Creating a Client Media Source

What the Tutorial Does¶

This tutorial sets up a second source that your clients use. The files of the site stay out of their file manager, and they get a directory of their own.

Do it before the clients upload anything. For an installation that is already in use, read Troubleshooting: Existing Installs first.

By default the file manager looks like this:

With a separate source for the clients, it looks like this:

Step 1: Create a Directory Structure¶

Make a folder files in /assets/, and inside it two more: pdf and images. The files of the clients go into these two folders.

You do not have to set the rights of the folders yourself. The core writes new files with 0644 and new folders with 0755, and a site can change that with the new_file_permissions and new_folder_permissions system settings.

Your source should look like this:

Step 2: Hide the Filesystem Source¶

1. Go to Media → Media Sources.

2. Open the Filesystem source for editing.

3. Go to the Access Permissions tab.

4. Click Add User Group.

5. Pick the Administrator group, the Member role, and the Media Source Admin policy. Every member of the group may then add and remove media sources.

   Keep the clients in another group. If the clients are in the administrator group, set the minimum role to Super User, and only the users with that role reach the source.

6. Click Done, then save the source.

A client that logs in now sees no files at all.

Step 3: Add the Client Files Source¶

1. Go to Media → Media Sources.
2. Click Create.
3. Name the source Client Files, keep the File System type, and save it.
4. Open the source for editing and set basePath to assets/files/ and baseUrl to assets/files/.
5. Save the source.

basePath tells MODX where on the server to look, baseUrl tells MODX where on the web to look. Leave basePathRelative and baseUrlRelative on, so that both values stay relative to the installation. A site that uses a different domain per context may need absolute values.

The clients can log in now, but the file manager still starts with the source they have no access to. They can switch to theirs, but that confuses them.

Step 4: Set the Default Media Source¶

1. Open the user menu and choose Admin → System Settings.
2. Filter by area and pick Back-end Manager.
3. Find the Default Media Source setting and change it from Filesystem to Client Files.
4. Wait for MODX to save the setting.

The clients now see Client Files as the default source and use it as usual. Every new image or file TV points at the same place.

Troubleshooting: Existing Installs¶

A site that already has TVs and uploaded images needs the paths updated after you have gone through Steps 1–4:

1. Move the files to the new location. The path relative to the source stays the same.
2. Change the TVs to the new source.

See Also¶

1. Media Sources
2. Adding a Media Source
3. Assigning Media Sources to TVs
4. Securing a Media Source
   1. Creating a Client Media Source
5. Media Source Types
   1. Media Source Type - File System
   2. Media Source Type - FTP
   3. Media Source Type - S3
6. Extending Media Sources