Mediaflux Explorer is a Java application that you run on your desktop computer. It interacts with the Mediaflux server via the secure HTTPS protocol. This application complements the standard web-based Mediaflux Desktop interface. The focus of Mediaflux Explorer is uploads, downloads, queries and sharing of data.

The HTTPS protocol is the most robust way to move data in and out of Mediaflux.  This is because uploads and downloads are atomic (one transaction - the server is told what to expect) and because it is very difficult to corrupt an HTTPS data stream.

Explorer 1.5.1 and later have support for symbolic links.

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Getting Mediaflux Explorer

You can download Mediaflux Explorer installers below.  See the change summary for a detailed list of changes.

• Mediaflux Explorer 1.6.8 for Windows

• Mediaflux Explorer 1.6.8 for macOS

• Mediaflux Explorer 1.6.8 for Linux

Notes on installation

The Windows and macOS versions are standard installers.  The Linux version is packaged as a zip file.  To install it, unpack the contents of the zip file and follow the instructions in the README.txt.

Windows

Installing over an old version (such as the 1.3.x series) will result in a non-working Explorer installation.  Either uninstall the older version first or select a different install location on the Destination Folder page of the installer.

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macOS

Installing over the old version of Mediaflux Explorer will simply replace it.

Linux

Extract the zip file to a new location that doesn't already exist.  Note that the installation directory cannot be inside another directory that contains "bin" anywhere in its path (e.g. it's safe to install in /home/user/mediaflux-explorer but not in /home/user/bin/mediaflux-explorer).

If you are running on Linux on a High DPI screen, Explorer may appear with very small text and widgets.  You can make these larger by adding GDK_SCALE=2 to be beginning of the command.  e.g.

How to Run Mediaflux Explorer

Once you have installed Mediaflux Explorer, start it in the usual way:

• For Windows, select it from the available program menus
  
  

• For macOS, double-click Mediaflux Explorer in the Applications folder (or if your security preferences don't allow, right click and select "Open")

  • The Explorer is now signed/notarised and trusted by Apple so you should have no further difficulty opening it. However, we have, on occasion seen macOS claim the Application (and even sometimes the .dmg) is 'Damaged' and can't be opened.   This is usually because there are extended attributes associated with those files (reason unknown - it appears to be something in the receiving computer environment).  The solution to this is to use a command line tool to remove the extended attributes.

    • Start the Terminal Application and then enter into the Terminal window

      cd /Applications sudo xattr -cr Mediaflux\ Explorer.app

       

• For Linux, execute mediaflux-explorer/bin/mediaflux-explorer in the command-line or double-click if you have a graphical File Browser

Log in to Mediaflux

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for Mediaflux is now available. To learn more visit: Mediaflux MFA

Enter the following details into the GUI:

• left-hand top entry box (the protocol) : https 

• middle top entry box (the host) : mediaflux.researchsoftware.unimelb.edu.au

• right-most entry box (the port) : 443

Now you are ready to log in.

University of Melbourne Staff/Student Account (Active Directory)

You can login to Mediaflux directly with your University of Melbourne institutional credential. To login with your UniMelb credential:

1. For the Domain field, enter unimelb (for staff account-holders) or student (for student account-holders)

2. For the User and Password fields, please enter your UniMelb username and password (same ones you use when login to University's Themis system), and click “Sign In”

Below is the screenshot shows the example of login using a UniMelb staff account:

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Using a Local Account

If you have been provisioned with a local Mediaflux account (i.e. you are not using your institutional account), you will also have been provided with the details for Domain, User and Password. Just enter them and click Sign In to login.

Below is the screenshot shows the example of login using a local account (in this case the local account domain is called 'VicNode'):

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Using Mediaflux Explorer

See the How to videos for more information on using Mediaflux Explorer.

NB: if you use the Explorer via a right click (on a folder) to make a new child folder (collection), use ONLY 'Create Sub Collection', do NOT use 'Create Sub Collection Asset'.

How to Quit Mediaflux Explorer

You can either close the application or select Quit after clicking on the Mediaflux from the menu-bar on the top.

Sinks in Explorer

Sinks are a way of sending data directly from the Mediaflux server to a remote location.  They are integrated into the Mediaflux Explorer client.  Data can also be transformed on the fly (e.g. in Neuroscience we often transform DICOM to some other format as the data are sent to a sink). While sinks can be convenient, we don't recommend them for transferring large datasets.  In this case the Mediaflux Unimelb Command-Line Clients are a better choice as they can transfer using multiple threads and are restartable.

