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Thread tagged as: Problem, Suggestions, Runway

Various problems with Assets on Runway 3

Thank you for your integration of Assets into the editors, this has been something our clients have been waiting for a long time. However, I'm experiencing some limitations with assets on Redactor, some of which I would consider bugs, others feature requests.

  1. For a site with dozens of assets, it's hard to find a specific file. When is search coming back?
  2. When uploading a file, instead of a 'loading' gif as I'd expect, it appears that nothing is happening - though if I scroll down I can see the file added to the bottom of the grid unstylized, as in the image. asset uploading
  3. When adding a file such as a PDF, a shortcode gets added such as [cms:asset 1234]. The a link gets generated automatically, but this means there's no control over tag elements, such as the target. Usually users want PDFs to open in a new tab. Could there be an output attribute, like images have, to select just the link? This would allow the creation of any custom link: <a href="[cms:assets 1234 output="raw"] target="_new">My own title</a>
  4. The shortcode is not easily identifiable - perhaps the file tool could add in the generated file title, which the user could edit? Such as [cms:asset 1234 title="My new file" ] This would save a 3 step process to change the link title - going to asset, changing the title, going back to the region, and saving.
  5. The tagging feature is very handy, but it's tedious having to tag one file at a time. Could there be a way of tagging multiple files at the same time? Perhaps on upload when uploading multiple files?
R T Partridge

R T Partridge 0 points

  • 4 years ago
Drew McLellan

Drew McLellan 2638 points
Perch Support

4 years ago

For a site with dozens of assets, it's hard to find a specific file. When is search coming back?

Search will be coming back in a future release.

When uploading a file, instead of a 'loading' gif as I'd expect, it appears that nothing is happening - though if I scroll down I can see the file added to the bottom of the grid unstylized, as in the image.

That's not something we've seen. We'll take a look at it.

When adding a file such as a PDF, a shortcode gets added such as [cms:asset 1234]. The a link gets generated automatically, but this means there's no control over tag elements, such as the target. Usually users want PDFs to open in a new tab. Could there be an output attribute, like images have, to select just the link?

At the moment the output attribute is always overridden as tag.

This would allow the creation of any custom link: <a href="[cms:assets 1234 output="raw"] target="_new">My own title</a>

That's not a use I'd ever be happy to see and wouldn't want to encourage.

The shortcode is not easily identifiable - perhaps the file tool could add in the generated file title, which the user could edit? Such as [cms:asset 1234 title="My new file" ] This would save a 3 step process to change the link title - going to asset, changing the title, going back to the region, and saving.

We could add the asset title, yes. The title would effectively become locked in time at the point the asset was added rather than using the title the asset currently has, which breaks some of the content management features. So it would need to be an option.

The tagging feature is very handy, but it's tedious having to tag one file at a time. Could there be a way of tagging multiple files at the same time? Perhaps on upload when uploading multiple files?

We have some plans for increasing the functionality within the Assets app in a future release. At the moment probably the best option for tagging large numbers of files is to tag them before uploading. Perch will then import their tags.
R T Partridge

R T Partridge 0 points

4 years ago

When adding a file such as a PDF, a shortcode gets added such as [cms:asset 1234]. The a link gets generated automatically, but this means there's no control over tag elements, such as the target. Usually users want PDFs to open in a new tab. Could there be an output attribute, like images have, to select just the link?

At the moment the output attribute is always overridden as tag.

What then would you suggest to be able to change the target attribute of a file?

The shortcode is not easily identifiable - perhaps the file tool could add in the generated file title, which the user could edit? Such as [cms:asset 1234 title="My new file" ] This would save a 3 step process to change the link title - going to asset, changing the title, going back to the region, and saving.

We could add the asset title, yes. The title would effectively become locked in time at the point the asset was added rather than using the title the asset currently has, which breaks some of the content management features. So it would need to be an option.

This is as much for readability as for ease of editing, a list of asset IDs with no other identification isn't very user friendly.

One more asset related bug - with Redactor, when I add a File, it always adds the shortcode to the beginning of the text area, regardless of where the cursor was set. This works correctly for images.
Drew McLellan

Drew McLellan 2638 points
Perch Support

4 years ago

What then would you suggest to be able to change the target attribute of a file?

I would actually use JavaScript for that.

One more asset related bug - with Redactor, when I add a File, it always adds the shortcode to the beginning of the text area, regardless of where the cursor was set. This works correctly for images.

That's surprising. Are you sure that's the distinction? The JavaScript doesn't know the difference, but I guess anything's possible.
R T Partridge

R T Partridge 0 points

4 years ago

In case these items got lost among the answered points, these ones are still outstanding:

2 When uploading a file, instead of a 'loading' gif as I'd expect, it appears that nothing is happening - though if I scroll down I can see the file added to the bottom of the grid unstylized, as in the image.

One more asset related bug - with Redactor, when I add a File, it always adds the shortcode to the beginning of the text area, regardless of where the cursor was set. This works correctly for images.
Drew McLellan

Drew McLellan 2638 points
Perch Support

4 years ago

One more asset related bug - with Redactor, when I add a File, it always adds the shortcode to the beginning of the text area, regardless of where the cursor was set.

Always, or only when the file doesn't have a thumbnail image?