Media Field Types

The Media Field allows you to specify the type, size, format, and other parameters of files that end users can upload onto your Instance. This field has two user interface elements:

• File
• Image

To add a media field, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Databases from the main menu.
2. Select All Databases.
3. Find the database you want to add a 'Media' field to and press its Configuration row action link.
4. Go to the 'Fields' tab and click on ADD FIELD. Provide a field name.
5. Select 'Media' on the 'Field Type' dropdown field.
6. Choose 'Media - File' or 'Media - Image' on the 'UI Element' dropdown field.
7. Fill out the fields on the following tabs:
   • Properties
   • Metadata
   • Appearance
   • Advanced
   • Image Versions (for 'Media - Image' only)
8. Select SAVE FIELD when you are done constructing a new field or making changes to an existing one.
9. Select SAVE to finalize your database updates.

Images and Files

The following tabs are similar across the image and file type fields:

• Properties
• Metadata
• Appearance
• Advanced

They allow you to further specify and control the data on your Instance. You can use these to reduce data storage overhead by limiting file sizes and character lengths. You can also create a better user experience by providing tooltips, placeholders, and example data.

Properties

Use this tab to specify general information and set your field type. The field properties are detailed in the table below.

Metadata

This tab allows you to input metadata (descriptions about data) concerning the fields in your database. For example, you may use the 'Placeholder' field to show an example input to help your users. You may also describe the field you are building in more detail using the 'Description' / 'Notes' field for future reference. The field properties on this tab are detailed in the table below.

Appearance

Use the text field in this tab to take down notes that are useful in writing tooltips. You can use tooltips to provide brief, helpful and contextual content to improve the user experience in your Instance Admin.

Advanced

This tab allows you to specify your media field's access and file size limitations. Refer to the table below for this tab's field properties:

Image Versions

The 'Media - Image' field type has an additional tab labelled 'Image Versions'. This powerful feature allows you to automatically create multiple specific image versions when uploaded. An example use case is where a user uploads a large image; you can dynamically create a thumbnail, small, medium and large versions of that image for your application.

This is highly beneficial to ensure that your application does not display oversized images unnecessarily, slowing down the user experience. It also saves you time but does not require pre-processing multiple image sizes within image editors. To create or edit an image version:

1. Navigate to Databases from the main menu.
2. Select All Databases.
3. Find the database you want to add a 'Media' field to and press its Configuration row action link.
4. Go to the 'Fields' tab and click on ADD FIELD. Provide a field name.
5. Select 'Media' on the 'Field Type' dropdown field.
6. Choose 'Media - Image' on the 'UI Element' dropdown field.
7. Go to the 'Image Versions' tab, then click on the dropdown field labelled 'Image Version' to choose an image version or create a new one.
8. To add an image version, type the name of your version, then select ADD. To edit an image version, select one displayed in the dropdown field.
9. Proceed with configuring your image version options on the 'Image Versions' tab.
10. Press SAVE FIELD when done.

Take note of the following sections when editing an image version:

• Resize
• Output
• Manipulate

Refer to the table below for the properties of the fields in the 'Image Versions' tab.