Sinks have one of these types:

• scp

• sftp

• ftp

Sinks can be provided pre-configured with the scp/sftp/ftp server details (for example the scp2spartan sink) or generic sinks are available for you to fill in all details.  We typically have sftp and scp sinks defined.

To access from the Explorer:

• Right click on a folder (namespace) or file (asset)

• Select Send to sink

• Select a sink (e.g. scp2spartan)

• Fill in the details. You will need a minimum of

  • server/port (if not pre-configured)

  • your username for the server you are sending to

  • your password (or private key) for the server you are sending to

    • If you use a private key, if the key has a passphrase, you must supply that too

    • The matching public key must be installed on the destination server in the .ssh/authorized_keys file

    • Private keys can be of maximum 2048 bits

  • optionally a path to put the data in (defaults to your home directory of the server you are sending to)

Also see the Sinks video on the Mediaflux Explorer how to videos page.

How-to videos

• Installing Mediaflux Explorer

  • Windows

  • Mac

• Login

• Browsing

• Controlling your project structure (including deletion)

• Downloading files

• Uploading files

• Sharing and Receiving data

• File metadata

• Searching

• Doing things with your search results

• Sinks it's not what you thinks

This page contains video guides for Mediaflux Explorer (java client).

Installing Mediaflux Explorer

Download the Mediaflux Explorer install file first.

Windows

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Mac

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Login

Login server address details:

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To login with your UoM credential

• You must enter the protocol (https) and server/port details first (detailed above the video)

• Enter unimelb (staff accounts) or student (student accounts) into the Domain entry field

• Enter your usual institutional username (for the user field) and password (for the password field and click Sign in).

Browsing

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NB Be aware the list of files is paged, if you have a lot in one directory you need to use the page up/down buttons at the bottom right of the central window.

Controlling your project structure (including deletion)

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Downloading files

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Uploading files

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NB:

1. If you use the Explorer via a right click on a folder (collection) to make a new child folder (collection), use ONLY 'Create Sub Collection', do NOT use 'Create Sub Collection Asset'. 

2. Mediaflux Explorer 1.3.27 on Windows can have an issue with dragging files into the upload window as described in this video. Update to the latest version of Mediaflux Explorer here Mediaflux downloads or use the alternate upload procedure described at 56 seconds into the video if you experience this issue.

Sharing and Receiving data

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You can find out more about the Mediaflux Data Mover here including how to install.

File metadata

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Searching

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Doing things with your search results

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Sinks it's not what you thinks

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Sharing Big Data with Download Share

Download Share (Link) can be created using Mediaflux Explorer to share your data (especially big data sets) with external collaborators. Download Share allow the consumer to recursively download data from a namespace (folder) when they otherwise have no access.

To create a download share with Mediaflux Explorer, simply right click on a namespace (folder) in the navigator pane (on the left) and select Create Download Share.

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• A new GUI will pop up - simply fill in the details (only the Name is mandatory).  

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• We generally recommend you set an Valid To field for the share to expire at.

• If you want to email the download share link to someone (possibly yourself) enter the address in the Invitation Email entry box.

• If you enter a Password, you will need to communicate that yourself to the recipient of the download share.  If you set a complex password, then it is suggested that you copy/paste it in from some other source. For example, if you are going to send the password to someone in a separate email, enter it into that email, then copy and paste it into the GUI (because you can neither see it nor copy it from the GUI once it is set).

• After you click the Create Download Share button, the GUI will be replaced by another with the opportunity to copy the download share link to the Clipboard (so that you can paste it somewhere).

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• All the recipient of the download share (link) needs to do is click on it in an email or paste it into their browser. This will start the Mediaflux Data Mover app (download and install or just execute if already installed) and the data in and under the selected namespace (folder) will be downloaded.

Collecting Data with Upload Share

Upload Share can be created using Mediaflux Explorer for external collaborators to upload data to your Mediaflux project.

To create an upload shareable with Mediaflux Explorer, simply right click on a namespace (folder) in the navigator pane (on the left) and select Create Upload Share.

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• A new GUI will pop up - simply fill in the details (only the Name is mandatory).  

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• We generally recommend you set an Valid To field for the share to expire at.

• If you want to email the upload share link to someone (possibly yourself) enter the address in the Invitation Email entry box.

