MediaTomb - User Interface This documentation is valid for MediaTomb version 0.12.1. Copyright © 2005 Gena Batsyan, Sergey Bostandzhyan Copyright © 2006-2010 Gena Batsyan, Sergey Bostandzhyan, Leonhard Wimmer THIS SOFTWARE COMES WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY! USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! __________________________________________________________ Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Icon Reference 2.1. Database View 2.2. Filesystem View 2.3. UI Status 1. Introduction MediaTomb comes with an AJAX driven web user interface that allows to add or remove media from the database and modify properties of media items. It also provides the means of selecting various Autoscan options. The UI is constantly improving, our goal is to offer a wide range of features to allow the user to easily control the server. Note: the link to the Web UI is printed upon server startup in the console. Consult the main docs for more information. 2. Icon Reference Here is a list of icons used in the MediaTomb UI. 2.1. Database View The database view presents the content that was added to the servers database - this is the hierarchy that will be served to UPnP devices. 2.1.1. [document-new.png] Create New Object Manually creates a new object in the database. An object type can be selected from the drop down list and is one of the following: * Container A container, that can hold other containers or items. Allowed settings: + Title Title of the container as it will appear in the UI or as it will be presented to UPnP devices. + Class UPnP class of the container, leave the default setting if you are unsure. * Item A media item, typically an audio, photo or video file that resides on the servers local file system. Allowed settings: + Title Title of the item as it will appear in the UI or as it will be presented to UPnP devices, this can be anything and does not have to be the actual file name. + Location The location of the file on disk, must be given by an absolute path. + Class UPnP class of the container, leave the default setting if you are unsure. + Description Free text describing the item, it may be shown on the UPnP device depending on its implementation and capabilities. + Mimetype This identifies the mime type of the media and is probably one of the most important fields - this will tell your device what kind of file it is dealing with. If you are unsure, use the file utility to retrieve the mime type information, type the following in a console (this example uses a jpg image): file -i /opt/media/photos/key70113.jpg The output from the file utility will be something like: /opt/media/photos/key70113.jpg: image/jpeg For the example above you would have to enter image/jpeg in the Mimetype field. * Active Item Active Item is an experimental feature, it allows you to execute a script or a program on the server when this item is being downloaded - or “triggered”. Refer to the Active Item documentation for more information. + Title Title of the item as it will appear in the UI or as it will be presented to UPnP devices, this can be anything and does not have to be the actual file name. + Location The location of the file on disk, must be given by an absolute path. + Class UPnP class of the container, leave the default setting if you are unsure. + Description Free text describing the item, it may be shown on the UPnP device depending on its implementation and capabilities. + Mimetype This identifies the mime type of the media and is probably one of the most important fields - this will tell your device what kind of file it is dealing with. + Action Script Location of the Action Script, take a look at an example script demo_toggle.py in the mediatomb/scripts directory. + State Arbitrary string, identifying the current state of the Active Item. It is made available to the script and allows the script to decide which action to take (for example when implementing “ON” - “OFF” switches). * External Link (URL) An online stream or file, located somewhere on the web. Allowed settings: + Title Title of the item as it will appear in the UI or as it will be presented to UPnP devices, this can be anything and does not have to be the actual file name. + URL The URL to the stream, for example http://www.deadlock.dhs.org/192/Deadlock_Veteran.04.Uz nik.mp3 + Protocol Usually http-get will be fine, but you can specify settings for rtsp and other streaming protocols depending on the presentation of the online content. + Class UPnP class of the container, leave the default setting if you are unsure. + Description Free text describing the item, it may be shown on the UPnP device depending on its implementation and capabilities. + Mimetype This identifies the mime type of the media and is probably one of the most important fields - this will tell your device what kind of file it is dealing with. * Internal Link (Local URL) A media item, typically an audio, photo or video file that resides in the servedir as defined in the servers configuration file, see main documentation for an example. Allowed settings: + Title Title of the item as it will appear in the UI or as it will be presented to UPnP devices, this can be anything and does not have to be the actual file name. + URL The location of the file on disk, relative to the servedir