MediaTomb - User Interface

This documentation is valid for MediaTomb version 0.11.0.

Copyright   2005 Gena Batsyan, Sergey Bostandzhyan

Copyright   2006-2007 Gena Batsyan, Sergey Bostandzhyan, Leonhard Wimmer

THIS SOFTWARE COMES WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY! USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

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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.

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-n]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.Uznik.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]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_thi]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] 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_aut] 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_i] Inotify Autoscan Container

Identifies an autoscan container of the Inotify scan type.

2.1.7. [autoscan_i] 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_t] Timed Autoscan Container

Identifies an autoscan container of the Timed scan type.

2.1.9. [autoscan_t] 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]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_aut]Set Autoscan Properties

Same as Section 2.1.5, “[add_as_aut] Set Autoscan Properties”

2.3. UI Status

2.3.1. [status_loa] Loading

Red eyes indicate that the UI is currently loading data/building up the tree
structure.

2.3.2. [status_upd] 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.

