Essential Media Manager

[Joss]

A new module, coming soon (with any luck and a following wind!)

This is a module I am developing initially for my own use in a couple of projects next year. I am making it now because these are long running projects, and though they may not see the light of day for some time, some of the content will need to be worked on far sooner.

For these, I need central media management, primarily of images, that works in a way that suits me. So it seemed easier to start from scratch than break someone else's.  Two big disclaimers first:

1. I have designed and specified every nook and cranny with my own needs in mind. The brief is turning into a book.
2. I HAVEN'T CODED ANY OF IT, apart from create the odd directory. It is built with and by codex, with me waving a baton at it and pointing out bits of PW functionality it can use.

So we will see how that works out!

As the title suggests, it is a media management module which centralises everything media. It is not, strictly speaking, a replacement for the brilliant PW image way of working, and the two can co-exist without talking to each other. However, this is most suited for a new site where this is the only way you will deal with images. Otherwise, it will be a lot to get your head around! Why make life hard?

For now, here is a list of features in no neat order, but just as I remember them when typing.

• Every file has its own page
• Categorisation is by multi-tag only
• It comes with a central library manager with a multi or single uploader
• It has "Components" which deal with different types of media in the way that suits them most. Images, Other files, Videos and Audio, Embedded audio links, Authorised external links, content snippets etc.
• When you install, you can choose which components you want. Or you can add them on later - it won't install all their functionality till that happens.
• It comes with an all-singing and dancing EMM field. For images, this works like a multi-image field, a single image field, and it installs into TinyMCE. For other types of media, it does it's own thing.
• The EMM field acts much like the PW fields, except all images etc are stored centrally and managed centrally.
• Images can be edited via the EMM field - nothing flashy, but all the standard PW bits, etc. That has a pretty interface.
• Editing creates variations so the original remains untouched. These variations are grouped into families.
• Images and other files can have multiple fields associated with them (or not if you don't want), including meta data drawn from the image.  Or not. It is all customisable. For instance, if one of your editors uploads a batch of images, you might require them to fill in certain fields before the image can be published. (Images are kept in a non web root directory where possible until they are published.)
• Default text can be set for fields. This can be overwritten on the local page where the field is used without changing the original.
• You can go nuts on fields and make it a complete nightmare for your editor if that is your desire!
• Permissions. You can create roles with different permissions to the super admin. It will come with a couple of starter roles you can install with permissions. You can create new ones or customise these. (This is possibly overkill, but worth writing in just in case someone wants to use it on a huge site somewhere).
• The library is built, so it works with the normal PW admin UI, but I am also going to do my own sleeky thing. You can switch between them to your hearts content.
• Everything is cached, of course, and works with ProCache.
• There are probably far too many settings, but it will work out of the box without touching them.
• The EMM field also comes with the ability to add a gallery/carousel thingy without having to add anything to your template. It also has instructions if you want to add your own gallery/carousel thingies and then switch between them. 
• TinyMCE will work with both the PW Image button and the new EMM button, but really, you want that? So the installation also deals with how to change it and what the implication for running too much at once that has the word "image" in it is.
• Anything else?
• Content snippets are basically block things that are a bit json-ny in character. They are primarily aimed at the new text editor I (I mean, AI) have built, which is also json-ny and rather likes blocks and snippets. But these will also work elsewhere and can be managed and assembled in the EMM library. (If that is the only component that interests you, then only install it for that!)
• The UI is still taking a bashing from me, but there will be lots of draggy-droppy kind of things going on, like changing image orders for a gallery and so forth. Lots of inline editing too, to keep things moving.

Basically, two sites that I will create to back up long running projects will need to re-use media and information in countless articles. So this is what this is designed to do. It allows me to re-use and vary images and content while keeping track of which pages they are used on, and how they have been used. Centralising everything makes that a lot easier, while not effecting the standard tree like structure of ProcessWire which my brain is comfortable with.

I am documenting as much as I can and will give directions on how to add other functionality or possibly even your own components. Or third party modules of course. 

Now the good and iffy news.

• Good: This will be free for anyone to use.
• Iffy: I am not supporting it in any way.

I am not in the position to maintain it or support it, so charging for it makes zero sense. It will be on GitHub for anyone to fork and customise. If you love it and it changes your life, feel free to buy me a Landrover. A comfy one. Or a coffee, as the saying goes. Though I would love the landrover....

I will update this page when it is up.

Joss