• If you enter a Password, you will need to communicate that yourself to the recipient of the shareable.   If you set a complex password, then it is suggested that you copy/paste it in from some other source. For example, if you are going to send the password to someone in a separate email, enter it into that email, then copy and paste it into the GUI (because you can neither see it nor copy it from the GUI once it is set).

• There is an option to limit the amount of data that can be uploaded into your project using this share.

• There is an option called 'Add Unique Collection'.  If you check this, then when the data are uploaded, a parent namespace (folder) with a unique name is created and the data are then created beneath it.  Otherwise, the data the consumer uploads go directly into the specified namespace (folder).

• After you click the Create Upload Share button, the GUI will be replaced by another with the opportunity to copy the upload share link to the Clipboard (so that you can paste it somewhere).

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Check Mediaflux Project Storage Used

Log in Mediaflux Explorer, select your project from the left side explorer panel, for example proj-demonstration-1128.4.15.
The project storage quota and used storage will be displayed at the right side details panel.

See the screenshot below:

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Known Issues with Mediaflux Explorer

This page details the known issues with Mediaflux Explorer.

Version 1.5.2 and later

Version 1.3.27

Version 1.3.26

Change Summary for Mediaflux Explorer

Version 1.6.8 (released)

• Defect Fixes

  • Fixed issues with the Send to Sink and Destroy features on the Result Set Options menu. These issues were introduced in 1.6.7 as a result of the query performance enhancements.

  • Fixed an issue where name uniqueness on move incorrectly checked the entire hierarchy of the target collection or namespace rather than just the target.

Version 1.6.7

• Enhancements

  • The "type" field has been removed from the "Create Sub-Collection" form as it is not something that users should be modifying.

  • Updated context menu and dialog titles related to "create/upload" and "send to sink" actions to correct case and terminology.

  • Improved the performance of the query that validates whether the names of assets being moved into a namespace were unique when the system had a lot of collection assets.

  • Added a name collision check when moving assets to a collection asset.

  • Improved query performance execution times by using :collection and :namespace parameters where possible.

• Defect Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that would prevent the metadata form from being displayed when a parent collection asset has a member template when creating a sub-collection.

  • Updated additional locations where the term 'collection' was employed when the term 'namespace' is more appropriate.

  • Fixed an issue that would cause an error to be displayed when dragging an asset from a namespace over a collection asset in the tree.

Version 1.6.6

• Enhancements:

  • The term "collection", previously used to describe purple folders in the tree view, has been replaced with the term "namespace" to align with the server's nomenclature and to more clearly disambiguate them from a blue folder, which represents a "collection asset".

  • The quota panels have been improved so that the text is more readable and a percentage is shown once greater than 15%.

  • The "Password" field shown on the form when creating upload and download shareables now displays password rather than masking it with asterisks. This is required because otherwise passwords generated by shareable policies cannot be discerned by the user and shared with the recipient of the shareable.

• Defect Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where child nodes of a namespace would be incorrectly removed and the expand/collapse toggle would be hidden when the namespace received an event indicating the destruction of a sub-namespace or collection asset.

  • Fixed an issue that would result in some events for a collection assets not being processed.

  • Fixed an issue where namespace member events would not cause the detail view to be updated, potentially resulting in stale quota display.

Version 1.6.5

• Enhancements

  • The feature allowing users to set a MIME type on assets during import has been removed to prevent data that is inappropriate being entered by users.

  • The password field on the form displayed when creating an download shareable for a collection asset or namespace now masks the characters entered, making it consistent with the corresponding forms for upload shareables.

  • Namespace quota display has been improved to display the allocation and usage figures.

  • Collection asset quota display has been enhanced to display overflow and improved allocation and usage figures to bring its display into alignment with namespaces.

  • The following forms can now be submitted by hitting enter when the focus a text form field has the focus and all fields on the form are valid:

    • Creating a download share for an asset, collection asset, or namespace.

    • Creating an upload share for a collection asset, or namespace.

    • Setting a password on a shareable.

  • Added collection member statistics to the asset explorer details pane. They will only be displayed if the collection asset has collection member statistics.

  • The detail display when a namespace or collection asset is selected now refreshes the information to ensure that quota usage updates that occurred when the item was not selected are displayed.

  • The layout of the asset and namespace details pane has been improved to make the layout more consistent, and improve quota display.

• Defect Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that would result in the tree not being displayed when a user without settings for the application logged in.

