Squiz Matrix Newsletter #388
27 JulTomorrow (or tonight, UK time) marks the commencement of the Games of the XXX Olympiad, the 2012 London Olympics! It's been four years since the games were handed over to London at the Closing Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and now, on the eve of the Opening Ceremony, we can look forward to just over two stunning weeks of fantastic competition.
The 2012 Olympics marks the third time London has hosted the modern Olympic Games; they previously hosted both the 1908 and 1948 Games. New sports introduced at this year's games include Women's Boxing, as well as Mixed Doubled Tennis, which is being returned to the games for the first time since 1924.
Approx 10,500 athletes will be competing at the 34 different Olympic venues across Britain. Even if you're not an avid sports fan, it's hard not to get caught up in the spirit of the Games, and I'm sure we'll all be cheering on our nation's athletes with gusto!
The Matrix development team have tried to harness the steadfast discipline and grit of our athletes, this week, churning out two new features, including a range of new options to filter the record sets of Data Source asset types. Continue reading below for more information on all this week's developments.
Filter Record Sets on Data Source Assets
Due for release in version 4.10.1 (August 6th 2012)
Squiz Matrix's Data Source assets, such as the DB Data Source, allow you to query external resources (e.g. a database or LDAP directory), returning records as shadow assets within the system. These records can then be used within your site, for example, to expose record information on an asset listing.
This feature introduces a brand new Record Filter screen, providing a variety of new options to refine the results of your data query and the shadow assets created within Squiz Matrix.
The Record Filter screen allows you to configure a series of conditions that can then be matched against the returned records of the data source. You can then choose to either filter out the records matching the configured conditions or to return the matched records.
Conditions are configured by matching a set value against a field on record set assets. Match type selections are available (string value, exact and contains; or regex), as well as case matching. You can also use dynamical variables (added on the Dynamic Inputs screen) as the value to match records against.
This feature has been added to provide users with greater control over the records returned on data source assets within Squiz Matrix.
New SOAP Function to Configure Multiple Metadata Fields on an Asset
Due for release in version 4.10.1 (August 6th 2012)
Squiz Matrix's SOAP API Metadata Service asset manages the metadata functions of the system's SOAP Server, including setting and regenerating metadata.
The SOAP API Metadata Service includes the SetAssetMetadata function that sets the value of a metadata field for a specified asset. This function, however, was limited to setting only single metadata fields; the function would need to be run multiple times to set the value of many different metadata fields.
This feature introduces a new function on the SOAP API Metadata Service to set the value of multiple metadata fields in a single function call.
The SetMultipleMetadataFields function allows you to configure the values of any number of metadata fields and is enabled on the Details screen SOAP API Metadata Service.
This function takes the following parameters:
- AssetID: the ID of the asset to set metadata on.
- MetadataInfo: the metadata FieldID and FieldValue values to set.
The format of the setMultipleMetadataFields function is as follows:
<ns1:SetMultipleMetadataFields> <AssetID>70</AssetID> <MetadataInfo> <FieldID>407</FieldID> <FieldValue>First field value</FieldValue> </MetadataInfo> <MetadataInfo> <FieldID>618</FieldID> <FieldValue>Second field value</FieldValue> </MetadataInfo> </ns1:SetMultipleMetadataFields>