External Documents
Purpose and Benefit
This page describes how to set up, upload, and manage external documents (e.g. images, PDFs) in the BE-terna Fashion system.
Target audience: users who maintain item/model or master data with file attachments.
Prerequisites
- For every table in which external documents are to be used, an entry must exist in the “External Documents Setup”.
- Azure Blob Storage is used for storage in the cloud. This requires: a valid storage account/container or SAS/shared-key authentication.
- For on-premises web URLs: network drive access or Windows authentication may be required.
Process Overview
- Setup (one-time): configure the origin table → create attachment types.
- Usage: open the item or model card → open the “Attachments” or “External Documents” action → upload/assign a file.
- Management: edit description, choose thumbnail image, delete document.
Setup
If external documents are to be stored for a table, a setup for this table must be made in the “External Documents Setup”. Here is an overview of the external documents origin tables and the correspondingly assigned attachment types.
Several attachment types can be assigned to each table. This allows attachments to be categorized. The attachment type also defines how and where the attachment is to be stored.
By selecting the origin table in the upper area, the corresponding attachment types are displayed in the lower area.
External Documents Origin Tables
The list shows all origin tables in which external documents are to be used. All available tables can be viewed via the “All Tables” action.
| Field | Description | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Origin Table | Number of the table | |
| Table Name | Name of the table | |
| Display Output Sequence | Checked if the display is to be based on the stored output sequence in the attachment types. | |
| Use Media Field of Origin Table | Specifies whether the default image is also stored on the media fields of the Item and Assigned Colors tables. | When validating the “Default Image” attribute, the media set is synchronized in the origin table. This means that this image from the “External Documents” is available in all brick views (tile views), as they always use the media field on the original table as the source for display. |
| No. of Assigned File Attachment Types | The number of assigned file attachment types is shown summed up. |
Attachment Types Assigned to External Document
Management of categories for file attachments.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| File Attachment Type | Code of the attachment type |
| File Attachment Type Description | Description of the attachment type |
| Description | Additional description if necessary |
| Storage Type | Choice of database, URL, or Azure Blob Storage |
| Output Sequence | Option to specify the output order within several categories, for example if several documents are assigned to an item. |
| Set to Use for Scrolling | Used to be able to scroll between several images of an item. |
| Create Thumbnail | Checked if the image should be automatically reduced to thumbnail size to save storage space. |
| Timeout | If an external document is referenced via HTTP, a thumbnail can also be created. For this, an HTTP request is executed to cache the file. “Timeout” can be used to specify the wait time of the HTTP request in milliseconds. |
| Az Shared Key | For storage type Azure Blob Storage: specifies the Azure Blob Storage shared key used for authentication. Authentication via shared key or SAS is possible. |
| Az Storage Account | For storage type Azure Blob Storage: specifies the storage account in which the external documents are stored. |
| Az Storage Container | For storage type Azure Blob Storage: specifies the storage container in which the external documents are stored. |
| Az Storage Directory | For storage type Azure Blob Storage: optionally specifies the folder structure in which the blobs are to be stored. |
| Az Storage Access Signature | For storage type Azure Blob Storage: specifies the shared access signature (SAS) used for authentication. Authentication via shared key or SAS is possible. |
Usage
On the model, external documents are opened via the “External Documents” function.
On the item, external documents are opened via the “Item - Attachments” function directly in the ribbon, or displayed in the “Details” and “Attachments” factboxes.
Management
The functions explained below are available.
New
- Add URL: This function opens an input field for the URL and stores the corresponding Azure Blob Storage data.
- Take Picture: This function activates the camera, and an image can be created and stored.
New lines of file attachment types are created for, e.g., an item/a model. The file attachment type is selected from the list and then added to the list of external documents.
The description must be entered, as well as the other fields according to Attachment Types Assigned to External Document.
File Upload
The “File Upload” function imports a new document via drag & drop, based on the settings stored for the table. The stored path is called. The file can be renamed if it should not be saved under its original name.
The next step is therefore to select the attachment type.
In addition, the “Create Thumbnail” check mark can be set if the image should be displayed in the factbox on the item and model, and should appear as a thumbnail in the tile view.
Delete
This function deletes the file and the record.
Take Picture
This function activates the camera, and an image can be created and stored.