Neos Media UI

This package contains the new interface to manage media in Neos CMS (7.3+).

During the initial development the package will be in the Flowpack namespace and will later replace neos/media-browser. Having two modules allows us to currently install them both and be able to test them without losing features.

If you want to use Neos, please have a look at the Neos documentation.

Installation

Run the following command to install it:

composer require flowpack/media-ui 

What changes?

This package will currently add a second media backend module called Media (new) and a new media selection screen for asset and image editors. The old media module will still be available until this package replaces it completely with a later, major release of Neos.

Disabling the old Media module

If you don't need the old Media module, you can disable it in Settings.yaml:

Neos:
  Neos:
    modules:
      management:
        submodules:
          media:
            # Disable the default media module and use the new media ui
            enabled: false
          mediaui:
            # Moves the new module to top
            position: start

Disabling the new media selection

If you want to use this package in a real project you might want to disable the new media selection if it doesn't work as expected. You can do this by adding the following setting to your Settings.yaml:

Neos:
  Neos:
    Ui:
      frontendConfiguration:
        Flowpack.Media.Ui:
          useNewMediaSelection: false

Hierarchical asset collections

This package will enable a hierarchical asset collection structure via AOP (until the feature is in the Neos core). With this feature you can add a collection in another collection or assign existing ones to another and this way create a structure comparable with folders in your computer's file system.

It is recommended to enable the feature flag limitToSingleAssetCollectionPerAsset (see below) for a better experience - see below.

Optional features

Limit assets to be only assigned to one AssetCollection

By limiting assets to only be in one collection you can enforce a more folder-like experience:

Neos:
  Neos:
    Ui:
      frontendConfiguration:
        Flowpack.Media.Ui:
          # Only allow a single asset collection selection per asset to treat collection like folders
          limitToSingleAssetCollectionPerAsset: true

Fast asset usage calculation & unused assets view

The default asset usage in Neos is very slow as it is calculated when at runtime. For that it checks your whole project where an asset might be used. For the new Media UI, a new method has been implemented via the package Flowpack.Neos.AssetUsage.

The package provides a service that stores all asset usage references in a database table (other storages can be implemented). After installing the package and its peer dependencies, you should therefore update the usage reference index:

./flow assetusage:update

You have to do this only once for each instance of the application, f.e. dev / staging / production. Afterwards the index will automatically be kept up-to-date. Make sure you run the command manually again after you run imports or change the content repository in any other unusual way. This will clean up any outdated usage.

You can now enable the feature via the following setting:

Neos:
  Neos:
    Ui:
      frontendConfiguration:
        Flowpack.Media.Ui:
          queryAssetUsage: true

Now the "delete" action for assets will be disabled if an asset is in use, and the filter dropdown contains a new item "Unused". Selecting it will switch the main view to show all unused assets.

Customise usage details

The usage calculation mechanism in Neos already supports custom usage providers via the AssetUsageStrategyInterface. If your strategy implements this interface, the Media UI will show the usages separately for each strategy.

By also implementing the UsageDetailsProviderInterface you can provide a custom label for the strategy and also custom headers and values for each entry.

Show similar assets

This package provides a SimilarAssetStrategyInterface. Other packages can implement this interface and provide a list of other assets based on a given asset.

Example for this could be perceptually similar images or assets with similar filenames.

Given that you installed a package with a strategy, enable the feature in the ui with the following setting:

Neos:
  Neos:
    Ui:
      frontendConfiguration:
        Flowpack.Media.Ui:
          showSimilarAssets: true

Disable asset redirect checkbox

If you don't want to or can't use the automatic generation of redirects for assets, you can disable it with the following setting:

Neos:
  Neos:
    Ui:
      frontendConfiguration:
        Flowpack.Media.Ui:
          createAssetRedirectsOption: false

Architecture

API / GraphQL

This module introduces a GraphQL API for the Neos Media system. The API is open and can be reused for custom apps. A valid Neos backend user is required to access it, but you can define custom policies and an authentication provider to allow access without a user and f.e. use a token based authentication.

The API is public and will be stable with the 1.0.0 release. Until then, changes might still happen.

Schema

The GraphQL schema can be found here.

Interface

This module uses React for the implementation of the UI. Currently, all components are built with hooks and integrate with other plugins via hooks. This gives a lot of flexibility for future extensions and during the current prototype phase of this package.

State management

Query variables

Query related state variables are stored via GraphQL Mutations in the Apollo Client Cache. Some of those variables are then persisted into the localstorage of the browser.

Resolved query result state

The MediaUI provider currently stores the results in its state and provides them to all child components via provider values. This will probably be changed to only set shared states that all components can access.

Component states

Component state should be stored with React hooks.

Shared component states

The shared component states are current implemented via React Recoil atoms and selectors. See the state folders in the various modules in Resources/Private/JavaScript for examples.

Those should be used every time multiple components share a state that is not relevant for the GraphQL queries.

Fund the development

We need your help to develop this package. You can find supporter badges on the official Neos funding site.

Contributing

To start with development, make sure you have nvm and yarn installed and run the following command in the package's folder:

yarn

Running the standalone dev server without Neos

The dev server allows to run the module without a Neos instance. This is also the basis for running most tests and implementing new features.

yarn dev

Enter localhost:8000 in your browser, and you will have a running media ui instance without Neos.

Building the module assets

This will create a production build of the module assets.

yarn build

Recompile files during development

The following command will recompile and reload the media module when changes to the scripts happen:

yarn watch

Only watch the backend module code

yarn watch:module

Only watch the UI plugin

yarn watch:editor

Check for code quality

Run the following command to verify the TypeScript files:

yarn lint

Run e2e tests

First start the dev server via yarn dev and the run the following command to execute all end-to-end tests:

yarn e2e

The test configuration is defined in .testcaferc.json.

To use a different browser, you can define it when running the tests:

yarn test firefox

Check out the Testcafe documentation for more information and supported browsers.

Run phpstan for codestyle checks

First, make sure you have phpstan installed.

If the package is installed in a Neos distribution:

composer run codestyle

If the package is standalone

composer run codestyle:ci

Run PHPUnit for unit tests

If the package is installed in a Neos distribution:

composer run test

If the package is standalone

composer run test:ci

Other development hints

Before you commit

Please don't add the compiled frontend assets to your commits/PRs.

We will build the assets when a new release is due.

If you want to build the assets for a release, use the following command to prevent cache issues:

yarn build:no-cache

Register additional icons

Font Awesome icons are registered in Resources/Private/JavaScript/src/lib/FontAwesome. This way the bundle size is kept to a minimum.

Patches

Several patches are applied during installation via patch-package. Additional patches can be generated and stored there with the same tool if necessary.

Connection between the backend module and UI plugin

The codebase is 99% reused between the backend module and the asset selection in the Neos UI. Make sure changes work in both worlds or provide a compatibility layer in the corresponding initialisation.

Development helpers

• Extension for debugging GraphQL schema and queries in the browser
• Plugin for code completion and helpers in PHPStorm

License

See license.