The primary instrument upload work flow includes dispatch to the end user.  However, it's not uncommon for users to contact platform staff because they have lost their data and need another copy.   This page  describes how you can find the data (in Mediaflux) after the upload and re-issue a Download Shareable to the user.  

As described in the Primary Data Workflow section, each upload creates a uniquely-named transactional parent namespace (folder) inside of which is a Manifest Asset containing information about the upload and as a child namespace, the actual data uploaded. The information in the manifest asset includes any keywords that were set during the upload.   Therefore, you can use one of two approaches to find previously uploaded data.

1. Use a navigation tool like the Mediaflux Explorer to find the parent folder by name.  This is only useful if the Instrument Upload Shareable was configured to allow additional text to be inserted in the Data Mover GUI in which case this parent folder name will include this text as a suffix.  For example 2020-08-18_18.20.37-32-4-fish where the user doing the upload entered the text fish (any string can be used of course) into the name text entry box in the Data Mover GUI.
2. Use a query tool like the Mediaflux Explorer or the Mediaflux Desktop to query for the Manifest Asset.  The manifest asset holds a range of information that can be queried for including:
   • the date and time it was created (so when the upload was done)
   • keywords set by the user with the Data Mover GUI during upload (any user entered name suffix or keyword is set as a keyword on the manifest asset)
   • details about the shareable
   • details about the upload

Once you have found the namespace with the data of interest, then you can share it with someone.

• Mediaflux Explorer
  
  • The previous version (v1.3.27_001) only allows for you to make standard Download Links which will generate a container (e.g. a zip file) on the client computer doing the actual download.  These don't scale very well to big data (more than a few GB)
  • The current version (from v1.5.1) also allows you to generate Download Shareables utilising the Data Mover (a highly scalable tool).
• Mediaflux Desktop
  • Can be used now to generate Download Shareables for use with the Data Mover.

Using Mediaflux Explorer

These features are new in version 1.5.1 of the Mediaflux Explorer.

We have created a standard query form that you can use for querying for manifest assets.  Just open the query part of the interface (click the >> symbol in the top left) and select Shareable Upload Manifest Query from the drop down list of query forms, and then fill in the details.  The Explorer queries from whatever parent folder (namespace) you have selected in the Navigator - make sure you checked the 'Include Child Collections' not in the top-left entry box (else queries are not recursive).  Queries are applied until you close the query panel again. 

Fig 1. The query panel is open, Include Child Collections is checked, the shareable query has been selected from the drop down menu, and manifest assets are being found for the facility that contains the string Neil (these are test data and the name of the Instrument Facility is 'Neil Facility') - press return after entering to activate a new search. The manifest assets are always called __manifest.csv.  The path to the asset is in the top right.

Fig 2. The query panel is open, Include Child Collections is checked, the shareable query has been selected from the drop down menu, and manifest assets are being found for the facility that contains the string Neil (these are test data and the name of the Instrument Facility is 'Neil Facility') and in addition, only manifest assets with the keyword fish (set by the user at upload time) are being returned - press return after entering to initiate a new search.  In this case, one manifest asset.  The manifest assets are always called __manifest.csv. The path to the asset is in the top right.

Once you have found the manifest asset of interest, you must:

1. Note its location (namespace/folder)
2. Navigate to that location with the Explorer navigator/browser (we hope a future release of the Explorer will allow you to 'jump' to that location - this can be done with the Desktop)
3. Use the Explorer via a right-click to re-issue a Download Shareable (for the Data Mover) or Download Link (for small data) for the end user

Using Mediaflux Desktop 

The Mediaflux Desktop is a browser-based interface (see here for how to access).  Within our service, the Desktop is mainly used for administrative purposes, as we use other tools for moving data in and out. However, there are some useful things that can be done with that we cannot currently do with the Explorer.  In particular, there is some functionality available for finding Data Mover uploads and re-sharing the data.

Once you have logged in to the Desktop with your browser, start the Asset Finder application by double clicking on the Asset Finder icon on the left hand side, second from top. The Asset Finder presents a navigator interface rather like the Mediaflux Explorer. Use the navigator pane on the left to open the tree and select your project.

Fig 3. The Asset Finder application started and the project hierarchy opened to the location inside the project of interest.  You might typically just select the parent project.  Make sure that the entry box in the top left says Deep Search (recursive search).  If it says Shallow Search (non recursive search), click the small bar to the top right of the magnifying glass and it will switch (and the bar will jump to the bottom).

Now, we are going to access a pre-defined filter which knows how to find manifest assets.  Left click on Filters and select Show.  This won't show any filters yet, it will just prepare the area in which filters, when opened, are presented.

Fig 4. Selecting to show Filters

Now, left click on View, and select Open (to open a predefined filter) to see the list of available filters.

Fig 5. Preparing to select the Filter.

From the list, select the one called shareable-upload-manifest-query-desktop

Fig 6. The manifest asset filter has been loaded and the filtered view is showing only manifest assets now.

The easiest way to search is on keywords set during the upload (but there are other fields also - if you added a suffix to the transactional namespace name you can search on that also).  Fill in a keyword, a red line will appear to the left of the query form, indicating you should right click the query panel and select apply.

Fig 7. The keyword fish has been entered, a right click on the filter panel issued and the Apply menu item selected.

This will now filter the results to only the manifest assets that have that keyword - one asset in this particular case.

Fig 8. The appropriate manifest asset has been found.

Now there are two approaches you can take to re-share the data.

Approach 1 - use the manifest asset directly 

Now right click on the manifest asset in the middle panel and select the menu item from the pop-up menu towards the bottom called Create download shareable from manifest. This will make a Download Shareable for the namespace that contains the manifest asset (so the all data beneath that namespace will be shared).

Fig 9. Ready to create the new download shareable by selecting from the right-click activate menu.  

Now fill in the pop-up form fields. These are an email address to send the shareable to and expiry date from the calendar tool and click Create download shareable from manifest file to dispatch it to the email address. If the email address is not valid, you will get a personal email (to the email address associated with your account).

Fig 10. The form filled in ready to generate the new download shareable.

Approach 2 - find the enclosing folder and share that or its children

When you right click on the manifest asset, there is another menu item, "Open Parent in New Finder".  Use this to start a new Finder window, and now you have a new navigable Finder window from which you can also navigate up the tree (see clickable breadcrumbs at the bottom).   Now you can right click on the  parent folder (or any of its children) and  select "Create Download Share" from the menu. This will generate a form for you to fill in, including and email address to send the download shareable link.