Table Of Contents
Setting Up Folder Attendant Directories and Watches
Enabling or Disabling Directories
Determining When a File is Completely Copied
Setting Up Folder Attendant Directories and Watches
Revised: October 10, 2008, OL-16995-01This section includes the following topics:
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Determining When a File is Completely Copied
Folder Attendant Tasks
Folder Attendant tasks include setting up directories and watches and filtering the data displayed on the Folder Attendant Administration page, as shown in Figure 13-1.
Figure 13-1 Folder Attendant Administration Page
Note
Folder Attendant watches the directories you define on the Folder Attendant Administration page.
The tasks that can be performed from the Folder Attendant Administration page are the following:
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Setting Up Directories
One of the key features of Folder Attendant is its ability to monitor directories and automatically initiate job processing when new or updated media/XML files appear. When a new or updated file, meeting the specified criteria, appears in a directory being monitored, Folder Attendant automatically initiates job processing based on the configured job parameter settings, such as profile and priority.
You must first define directories to be watched on the Folder Attendant Administration page. Then multiple watches can be configured per directory.
From the Folder Attendant Administration page, you can perform the following directory-related tasks:
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See also: Determining When a File is Completely Copied.
Adding Directories
Procedure:
Step 1
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Figure 13-2 Selecting Add
Figure 13-3 Directory Fields
Step 3
Table 13-1 Directory Field Descriptions
Directory Path
Enter the fully-qualified path name of the directory (use either a UNC or local path or the URL of an FTP folder to be monitored).
Note
Refresh (seconds)
Enter (in seconds) how frequently you want Folder Attendant to check for new files.
Number of Retries
Enter the number of times Folder Attendant will attempt to resubmit the job if it is unsuccessful.
Note
Retry Interval (seconds)
Enter the interval between retries (in seconds).
Copy Complete Method
From the drop-down menu, select the method to be used by Folder Attendant to validate new files to determine if they are complete and ready to be processed.
Choices are:
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Copy Complete Delay (seconds)
Enter the number of seconds to delay when copying a file to another destination.
Note
Step 4
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Editing Directories
Procedure
Step 1
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Step 3
Step 4
Note
Deleting Directories
Procedure
Step 1
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Step 3
The selected directory is removed from the list of users on the Folder Attendant Administration page, and the directory watches assigned to that directory are also deleted. The Directory successfully deleted message displays at the top of the page.
Enabling or Disabling Directories
You can enable or disable directories as needed. When you enable a directory, it is online and Folder Attendant can watch it. If you disable a directory, it will be taken offline and Folder Attendant cannot watch it, but it is not deleted.
Before You Begin
Only Enabled/Disabled or Online/Offline directories can be set to Enabled or Disabled.
Procedure
Step 1
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Determining When a File is Completely Copied
There are several ways Folder Attendant can determine when a file has been completely copied to a monitored directory and is ready for submission. Folder Attendant may detect the presence of a file before it has been completely copied (via FTP, etc.). Each directory can be configured to use one of the following methods to determine if the file is ready for submission:
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Note
This method is the only method supported when monitoring FTP directories.1.
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Note
Setting Up Watches
One of the key features of Folder Attendant is its ability to monitor directories and automatically initiate job processing when new or updated media/XML files appear. A Watch is used to define the directories to be monitored and the types of files within the directories to be monitored. The watch also specifies a Job Profile and a priority for the job. When a new or updated file meeting the criteria specified appears in a directory being monitored, Folder Attendant automatically initiates job processing based on the configured job parameters, such as profile and priority.
Before defining a watch, first define directories to be watched on the Folder Attendant Administration page. Multiple watches can be configured per directory.
Once the directories of interest are defined, use the Watch menu on the Folder Attendant Administration page to perform any of the following tasks:
Adding Watches
Procedure
Step 1
Step 2
Figure 13-4 Select the Directory and Click Add
The Folder Attendant Administration page expands to display the fields related to setting up watches, as shown in Figure 13-5.
This page has three sections: Directory, Watch, and Override System Settings, each of which contains a series of fields.
Figure 13-5 Add Watch Fields
Tip
Step 3
Step 4
If this was the first watch specified for the directory, the Profile, Priority, and # Files fields for the selected directory on the Folder Attendant Administration fields are filled in for the selected directory. If this is a new watch for a directory that already had a watch, a second line appears in the list of directories containing the information for the new watch.
Directory Section Settings
The fields in the Directory section are defined when you add or edit a directory. This information is displayed for information only when you add a watch. They appear grayed indicating that they cannot be changed from this page.
To change the Directory settings, see Editing Directories.