  • Updated the text of the "Create Download Link" dialog so that the text in the dialog matches the context menu and dialog title.

  • Metadata templates configured on a collection are now respected when creating child assets via the context menu.

  • A child namespace can no longer be dragged onto its parent namespace.

  • When renaming an asset the parent collection is checked for existing names. Previously the grandparent was being incorrectly checked instead.

  • Users are now prevented from dragging assets out of a collection if they don't hold the 'remove-member' permission on the collection.

  • Fixed an issue that would result in events that notify that the members of a collection asset have changed were only processed if the collection directly containing the changed member was selected rather than when an ancestor of the affected collection was selected.

Version 1.6.4

• Defect Fixes

  • Fixed the query used for checking a collection has assets with content when determining whether the 'Create Download Shareable" menu option should be displayed on a collection asset. Previously it only checked for member assets, not asset with content.

  • Fixed an issue where the tree view was not displayed because it relied on user application preferences that hadn't yet been loaded.

Version 1.6.3

• Defect Fixes

  • Metadata ACLs on parent collections are now respected when editing metadata.

  • The Create Upload Share option is now disabled unless access to creating assets is available to the user.

  • The Create Sub-Collection context menu option is now enabled on a namespace if the user can create assets in the namespace.

  • The Create/Upload Assets dialogs will now disable the Create/Upload button if removing files from the file list result in no files being selected for upload.

  • Added support for displaying asset ACLs in the asset detail pane.

  • Added support for displaying exclusive collection member ACLs in the asset detail pane.

  • Exclusive namespace ACLs are now displayed with the "(exclusive)" following the actor name to differentiate them from inclusive ACLs.

Version 1.6.2

• Enhancements

  • The display of ACLs has been enhanced so that for secure identity tokens the actor type will be displayed as 'identity' and for missing actors will be displayed as 'unknown'.

  • If an asset is not found when getting its icon (possibly due to a change of access or destruction of the asset) an error will no longer be displayed.

  • Added support for displaying a visibility icon on collection assets when the collection has restricted visibility.

  • Added support for displaying the list of actors that a collection asset is visible to when visibility has been set using the asset.collection.visibility.* services.

  • Added validation for "directory name" field when creating a download shareable.

  • Assets and namespaces are now subject to additional checks when dragging to prevent them from being dropped somewhere illegal, which could result in an exception.

  • Added support to graphically display overflow of quota in namespaces.

  • Added support for generating share links on collection assets. Will work with server version 4.16.036 and newer.

  • The full path to the asset is now displayed in the right panel.

  • When attempting to drag assets between a level zero collection hierarchy and a namespace hierarchy a message will be displayed indicating that this is not possible.

  • The permissions for creating assets and sub-collections are now checked when dragging files and directories to namespaces or collection assets, and a visual indicator is displayed when permission is denied.

  • Support for MFA has been added so that when a user with MFA enabled attempts to log in a message will be displayed indicating that the application is waiting for the user to respond via their device, and the login form will wait until the user responds, rejects the request, or the request times out.

Version 1.6.1 (released)

• Enhancements

  • Standardized the confirmation popup message to exit the application where the UI would rely on the OS where the application is being run on.

  • Added the application icon for the confirmation popup for Windows.

  • Dragging an asset from the results view to a collection asset node on the tree will now disallow dropping if the target is the same as the asset's existing parent.

  • The 'Type' field on the "Create Sub-Collection Asset" form can now filter based on user input.

  • Support for level zero root collections and their members has been added.

  • Default protocol for login is now HTTPS instead of HTTP.

  • Added a new application property, collections.create, which disables the action of creating asset collections under namespaces and collections if the property is set to false. By default the property will be true if not set.

    • application.property.create :property -name collections.create -app aexplorer < :type -type boolean :value true >

• Defect Fixes

  • Renaming a collection in the root namespace now correctly validates that the target name will not conflict with another asset in the same namespace.

  • Fixed a problem where the enumeration form item would cast the value of the field to String, breaking any field with a type that's not String.

  • Fixed an issue where "Type" field for creating assets are not searchable by prefix.

  • Fixed an issue where the tooltip installed for Enumeration field type is constructed via HTML - it has now been removed.

  • Added checks for the buttons in "DOI" window so that it will disable when the values are invalid.

  • Added a check to disable the 'Add' button for Enumeration field multi select if the value is not valid.

  • Fixed an issue where the text for "Move Assets" may overflow out of the window.