Mediaflux Desktop - How-to videos

Owned by Andy Tseng
Mar 21, 2024
4 min read

This page contains video guides for the Mediaflux Desktop which is the web based interface to Mediaflux primarily used to curate data, control project structure, apply metadata and search files and metadata.

How-to videos from Research Computing Services

Logging in

See Desktop (Browser, HTTPS Protocol).

N.B. Video shows old log in method, the link above the video shows the updated method, briefly described below.

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).

Navigating the Desktop

Accessing the components of the Mediaflux web based Desktop

Controlling Project Structure

Finding your project(s) and controlling their structure.

Defining your metadata

Creating metadata definitions.

Some useful metadata element types:

Type

Description

Example

string

a sequence of characters

“Some text 1234”

enumeration

a list of options which retain the defined order

Red\Green\Blue

dictionary

The name of a dictionary which contains an ordered list of options

Blue\Green\Red

double

a double precision (64 bit) floating point data type (15-16 digits)

3.141592653589793

float

N.B. due to rounding errors we advise against using floats, use doubles. They're a single precision (32 bit) floating point data type (7 digits)

3.141593

long

a 64-bit two's complement integer. The signed long has a minimum value of -2`63 and a maximum value of 2`63-1

9.223372037e18

integer

a 32-bit signed two's complement integer, which has a minimum value of -2`31 and a maximum value of 2`31-1

2,147,483,647

date

a date which can optionally include time.

2018-06-01

boolean

a Boolean data type is a data type with only two possible values

true/false

email-address

an email address

someone@unimelb.edu.au

password

a string that is neither logged nor displayed

*****

url

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL), colloquially termed a web address

http://www.unimelb.edu.au

Enumerations and Dictionaries

Creating your own Enumeration list and Dictionary.

Note: Dictionaries will always be presented as a sorted list of options, if you require control over the ordering of the list you should use an Enumeration which will preserver the order you specify.

Create and assign Metadata

Modifying Metadata

Metadata in namespaces (directories)

Searching

Moving search results

Downloading your metadata

One way (of many) to download your metadata from the Desktop

Applying Metadata to multiple assets

Training Videos from Arcitecta

You can download a zip file containing Mediaflux Desktop Training Videos from the Vendor of Mediaflux, Arcitecta.

DTI (desktop integration) no longer available

Note that since these training videos were produced, browser manufacturers have locked down the features that the DTI (desktop integration) uses.  Therefore the DTI is no longer usable; you will not be able to see your local files in the Files entry on the left hand side of the Asset Finder.  You can still upload data using Mediaflux Desktop by dragging and dropping into the Desktop window from your Operating System's file manager, however you will need to keep the browser window open for the duration of the upload.

When you start Desktop you will see a message stating that the DTI is inactive.  This is normal.

Dragging and dropping data into the Asset finder from the Linux file manager:

Dragging and dropping data into the Asset Finder using the Windows file manager:

List of topics in the Arcitecta training videos

  • Introduction to Arcitecta Desktop

    • Logging in
    • Arcitecta Desktop Integration Agent (DTI) (Note: the DTI is no longer supported for data ingestion, see detail above)
    • Basic features

  • Arcitecta Desktop Overview

    • Introduction
    • Data ingestion (Note: the DTI is no longer supported for data ingestion, see detail above)
    • Metadata
    • Data discovery
    • Geospatial attributes and mapping

  • Introduction to Asset Finder

    • Collections, Files and Metadata (Note: the DTI is no longer supported for data ingestion, see detail above)

    • Favourites

  • Ingesting data with Asset Finder

    • Drag and drop files from local filesystem to a collection (Note: the DTI is no longer supported for data ingestion, see detail above)
    • Ingest options
      • Packaging
      • Naming
      • Geolocation
      • Metadata
    • Arcitecta Desktop Integration Agent (DTI) progress window (Note: the DTI is no longer supported for data ingestion, see detail above)

  • Ingesting data from spreadsheets

    • Mapping rows/columns to assets with metadata
    • Applying default metadata

  • Viewing Data in Asset Finder

    • Searching

    • Asset details

    • Asset history

    • Column view

  • Introduction to Asset Map

    • Navigation
    • Background maps
    • Asset display
    • Layers
    • Saving/sharing maps

  • Metadata Library

    • Metadata auto-extraction on ingest
    • Metadata namespaces
    • Metadata definition documents
      • Elements
      • Subelements
      • Attributes
    • Attaching/detaching metadata to/from assets

  • Metadata templates for collections

    • Using a metadata definition document as a template

  • Searching using filters

    • Filter selector
    • Metadata filters
    • Asset filters

  • More filter topics

    • Filtering out assets without metadata
    • More on metadata filters
    • Date filters: relative and absolute

  • Opening and saving views

    • Opening/Favouriting views
    • Saving a view as an asset
      • Filter definition
      • Column view

  • Access Controls (ACLs)

    • Collection ACLs
    • Metadata ACLs

  • Administering Users

    • Authentication Domains (local/LDAP)
    • User management