Axiell Piction image plugin

The Axiell WebAPI image server configuration (version 1)

From WebAPI version 3.0.21175.1, an image plugin for the Piction DAMS is available: Axiell.Piction.Plugin.dll. As all other plugins it allows you or your Axiell system (by means of retrieval paths for image fields) to communicate with the DAMS-specific API via the Axiell WebAPI. An appropriate configuration in adlibweb.xml is all you need to retrieve digital content via wwwopac.ashx queries. There first version of this plugin requires a configuration similar to the following:

  <!-- Image server settings -->
  <imageServerConfiguration name="images">
    <servertype>FileSystem</servertype>
    <path>C:\Data\Projects\model5.0\images</path>
    <cachePath>C:\Data\Projects\model5.0\images\imageCache</cachePath>
    <ImagePlugin type="Axiell.Piction.Plugin.PictionPlugin, Axiell.Piction.Plugin">
      <BaseUrl>https://dax.piction.com</BaseUrl>
      <InstanceName>piction</InstanceName>
      <UserName>axiell_api</UserName>
      <Password>axiell</Password>
      <Renditions>T</Renditions>      
    </ImagePlugin>
  </imageServerConfiguration>
  <imageServerConfiguration name="documents">
    <servertype>FileSystem</servertype>
    <path>C:\Data\Projects\model5.0\images</path>
    <cachePath>C:\Data\Projects\model5.0\images\imageCache</cachePath>
    <ImagePlugin type="Axiell.Piction.Plugin.PictionPlugin, Axiell.Piction.Plugin">
      <BaseUrl>https://dax.piction.com</BaseUrl>
      <InstanceName>piction</InstanceName>
      <UserName>axiell_api</UserName>
      <Password>axiell</Password>
      <Renditions>1</Renditions>      
    </ImagePlugin>
  </imageServerConfiguration>

Each Piction server will have its own BaseURL, InstanceName*, UserName and Password (all mandatory parameters) so it depends on the customer utilizing a Piction server how these parameters must be set. The configured Renditions can be one or multiple of the values (T, W, 1, 2, and/or 3, without any separator between multiple values):
T = thumbnail - this is always an image
W = web preview - this is always an image
1 = a viewable rendition of a document (e.g. a PDF)
2 = a playable rendition of a video
3 = a larger version of an image
The example configuration returns only thumbnail renditions for the images and viewable renditions of documents for the documents server. If you specify multiple renditions (like T1) the API will return whichever comes first in the order 1, 2, 3, T, W.

Only retrieval functions have been implemented. New content must always be added through Piction itself.

* Only version 1 of the Piction plugin (indicated by <Version>V1</Version> or by leaving out the <Version> node) requires the InstanceName* parameter. Version 2 doesn't use it. Otherwise, the setup is the same.

Version 2 of the Piction image plugin

From WebAPI version 3.2.1.1377, a version 2 of this image plugin has been made available. This contains the earlier implementation, as described above but doesn't use the InstanceName* parameter, plus a new implementation to support persistent links. To specify that your image server configuration addresses version 2 (instead of the default version 1), include the <Version>V2</Version>setting underneath the <ImagePlugin> node. Contrary to the version 1 implementation, you can specify only one rendition per image server configuration (or none at all, to get the default version from Piction). To compensate for this limitation, you may include an optional rendition=<value> parameter in the URL calling the image server. The parameter will take precedence over the rendition setting in the configuration. If you don’t include the rendition parameter in the request, it will take the value as set in the image server configuration.

The values for the V2 renditions can be one of the values listed below:
THUMBNAIL = thumbnail - this is always an image
T = thumbnail - this is always an image
T1 = thumbnail - this is always an image
THUMB = thumbnail - this is always an image
WEB = web quality derivative - this is always an image
W = web quality derivative - this is always an image
W1 = web quality derivative - this is always an image
Onn = original (nn = n-th version, like O3 for the third version)
MSOFFICE = Jpeg derivative - this is always an image
HIGHRESJPG = Jpeg derivative - this is always an image
ORIGINAL = original 1

Document download is supported too, by requesting an original document.

From version 3.2.1.1420, a new DefaultType is now available for the plugin configuration (underneath the ImagePlugin node): the DefaultType can be used to set the default media type (e.g. jpg) returned from Piction. This is used when there’s no Content-type or Content-disposition in the response header.

If retrieval of a media file via the WebAPI Piction plugin took too long (e.g. because the file was very large), the call timed out before the response was returned. This was fixed in 3.8.1.3370 with the addition of a new plugin configuration TimeOut setting underneath the <ImagePlugin> node to override the default timeout value of 60000 ms (1 minute): setting the value to something higher than the default will solve this issue. For example: <TimeOut>300000</TimeOut>