entry. + Class UPnP class of the container, leave the default setting if you are unsure. + Description Free text describing the item, it may be shown on the UPnP device depending on its implementation and capabilities. + Mimetype This identifies the mime type of the media and is probably one of the most important fields - this will tell your device what kind of file it is dealing with. 2.1.2. [stock_edit.png] Edit Object Allows to edit various object properties. The available fields vary, depending on the type of the object but will be generally the same as described above. Note: you can not modify the title and the location of objects in the PC-Directory because it is a special container that must guarantee a 1:1 mapping to the file system. Note: by editing object properties you do not change the original file on your drive (i.e. you do not modify any id3 or other information), the properties are edited in the MediaTomb database. 2.1.3. [remove_this.png] Remove This Removes the object from the database. This icon is available for virtual items (items that were created by the import script) and also for icons in PC Directory. When used on a virtual item it will only remove the current reference, but it will keep the original object in PC-Directory. When used on an item in PC-Directory it will remove the item and all it's references. Note: the remove feature does not touch the files on your drive, the remove operation is only performed in the MediaTomb database. 2.1.4. [remove_all.png] Remove Linked Removes the object and all its references from the database. This icon is only available for virtual items, not only will it erase the current reference, but it will also remove the original item in the PC-Directory container and all associated items. Note: the remove feature does not touch the files on your drive, the remove operation is only performed in the MediaTomb database. 2.1.5. [add_as_autoscan.png] Set Autoscan Properties You can use the autoscan feature to monitor data in a certain directory, changes will be periodically synced with the database. In the database view this icon is only available for containers in the PC-Directory. Here are the possible settings: * Scan Mode Defines the autoscan mode, can be one of the following: + None The directory is not being autoscanned. + Timed Enable timed rescans. The directory will be rescanned in intervals specified below. + Inotify Enable filesystem event based rescans - this is only available when MediaTomb was compiled with the inotify feature. * Scan Level Defines the autoscan type, can be one of the following: + Basic The “Basic” autoscan type will only keep track if files have been added to or have been removed from the monitored directory. It will not detect changes inside the files, i.e. if you modify an id3 tag of your MP3, the metadata in the database will not be updated. + Full The “Full” autoscan type will not only keep track of deleted or newly added files, but it will also watch the modification times and re add the media if it detects any changes. This might be useful if you updated the id3 information of an mp3 file or exif information of an image file. * Recursive Operate recursively, also monitoring files in subdirectories. * Include hidden files/directories Process or ignore hidden files and directories, i.e. those starting with a dot. * Scan Interval Interval in seconds, the directory will be rescanned in given intervals. Note: the countdown for the next rescan starts only after the current scan is complete. 2.1.6. [autoscan_inotify_folder_open.png] Inotify Autoscan Container Identifies an autoscan container of the Inotify scan type. 2.1.7. [autoscan_inotify_config_folder_open.png] Persistent Inotify Autoscan Container Identifies an autoscan container of the Inotify scan type that was setup via the server configuratoin file. It is treated as persistent and can not be removed in the UI. 2.1.8. [autoscan_timed_folder_open.png] Timed Autoscan Container Identifies an autoscan container of the Timed scan type. 2.1.9. [autoscan_timed_config_folder_open.png] Persistent Timed Autoscan Container Identifies an autoscan container of the Timed scan type that was setup via the server configuratoin file. It is treated as persistent and can not be removed in the UI. 2.2. Filesystem View The Filesystem View allows you to browse the contents of your harddrive and add media to the severs database. 2.2.1. [stock-add.png] Add File or Directory Adds a file or directory to the servers database, use this to make your media available to UPnP devices. 2.2.2. [add_as_autoscan.png] Set Autoscan Properties Same as Section 2.1.5, “ [add_as_autoscan.png] Set Autoscan Properties” 2.3. UI Status 2.3.1. [status_loading.png] Loading Red eyes indicate that the UI is currently loading data/building up the tree structure. 2.3.2. [status_updates_pending.png] Updates Pending Orange eyes indicate that the database has changed and that the UI needs to be updated in order to reflect those changes. The update will usually take place after a certain timeout, which depends on your actions. If you are constantly navigating, the update will be delayed further to prevent the case that the tree gets updated during navigation - this would be very annoying. You can skip the timeout and cause an immediate update by clicking on the skull icon.