Watch Section Settings
The fields in the Watch section, shown in Figure 13-6, define the parameters of the watch to be added:
Figure 13-6 Watch Page: Watch Section
Enter the appropriate information in each of the fields as described in Table 13-2. The fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.
Table 13-2 Watch Fields on the Watch Page
*Watch Extensions
Displays the list of file extensions that may be added to the watch. When a new/updated media or XML file matches one of these extensions, the file will automatically be submitted using the parameters defined for the watch.
To add file extensions, click Select to display the list. The Input File Extension page displays. Select one or more extensions from this page to select the types of files to be included in the watch.
Is XML Watch
Check this box to specify that the watch is monitoring XML files, rather than media files.
When submitting an XML file, all metadata, job profile, priority, etc. parameters are ignored. The XML is submitted 'as is' to the ECS with the watch's configured system settings. The configured extensions for determining if a file is an XML file are set in the Folder Attendant application configuration file. Current extensions are .rdf and .xml.
Title
Enter a job title. If left blank, the title is set to the submitted file name.
Description
Enter a job description.
Rating
Select a ratings profile. For some formats, this will be included in the metadata of the output media.
Possible choices are:
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*Author
Enter the job author. This value defaults to the name of the currently logged in user. For some formats, this may be included in the metadata of the output media.
*Copyright
Enter the copyright information. This may be included in the metadata of the output media. This defaults to the copyright system setting.
Keywords
Enter one or more keywords. For some formats, this may be included in the metadata of the output media.
Multiple keywords are separated by spaces.
Job Profile
Select the Job Profile that will be assigned to this watch.
See also: Using the Profile Browser to Select a Job Profile.
This information is entered when you add a new watch. If this field is blank, a watch has not been set up for this directory.
There are two ways to select the Job Profile for the watch being added.
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*Job Priority (1-100)
Enter the job priority of the watch. In general, jobs with higher priority are scheduled before jobs with lower priority.
Possible choices are 1-100, where 1 is the highest priority and 100 is the lowest priority. In general, assign higher priority for jobs that are more time-sensitive (for example, Live jobs).
Delete Source After Processing
Check this box to delete a source file after it has been successfully processed. The file is deleted at the end of the job. Source files are not deleted if the job fails.
By default, this box is unchecked so that source files are not deleted.
Notes:
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Custom Metadata Section
This section, shown in Figure 13-7, contains a grid that displays all custom user metadata fields that have been defined for the system. You have the option to enter a value of the appropriate metadata type (type entry is enforced). When the watch is saved, the user metadata values are saved into the watch config file using the above XML tags (udm-item). This section is only visible when adding or editing watches (not directories).
Figure 13-7 Custom Metadata Section
Override System Settings
The fields in this section, shown in Figure 13-8, allow you to override one or more settings for the selected watch. Check one or more boxes, and specify the location of the input or output files for the specified setting.
Figure 13-8 Watch Page: Override System Settings Section
To override a system setting:
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In the Folder Attendant, when you add a Watch to a Directory, one can opt to override the default system settings per watch for where the output files will be delivered. There are two listings for Quicktime.
One is called QuickTime Output Directory and the other is called QuickTime Temp Directory.
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Editing Watches
Procedure
Step 1
Step 2
Tip
The Folder Attendant Administration page expands to display the fields related to setting up watches. This page has three sections: Directory, Watch, and Override System Settings, each of which contains a series of fields. Expand or shrink each section of the page to display the fields of interest by clicking the plus (+) and minus (-) sign to the left of each section heading.
Step 3
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Step 4
Deleting Watches
Procedure:
Step 1
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Step 3
If there was only one watch on this directory, the directory remains in the table, but the Profile, Priority, and # Files fields are cleared to show there are no watches on the directory. If there is more than one watch for this directory, the line containing the selected watch is removed from the table.
Setting Filters
This section includes the following topics:
Filtering Directories
If you are watching a large number of directories, you may want to filter the data being displayed so that you can view only the directories of interest. The Filter command allows you to display a subset of all the directories. You can filter directories by any of the following parameters (or any combination of these parameters):
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Note
Procedure
Step 1
Select the filter button from the menu bar. The Folder Attendant Filter Settings pop-up, shown in Figure 13-9, displays.
Figure 13-9 Folder Attendant Filter Settings Pop-Up
Step 2
Clearing Directory Filters
Even if you exit the Folder Attendant Administration pane or log out of the program, when you return to the Folder Attendant Administration pane, the last filter applied dictates which directories display. To view all directories, you must clear any filters that have been specified.
Procedure
Step 1
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Step 3
Step 4
