Let’s say I have multiple folders of content stored in my XP’s file structure. It’d be nice to reference a local path to each folder of content in excel. This would be a much easier method to pull up groups or galleries of content that can be sorted and filtered from the excel interface asset.
For a very basic example, let’s say I have 50 products. Each product has somewhere between 1-20 product photos. When someone selects a product, I’d like to show the corresponding dynamic folder of images as a collection.
As of right now, I believe that only paths to a single file can be referenced in excel, unless I’ve overlooked something.
You’re right about the way to reference path, but a first solution could be to use the method described in this article to reference multiple media files per item in an Excel file.
Have a look at it (I just wrote it) and tell me if that answers the need.
If you’d like something even more dynamic, you could think about using the sample JavaScript Interface Asset combined to a file path. I’ll give you more details on this one if needed.
Thanks Seb,
Yup, I was choosing between that method…and another. So far I’ve created a Flip chart of Asset Grids with a dynamic folder feed. Then the original Excel doc has a simple index column to tell the flip chart which one to show. Seems to work pretty well, and I don’t need to enter in each image one by one into another Excel doc. We’ll see how this goes for now. I appreciate the other options!
This is where the option using the JavaScript IA I mentioned in my previous comment could help, and make the scene much lighter (flip chart of asset grids, really??)
I created a sample to illustrate the combination of an Excel file + the JS IA. You can download it here.
The dynamic folders are located in the FileSystemBrowsingJS folder and the Excel file just contain the name of these folders (relative to the JS file).
Hey Seb,
Is there any way to simply “Refresh” or “Re-Index” the current folder the FileSystemBrowsing IA is looking at?
So if someone drops more pictures into the current folder, they will show up right away? I know the IA will re-index the items when changing a folder, but I’ve come up with some scenarios that require the user to stay on the current folder.
Good idea! However, I just gave it a try believe it or not…it doesn’t work. I’ll drop in some new pictures in to the folder, reload the scene, and only the previous ones show. And if you remove files from the folder and reload the scene, placeholders of broken-images appear instead.
It seems changing the Folder Name to a dummy-name, then changing it back to the original name seems to work like a refresh. For some reason, this didn’t work initially. But I restarted Composer and tried it again…and voila, it works! This should be fine for now, but it’d be cool if @Seb could work a little magic and make a refresh or re-index current folder option. (I love this IA btw, it’s very helpful).
Thanks for chipping in, Louis. Glad we’ve got a responsive community of smart people here!
Sure, this listed in this article but probably not that obvious. To make an Interface Asset visible in Composer, you must close Composer, copy it in this folder [Drive]:\Users\[UserName]\Documents\Intuiface\Interface Assets then re-open Composer.
I’m looking for a similar solution to list different types of content in a folder by using excel. (the example shown above only works for images)
Can you help me out?
You’ll need to update the code in the FileSystemBrowsingJS Interface asset I mentioned above so it looks for other type of media in the folder to browse.
Following with has been shipped
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