following before carrying out the upgrade:
- Backup your existing production installation (full SQL Server backup, asset file backup, ASP.NET code and IIS settings) and check that the backup restores properly also.
- Test the new release first on a non-production server (e.g. using a virtualised instance)
- Ensure that your web.config and other configuration files include all the settings from the new version
You are strongly advised to avoid an upgrade unless you have very good SQL Server and Windows Server system administrator expertise.
FocusOPEN Wiki
More articles are being written for the FocusOPEN Wiki and it also contains a wide range of troubleshooting information. This is accessible here: http://www.digitalassetmanager.com/wiki/
Twitter
FocusOPEN has a dedicated Twitter account. If you want to get updated immediately about FocusOPEN news then you can follow us here: http://twitter.com/focusopen
October 31, 2011 – 1:40 pm
We have released two new document resources aimed at FocusOPEN engineers/developers to the FocusOPEN Developer Wiki:
The sandbox deployment guide shows users how to create duplicated versions of FocusOPEN without the need to do a clean install. The Engineer user role is a little known feature of FocusOPEN that is suitable for developers or system administrators and allows them accessto a number of system management features that you can normally only get to if you have administrator access to the server where FocusOPEN is installed, including:
- View Settings
- View Logs
- Drive Info
- Asset Processing Server Info
Consult the wiki for more information on this documentation.
