The batch media plug-in works somewhat like a plug-in for Photoshop, in
that you run this little program from within TMS, but of course it has a
very different functionality.  To use the plugin, you simply populate a
MS Access table (that comes with the plug-in) with information about the
images you want to link to from the TMS database (incl. object number,
filename, and path where the image can be found), and their thumbnails.
You save this Access database to the TMS Plugins folder, where the
plug-in itself should reside, and then use the TMS media module to run
the batch media plug-in.  The media loader asks you to load in your
Access table, at which point it is equipped to create your media
objects, link to a thumbnail, and link the media object to an object
record.
 
Keep in mind that the batch media plug-in does not "load" images onto
the server, nor does it create or convert any images at all, as I
understand it - it just deals with the database.  But if you have, say,
a digital image, and a thumbnail already created for it (which the TMS
image conversion tool does, of course), and you tell the media loader
where these image files are, then the media plug-in will create a media
object for you (we created it with a rendition number equal to the
corresponding object number), link that media object to its thumbnail,
and link that media object to the appropriate object record.  The batch
media plug-in is not really designed to add metadata, it seems, although
it will add certain basic media object information.
 
As I mentioned, the batch media plug-in is a great tool once you get it
to work properly.  We run TMS on an Oracle database, and Gallery
designed the media loader to work with SQL originally, so your
experience with the batch media plug-in may be even more seamless than
ours was.  But make sure you consult your DBA or the Gallery support
team to get started.  Good luck,
 
David Lower
Educational Analyst, Emory ITD
404-727-5115
 
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
 
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 4:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Linking Images
 
I am very interested in the batch media plug in.  Does it work like a
plug-in to PhotoShop? What are the benefits?  All in all, is the prep
time consuming?  Do you have step by step example of several images I
could try?
 
Larry Giacoletti
Registration Dept.
Whitney Museum of American Art
212.570.3661
212.570.3681 fax
 
-----Original Message-----
From: David Lower [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 4:06 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Linking Images
 
We just used the batch media plugin at Emory today in order to link
about 10,000 images, and it worked very well.  It needed a little
massaging to function properly, so I definitely recommend consulting an
IT person to configure things correctly, but once operational it is a
very handy tool.  We plan to only link images using this tool, since it
gets laborious to manually link every image.
 
I'd be happy to talk with you about our experience with this tool if you
want to know what we've done, although we found Dimitry in Gallery
Support to be a helpful guide on this as well.
 
David Lower
Educational Analyst, Emory University ITD
404-727-5115
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Mary Ellen Guerra
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 2:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Linking Images
 
Hi Suzanne,
 
I'd love to see your manual on linking images to TMS.  Has your
brilliant
Larry Giacoletti figuered out how to use the batch upload plug in?
 
Thanks,
Mary Ellen Guerra
Smithsonian American Art Museum