Adding support for custom file types
How to add support for custom file types and extensions in your DAM system.
How FotoWeb handles custom file types
FotoWeb has a control file that determines how different files types are interpreted by the system. This file contains a list of all known file extensions, their MIME types, the icon that should be associated with the file type and other information. By changing this file you can add support for file types that are not natively supported by the system.
Adding file type support to your DAM system
Important: The procedure described here should only be performed by someone proficient with XML-editing. Make a backup of the files first to be able to roll back if needed.
Open the FileTypes.xml file in a text editor with good XML support (e.g. Notepad++) or an XML editor. The file is found in C:\ProgramData\FotoWare\FotoWeb\Server Settings\Configuration
File type properties
Each file type is enclosed in a FileTypeInfo node and has a number of properties associated with it. To add a new file type you create a new FileTypeInfo node and add all the properties described below.
To illustrate, the JPEG image type entry, for example, looks like this:
Property | Value | Description/notes |
---|---|---|
Extension | "JPG" | The file's extension |
Description | "JPEG Compressed Image" | The description of the file type |
MimeType | "image/jpeg" | The file type's MIME type |
Icon | "FtImage.gif" | The icon to use if no other representation can be made. |
HasPreview | "True" | Determines whether Index Manager can generate previews for this file type. Should normally be set to False for custom file types. |
IsPlayable | "False" | Is not used in FotoWeb 8.0. Should be set to False for custom file types. |
HasMetadata | "False" | Determines whether the file has metadata in a sidecar file. For JPEGs this is false because the file supports embedded metadata (see property below). |
SupportsIptc | "True" | Set to True if the file type supports embedded metadata. |
AllowMetadataEditing | "True" |
|
ObjectType | "Image" | Defines the object type. Must be one of the following:
Files of type Movie and Audio will be processed by the video transcoder module (when licensed). Files of type Document support page browsing. |
InternalType | "JPEG" | The Internal FourCC type assigned by the Index Manager server. Should be set to "????" for custom file types. |
After you have made changes
Having made changes to the FileTypes.xml file, save it and restart the FotoWeb services to incorporate the changes in your system.