EditShare FLOW MediaSilo  Integration Guide

Version 1.0

December 2023

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Contents

Introduction 3

Feature Description 3

First Time Setup and Configuration 4

Prerequisites 4

Setup Procedure 4

Script Installation 4

Metadata Definition 6

Workflow Construction 6

Metadata Template 7

Using The Integration 9

Constraints and Limitations 12

 

 

Introduction

EditShare continues to drive the integration of its products to allow customers to benefit from comprehensive workflows. To further advance this progress we are introducing a Proof of Concept integration between FLOW and MediaSilo.

The purpose of this initial integration is to allow the export of content from FLOW into MediaSilo as an automated process. It is also intended to provide minimum viable product functionality for key customers to experiment with and provide feedback on further opportunities for development.

This document covers all aspects of this integration including installation, setup and configuration and operation.

Feature Description

The integration from FLOW to MediaSilo is implemented as an automation script. This allows a FLOW user with Automation privileges to build workflows that allow copying of content from FLOW Storage to MediaSilo. This gives flexibility to trigger the copy using different actions within FLOW and also to carry out additional FLOW automated workflow steps on successful and unsuccessful copies.

 

First Time Setup and Configuration

NOTE: The procedure that follows assumes that you have installed your EditShare FLOW System, and that is has been set up and is operational.  If you have not installed FLOW or your EditShare servers please refer to the other relevant FLOW and Server documentation. 

Prerequisites

To be able to use the FLOW MediaSilo integration the following are required: -

• A FLOW Automation license (comes with FLOW Enterprise)
• A valid MediaSilo Account (and the associated API Key and API Secret).
• A copy of the task_mediasilo.py FLOW automation script

NOTE: If you do not have a MediaSilo account please contact your EditShare Sales Representative or reseller. If you do have a MediaSilo account but do not know your API Key and API Secret these can be requested from http://helpdesk.editshare.com.

Setup Procedure

These steps are required to setup and configure the integration prior to using it and should be carried out in order: -

1. Script Installation: to make the MediaSilo Upload Node available in FLOW automation.
2. Metadata Definition: to add the required metadata fields within FLOW.
3. Workflow Construction: to build an automation workflow using the MediaSilo Upload node.

The following sections detail each stage of the process.

Script Installation

To install the script and make it available for automation to use follow these steps: -

1. Upload the script file task_mediasilo.py to the server where your automation service is running. We recommend you do this with an FTP client connecting as user ‘editshare’. This will transfer the script file into the home folder of the ‘editshare’ user. NOTE: If you are unsure which server is running your automation service you can determine this in FLOW Control in the Systems screen.
2. Login to your server via a terminal window or terminal emulator (e.g. puTTY) as the user ‘editshare’.
3. Copy the file to the /var/flow/automation/tasks/ folder on the server. Assuming the file is in the ‘editshare’ users home folder this can be done with the following command: -

 

cp /home/editshare/task_mediasilo.py /var/flow/automation/tasks/

 

4. Ensure the file has executable permissions for all users by running the following command: -

 

chmod +x /var/flow/automation/tasks/task_mediasilo.py

 

5. Now restart the FLOW automation service using the following command: - 

 

flow-restart automation

 

6. Once the service has successfully restarted, login to FLOW Automation from your browser. In the design palette on the left of the screen you should now see the MediaSilo Upload node listed in the Tasks section as shown below: -

Metadata Definition

After successfully uploading files to MediaSilo FLOW stores some key metadata about the file in FLOW. This data is stored in custom metadata fields and these are required to support the MediaSilo Upload Node. The following custom fields need to be created: -

NOTE: It is imperative that for all the fields the Name, Category and Type matches exactly as above. 

Once defined these fields can be added to a Metadata Template. For the purposes of this user guide we have called this template ‘MediaSilo’.

NOTE: If you are not familiar with creating custom metadata fields and templates within FLOW please refer to the ‘Metadata’ Section of the ‘FLOW Control’ documentation.

Workflow Construction

The MediaSilo Upload Node can be used across a wide range of automation workflows. However, to validate it has been correctly configured and the metadata fields entered correctly we recommend building a simple test workflow as per the following instructions: -

1. Create a new Automation Template in FLOW Automation and give it a unique name.
2. Add a Metadata Trigger node to the template
3. On the output of the Metadata Trigger node connect the  MediaSilo Upload Task node.
4. Set the Metadata Trigger node “Match” property to “Send to MediaSilo” is true by selecting “Send to MediaSilo” from the custom metadata drop down list. 
5. Set the MediaSilo Upload task node API Key and API Secret to the values corresponding to your MediaSilo account as provided by EditShares Helpdesk (see Section “Setup Procedure”).
6. Set the MediaSilo Upload task node Project property to the name of the MediaSilo project you want your clips uploaded to. NOTE: This is case sensitive so must match the name in MediaSilo exactly.
7. Once complete your Automation Template should look similar to the diagram below: -

NOTE 1: The MediaSilo Upload task node uses the permissions of the default automation user to mount FLOW storage and access content. The default automation user will need to have permissions to access any mediaspaces containing content to be uploaded to MediaSilo. If you do not have a default automation user assigned you will need to do this manually within FLOW Control. For details of how to create new users and how to assign a default automation user please consult the relevant sections of the FLOW Control Manual,  ‘Managing Users’ - for creating a user and ‘Automation System Settings’ for assigning the default automation user.

NOTE 2: Don’t forget to activate the automation template from the “Templates” tab. 

 

Metadata Template 

Create a new metadata template in FLOW Control that includes all the custom metadata fields created in Metadata Definition. In the following FLOW Control screenshot a template called “MediaSilo has been created with the correct metadata fields in it. This will allow you to select the relevant template in AirFLOW as shown below: -

From within AirFLOW you can then select the relevant template (MediaSilo in this case) and are able to view the custom fields created for the integration.

Using The Integration

Now, you can open AirFLOW to send a file to MediaSilo. Just select a file, and click the “Send to MediaSilo” checkbox to run the automation template. 

 

If you want to check the status of the automation, go to the FLOW Automation Monitor page. Once the task has finished running, it will appear in the Complete section. 

Back in AirFLOW, the metadata fields we configured earlier are now populated. These fields show the file’s asset ID in MediaSilo and the name of the MediaSilo project where the file was added. A check mark also appears next to “Send to MediaSilo.”

 

Under “MediaSilo Link,” you’ll find a link to the file in MediaSilo; click the Open button to open the file directly in MediaSilo in a new browser tab. 

In MediaSilo, you can now access review and approval tools to collect feedback on your work. Click the blue Review Mode button in the top right to start leaving comments or making annotations on the screen.

To create a shareable Review Link URL, click the paper airplane icon in the top right. 

In the Review Link settings, you can choose an expiration date and apply watermarking (visible, forensic, or both). You can share the link internally with other users in your MediaSilo workspace, or create a public or password-protected link to request feedback from outside your organization. 

 

To learn more about review and approval options in MediaSilo, please see Share Files and Folders and Review and Approve Videos.

 

Constraints and Limitations

The following constraints and limitations apply to the use of the Integration: - 

The integration triggers the transfer of complete self-contained clips/images (physical files) only. It is not able to transfer sequences of subclips, projects or content that has separate files for different essence (e.g. .mov reference files).

It is possible to build automation workflows that use the mediaspace node as an input to the MediaSilo upload node. In this case the workflow will upload all the files contained in the mediaspace that are supported by MediaSilo. It will NOT preserve any folder structures present in the Mediaspace into MediaSilo so all files will be uploaded to the root location of the MediaSilo project.

There is no reverse path for MediaSilo metadata or synchronization of assets.