File Synchronizer (FS) synchronizes the assets stored in a directory and all the subdirectories below with Collection Pro.
Every asset found in that file system hierarchy is added to Collection Pro, and the created record is extended with metadata pointing back to the original source asset. If the source asset is now changed or renamed, the linked record will also be modified accordingly. This gives users the option to either use Collection Pro to browse assets or to use the well-known file server. One could also use the file-server for the in-house work and use Collection Pro to distribute those assets with external users or customers.
Installation
FS is a stand-alone service application that is installed directly on a Windows file server that provides a directory to be monitored and synchronized, including subdirectories.
Instances
FS supports multiple instances, where each instance is monitoring one directory (including subdirectories) and synchronizes that file system hierarchy with a single object type and pool in Collection Pro.
Instance configuration
The properties for each instance offer the following options:
| Table | |
|---|---|
| Synchronize directory | Specifies the directory to be monitored as seen from the FS service application. |
| Asset table | Specifies the table FS should use to synchronize the assets with. |
| Pool | If the selected table is pool managed, select the pool to use for records created by AFS. |
| Asset field | Specifies the File field of the selected table where FS should store the assets. |
| File system table | Select the hierarchical table, where FS can store some additionally needed file system structure information. |
| Syncback | |
|---|---|
| Enable sync back | Check this to enable FS to write assets uploaded directly into Collection Pro also back into the file system if their record gets assigned to one of the AFS file system structure items which represent the directories. |
| Limit to records matching | Limit the sync back only for records matching this query. Without any query, every record assigned to one of the file system structure items will be synced back to the file system. |
| Time-outs | |
|---|---|
| Action time-out | Time between receiving the low-level file system event and executing the resulting operation in Collection Pro. |
| Time-out for resync runs | Time between full checks of Collection Pro and file system for missed assets and records. This can for example detect assets that have been created in the file system while the FS service was not running. It’s a heavy operation that should not run too often. |
| Time-out for resync fixes | Time between finding an issue in a resync run and fixing the underlying issue. As the resync also finds assets where the event was received by FS but not just processed yet because the Action time-out has not passed, it’s not recommended to lower this value below an hour. |
| Exclusions | |
|---|---|
| List of regular expressions | An asset where the asset path matches one of the listed regular expressions is ignored by FS. The regular expression can also include parts of the path and not only the file name. |