The DAM system is extendable and customizable in various ways.  It follows a short description of each feature. Some of them are available as example in the dam_demo extension.

Modules

The DAM system can be extended in the backend with out modules. They will be inserted and are accessable with entries in the tab menu of the main modules.

Additional database fields

see: dam_demo/add_fields/

Custom fields to the tx_dam table will not only extend the table but these fields will be used automatically by the DAM in different task like indexing presets or searching.

In ext_tables.php the additional fields can be configured to be shown in the indexing preset and batch processing forms.

// add fields to index preset fields

$TCA['tx_dam']['txdamInterface']['index_fieldList'] .= ',tx_damdemo_info,tx_damdemo_customcategory';

Indexing rule

see: dam_damo/indexrule/

base class: tx_dam_indexRuleBase

Do you have special files with meta data in it which needs to be processed while indexing? This can be done with own indexing rules.

Services for indexing

see: dam_demo/sv1/

base class: t3lib_svbase

The indexing function of the DAM currently uses three service types: metaExtract, textExtract and textLang.

For more information on services see the services documentation.

Previewer

see: dam_demo/previewer/

base class: tx_dam_previewerProcBase

Previewer are used to display a preview like a thumbnail or render a small gadget to see or play a file. The example below shows a simple MP3 player.

In principle several previewer types are possible. Implemented is currently a type that will be displayed in record editing view.

Actions

see: dam_demo/action/

base class: tx_dam_actionBase

Actions are GUI elements like icons or buttons that trigger a command for an item like a file or a record. Modules that use actions can easily be extended by own extensions.

The file module for example use three kind of actions which can be seen below.

Selection tree

see: dam_demo/selection/

base class: tx_dam_selBrowseTree

Selection trees provide a navigation tree and in the same time a selection class to create a SQL query from it's passed parameters. This is some kind of a misconception but for historical reason this will not be changed soon.

Selection class

see: dam/components/class.tx_dam_selectionStringSearch.php

base class: tx_dam_selProcBase

Selections are used to create SQL query parts depending on parameters. Pure selection classes have no GUI – in opposition to Selection trees.