Posted on the Wiki today are some instructions that explain how to fix SQL Server truncation errors resulting from the use of IPv6 in the FocusOPEN audit trail.
FocusOPEN 3.3.9.x To 3.4.1 Upgrade Instructions Released
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.
FocusOPEN Commercial Edition 50% Special Discount Offer
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.
FocusOPEN 3.4.1 Released – Major New Upgrade
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/
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
FocusOPEN Engineer/Developer Resources Added
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.
FocusOPEN 3.3.9 Released
July 28, 2011 – 5:00 am
Based on your feedback, we’ve released a major upgrade for FocusOPEN today (3.3.9 stable) which not only has some great new features but also several key application infrastructure changes that you’ve been asking for – namely more flexible metadata and a JavaScript scripting engine that supports REST to enable a fully customisable API.
Other feature enhancements include:
- Customisable advanced search – system administrators can choose which metadata filters are available to users based on their own controlled vocabulary
- Preview plug-ins – add any media playback technology, even your own bespoke players, with editable mark-up for asset previews and new plug-in manager
- Enhanced email control – system administrators can enable or disable required email registration formats
- Enhanced user experience – AJAX lightbox controls for a smoother user experience
- Batch template re-cataloguing – system administrators can quickly re-catalogue multiple assets
- Batch permissions control – system administrators can quickly update permissions for multiple assets
- Batch asset re-processing control – system administrators can quickly re-process multiple assets to the APS
- Custom bitmap creation – system administrators can generate multiple bitmaps for additional thumbnails or custom viewers at any dimensions they require
To upgrade from 3.3.7, follow the instructions on the Developer Wiki. We strongly recommend if you’re upgrading from an older version that you install a separate instance of FocusOPEN and back-up both SQL Server databases and asset files before you attempt the upgrade. Also, the new edition of the APS is not compatible with the older version and should not be installed on the same server as a non-upgraded 3.3.7.2 instance of FocusOPEN. If you have any further queries regarding this release, then please post on our Help Forums and we will do our best to answer your questions. Users with an active priority support agreement can request upgrade assistance via the ticketing system on the My Account dashboard or your account manager if you have a gold support plan.
FocusOPEN 3.3.7.3 Hotfix Released
June 22, 2011 – 8:00 am
A new hotfix (v3.3.7.3) has been released for FocusOPEN 3.3.7 users which corrects a minor fault where the File Metadata tab (used to show embedded metadata) was not being suppressed if the administrator had disabled it in the metadata configuration area. This can be downloaded from the wiki:
http://www.digitalassetmanager.com/wiki/hotfixes-3373/
Updates to the SVN repository accessible to FocusOPEN Developer Network members have been completed and should be available.
FocusOPEN 3.3.7.2 Hotfix Available
May 19, 2011 – 5:42 pm
A hotfix for FocusOPEN has been released today along with new deployment and source packages: 3.3.7.2. This is to correct a reported issue with adding new users in the 3.3.7 release. The hotfix can be downloaded from the FocusOPEN Wiki:
http://www.digitalassetmanager.com/wiki/hotfixes-3372/
To apply the patch, unzip and copy the FocusOPEN.data.dll into the bin folder on your webroot. Full deployment packages are available from the My Account dashboard and source code packages from the My Downloads area.
http://www.digitalassetmanager.com/myaccount/downloads.php
FocusOPEN Developer Network members who use the SVN server will be updated when the new release has been committed.
FocusOPEN Developer Network Launched
May 6, 2011 – 1:00 pm
We are pleased to announce the launch of the FocusOPEN Developer Network, a community programme designed to support users of our open source digital asset management system. Free to join, the network will provide developers and advanced users of FocusOPEN with SVN access, FocusOPEN job alerts and exclusive tools and other resources to help you extend and customise the platform.
We’ve had a great response already and we’re now busily preparing the next bag of developer goodies for release.
Register for your place on the FocusOPEN Developer Network here.
FocusOPEN 3.3.7 Released
April 7, 2011 – 3:00 pm
We released FocusOPEN Digital Asset Manager 3.3.7 today. This version includes bug fixes and a range of new features requested by you:
- Shared Lightboxes: Allows users to collaborate better with lightboxes.
- Increased Lightbox Recipient Number: Lightboxes can now be sent to 21 recipients
- Extra Security For File Ingestion: Asset ingestion can be enabled/disabled for specific accounts.
- More Robust APS: Better and faster asset processing.
Login to download the source and deployment packs for this latest version or register with us to join the community and get started with FocusOPEN.